Noel Chan skippered Rampage88 to victory in IRC 0 on the three-day Volvo China Coast Regatta, whereas his Rampage38 – skippered by Denis Ma – conquered the Cape 31 class of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Membership’s premier ‘large boat’ occasion.
Held from October 11-13, the Volvo China Coast Regatta attracted 31 yachts throughout six divisions, with a robust northeasterly monsoon blowing all through the regatta to supply basic autumn crusing situations. The IRC 0, Cape 31, IRC 2 and IRC 3 fleets raced all three days, whereas the Premier Cruiser and PHS divisions competed solely on the weekend.
The opening Friday began in a beneficial easterly breeze of 14-15 knots, with windward/leeward programs warming up the sailors.
The opening races have been adopted by a 17nm island course for IRC 0, taking rivals round Po Toi and Sung Kong earlier than ending off at Stanley Peninsula. The route for all different divisions was decreased to a 10-11nm course rounding Beaufort Island and Sung Kong or simply Beaufort Island, earlier than ending at Stanley.
Day two supplied 18-20 knots of easterly breeze below a wonderful clear blue sky, with all IRC fleets put by way of their paces with three demanding windward/leeward programs,
The PHS division was set one windward/leeward and a 10nm island course, whereas the Premier Cruiser boats have been despatched to finish two island programs within the breezy situations. After a tough day on the water, sailors have been rewarded with a energetic Mount Homosexual social gathering on the Membership’s Center Island clubhouse.
The ultimate day featured a mean of 15 knots of north-easterly breeze and gusts of as much as 20 knots throughout the racecourse, which was set southeast of Lamma Island. All IRC racer divisions and the PHS division have been set one windward/leeward course, with an island course starting from Sep 11.5nm round Po Toi and Sung Kong or Beaufort Islands, then ending off Stanley.
Competitors was fierce throughout all six divisions. In IRC 0, a formidable line-up included three TP52s – Noel Chan’s Rampage88, Nie Hua’s Blissful Go and Sam Chan’s FreeFire – and powerful groups aboard Seawolf, led by William Liu, and Stanley Tse’s Kikukie’s Dream II.
After seven races over three days, the IRC divisions loved one discard. Rampage 88 emerged victorious in IRC 0 with 4 bullets, forward of Blissful Go and Seawolf.
A Noel Chan boat was additionally triumphant within the fast-growing Cape 31 class, with Rampage38 lifting the trophy. David Kong’s Out of Africa was second and Andrew Taylor/Denis Martinet’s Capitano completed third after profitable the ultimate two races. The Cape 31 debuted in Hong Kong on the 2019 China Coast Regatta and this 12 months the fast-expanding fleet additionally included Randy Yeung’s Tai Chi by Simplicity.
IRC 2 featured 5 formidable groups, though Nick Burns’ King 40 Witchcraft once more proved essentially the most formidable. Witchcraft gained all seven races to prime the category for the fifth successive 12 months, ending forward of James Verner’s Nightshift, Dennis Chien’s Mat 1245 Arcturus+, Glenn Smith’s Grand Soleil 44 Wild Card and Johnson Yuen’s Summit 40 Zoe’s Guard.
In IRC 3, Nick Southward’s Admiralty Harbour Whiskey Jack gained 5 of the seven races to complete above Andrew Pidden’s Juice, the 2023 champion, whileHenning Mueller’s Zesst and Hugues de Saint Germain’s Ocean’s 5 completed third and fourth respectively.
Franco Cutrupia’s Solaris 60 Fenice, a brand new entry, gained three of its 4 races to prime Premier Cruiser, forward of Peter Churchouse’s Moonblue 2, Tom Attenborough’s Parnassus and Carl Wilkinson’s Lisa Elaine.
The PHS division featured 9 entries competing in 4 races, with yachts starting from a Farr 30 to an Oceanis 50. Thomas Wong’s DBX2 edged Bradly Wilkins’ Blowers Daughter on a countback after each yachts completed with 5 factors (following one discard), one level forward of Eddy Lee’s Generations.
Race Officer Inge Strompf-Jepsen stated: “General, this was an excellent occasion. We have been fortunate with the climate and had an ideal race-management workforce with loads of data. We had loads of enjoyable, and I hope the sailors loved it too.”
chinacoastraceweek.com
rhkyc.org.hk
This text was first seen on YachtStyle.co
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