Sun Hung Kai & Co. Hong Kong Race Week 2025 - Day 3
by Vivian Ngan 16 Feb 03:56 NZDT
11-16 February 2025
The reason for having a week-long regatta is meant to put sailors to the test for different weather conditions. After two good days, we had light wind for Day 3 of Sun Hung Kai & Co. Hong Kong Race Week 2025 incorporating the 2025 29er Asian Championship.
At Stanley Bay, the racing area for the 2.4mR, RS Feva, RS Tera, Optimist Intermediate, and Main Fleets, the wind was too light to get any racing going. Finally, after hours of waiting, Race Officer Inge Strompf-Jepsen hoisted the AP over A and announced no more racing for the day.
Racing had also been affected due to light wind at Po Toi area for the 29ers and ILCAs. ILCA Race 2 of the day had to be abandoned due to the wind dropping to nearly zero. Finally, the sun came out, and the race management team managed to move to Beaufort Channel. Race Officer Elberti Uiterwaal-Postma moved the whole fleet and set a windward/leeward course, ending up with a great race for the day.
Hong Kong, China Olympian Nicholas Halliday has returned to Hong Kong Race Week, competing in the ILCA 7. He has competed at five editions of Hong Kong Race Week since 2013, taking 1st overall in the Laser 4.7 (now ILCA 4) in 2014 and 2015, then again in the Laser Radial (now ILCA 6) in 2016 and 2017. He is competing against local rising star Peter Jessop and Sweden's Axel Wieland. After three days of racing, Nicholas Halliday is 5 points ahead of Peter Jessop.
In the star-studded ILCA6 class, fellow Hong Kong, China Olympian Stephanie Norton, along with Hong Kong national team sailor Nancy Highfield, have returned to Hong Kong Race Week to battle it out against the best ILCA sailors from Asia, including Japanese sailors Haruka Hattori and Nana Funazawa. There are three sailors from the Mainland of China and one from Singapore. Several Hong Kong Team sailors, including Daniel Chan, Seb Van Ommeren, Samuel Tan-Hardy, and Ziyan Huang, are also using this significant platform to hone their skills.
The third-largest participating fleet this year is the ILCA 4 with 50 sailors - 23 of whom are from the Mainland of China representing seven sailing clubs, three from Singapore and one each from Thailand, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Singapore, and Thailand. Local sailor Zixi Huang won a silver medal in Women's ILCA 4 (U16) in the 2024 ILCA Asian Open Championship. More stiff competition in the fleet comes from Che Liu from Vanhang Sailing and other local sailors.
After nine races, Stephanie Norton remains at the top of the scoreboard 5 points ahead of her teammate Nancy Highfield, Japanese sailor Nana Funazawa is in third place. In the ILCA 4 fleet, Charalampos Velianitis is still comfortably leading, Thailand sailor Tom Rattana took two bullets today, jumping up to 2nd place followed by local sailor Zixi Huang.
The 29er race course, located northwest of Po Toi Island, had four races for the day. "For the first race, it looked like an oil painting, the boats were not moving, and for the rest, it was a video. The sun was shining, the waters flat. It was fantastic racing and I think everybody enjoyed themselves, with the forecast for tomorrow not being so good, so we wanted to get ahead. Now we've only got two races left to run tomorrow. "
In the 29er class, which incorporates the 2025 29er Asian Championship, the top scoreboard remained unchanged since the first day - with local sibling team Tiffany Mak /Raphael Mak still leading the American team Kevin Cason/Holland Vierling whilst the team from Thailand, Patcharaphan Ongkaloy/Kan Kachachuen are in 3rd.
Principal Race Officer Officer Barry Truhol commented "the ILCA and 29er fleets stayed out and were rewarded because just after 1430hrs, the wind picked up and they had almost perfect sailing conditions for the last race of the day with 8 to 13kts of north-easterly breeze. It was a great end to what had started out being a bit of a frustrating day."