Volvo China Coast Regatta 2024 - Day 1
by Vivian Ngan 11 Oct 22:46 NZDT
11-13 October 2024
Perfect conditions greeted the IRC Racer fleet for the first day of the Volvo China Coast Regatta 2024, the premier Big Boat racing event of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's 2024-2025 sailing season.
The first day started on schedule at 1030hrs in an easterly breeze of 14 to 15kts, with a windward/leeward course to warm up the sailors. The wind softened a bit when the sun came out during the day. Keeping sailors on their toes, Race Officer Inge Strompf-Jepsen sent all classes on an island course to finish the day. The RO selected a 17nm island course for IRC Racer 0, taking competitors round Po Toi and Sung Kong before finishing off at Stanley Peninsula, whilst the route for all other divisions was reduced to a 10 to 11nm course rounding Beaufort Island and Sung Kong or just Beaufort Island before ending at Stanley.
Reflecting back on the day, Inge said "We had extremely nice weather for sailing and we even extended the courses to 1.6nm, which is some of the longest track at Lamma we've ever had been able to do and even then we finished it in a relatively in short time so we wondered "what's the next race?" I thought if we put on another one hour of racing, the day would be very short so I sent them on a two hour long islands course and that seemed to have worked out and people came back happy."
The Rampage team was looking strong in both the IRC Racer 0 and IRC Cape 31 divisions. Although William Liu's Seawolf took the first bullet, Noel Chan's Rampage 88 grabbed the win in the Island course, taking first place overall in their division.
Over in the IRC Cape 31 division, David Kong's Out of Africa retired from the second race due to rig issues, while Noel Chan's Rampage38 won both races of the day, taking the lead, with their compatriots Andrew Taylor and Denis Martinet's Capitano in second place overall after logging a second and a third place finish today.
In the Racer 2 division, Nick Burns' Witchcraft topped the table, winning both races, followed by Dennis Chien's Mat 1245 Arcturus+, three points behind.
For Racer 3, defending champion Andrew Pidden's Juice secured overall first place, only one point ahead of Nick Southward's Admiralty Harbour Whiskey Jack.
Racing continues tomorrow with IRC Premier and PHS joining the action. The starting procedure is scheduled for 1030hrs, with winds forecasted to be fresher than today.
Keep up with the latest news on the Volvo China Coast Race Week visit: chinacoastraceweek.com
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