China Coast Regatta 2022 - Day 3

Another superb day. The strong monsoon signal was hoisted before the race bringing with it champagne sailing conditions of 8 to 10kts of a north-westerly breeze at the race area south east of Lamma Island.

All IRC racer divisions were sent on three two-lap windward/leeward courses and the HKPN division was given one windward/leeward followed by an island course of 11nm taking them around Po Toi and Sung Kong before finishing off Stanley..

A steady increase in both wind and waves saw the third race for the IRC fleets finish in 15 to 20kts of breeze with sun and blue sky - absolutely the ultimate conditions in which to conclude the regatta. There were quite a few broaches and ripped kites which resulted in a few retirements.

At the end of three days of racing and having completed their scheduled seven races, all IRC divisions enjoyed one discard. Almost all of the leaders remained on top except in IRC Race Division 0 which saw boats yo-yoing up and down the standings. Shawn Kang’s Alpha+ had a strong bounce back today, taking two bullets allowing them to take the division trophy only one point ahead of Noel Chan’s Rampage88.

In the most competitive IRC Racer 1 division, Nick Burns' King 40 Witchcraft came out victorious – only one point ahead of Andrew Taylor / Denis Martinet's Cape 31 Capitano who had enjoyed two bullets today. Third overall is Albert Cheung’s Full Tilt.

In the IRC Racer 2 fleet, there was neck-to-neck competition between the top two leaders, Nightshift and Jinn who were both tied in Race 5 with exactly the same corrected time but in the end it was Stephen Jones and James Verner’s Nightshift that took the overall win - two points ahead of Nicolas Cohen-Addad’s Jinn.

Competition was also tight in ICR Racer 3 where Simon Wong’s Dexter II took an impressive win at the final race putting him in 1st place overall, two points ahead of Nick Southward’s Admiralty Harbour Whiskey Jack.

In the HKPN division, Niccolo Manno’s Trimaran Carbon 3 truly showed off her stunning speed today by taking the bullet in the island race, putting them in 2nd overall, three points behind Sunny Leung’s Jibulai.

Race Officer David Norton was happy with the racing today saying "Today we went out anticipating a good day and we were not disappointed. We set a windward/leeward course to the south of Lamma Island on an axis of 340. The wind locked in and provided brilliant racing for the day. Great work from the volunteers and Club staff and a day of great racing. Special note to HKPN boat, Doris, who was three seconds inside the time limit in the final race!”

Hope all sailors enjoyed this regatta and see you all next year.