China Coast Regatta Day 3 / Wrap Up
Another superb day of excellent conditions; 15kts, sunshine and blue skies for the final races of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s China Coast Regatta 2018. Racing got away smoothly with all IRC Racer and HKPN divisions sailing one windward / leeward and one islands course ranging in distance from 10 to 16.5nm. The islands course took the fleet on a beat towards a windward mark and reaching to an ocean mark before rounding Beaufort or Sung Kong and finishing off Bluff Head near Stanley.
After the windward / leeward this morning, Hong Kong’s TP52 Free Fire owned by Sam Chan came out on top of the IRC Racer 0 division, putting herself 8 points ahead and untouchable to Shawn Kang’s Ker 46+ Lighthorse Alpha Plus.
After narrowly missing out in China Coast Regatta in 2017, Tiffany Koo’s King Mills 40 Hero Racing Team took the IRC Racer 1 win. Tiffany almost had a clean sweep across the board and was thwarted by Fred Kinmonth and Nick Burns’ Mandrake III taking the win in the final islands race of the regatta.
In IRC Racer 2 Glenn Smith’s Grand Soleil 45 Blackjack took the win in her division ahead of Richard Van Den Berg’s J/111 Juggerknot. They were followed by Joshua Cole’s A40RC Avante Garde who tied with Blackjack on corrected time in the final race of the regatta.
In IRC Racer 3, Lowell Chang’s AC35 Dexter II took the win in her division - 5 points ahead of Nick Southward’s J/109 Whiskey Jack.
IRC Premier Cruising sailed two 10nm island courses which took them around Beaufort Island. Their second race of the day was started to the south of Stanley, for which they had a downwind start. Peter Churchouse’s Warwick Custom Moonblue 2 came out on top with a clean sweep across the board for the second year running.
Joining racing for the weekend, was Alan Cheung’s Oceanis 34 Bleu, who took the win in the HKPN division after taking two bullets in today’s racing.
With all the racing wrapped up, the fleets made their way back to Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s Middle Island base for refreshments on the hardstand. The overall prizegiving will be held on Tuesday 16 October at Kellett Island.
See you next year for China Coast Regatta 2019 to be held from 11 to 13 October, followed by the Hong Kong to Vietnam Race starting 16 October 2019.
