Hong Kong—It was good to see a bit of breeze but the weather was rather dark and grey for Day-3 of the Hebe Haven Yacht Club, UK Sailmakers Winter Saturday Series on Saturday Dec. 6.
Once again there was quite a good turnout for HKPN Division and Dragon Class boats but for the IRC Division there were just three contenders, “Mojito”, “Lighthorse” and “RB” out of the six registered.
IRC
Although “Lighthorse” took line honours for both races, “Mojito” tucked away two more wins on corrected time to make six straight wins in all six races of the series. “Lighthorse” after missing the first two races has now moved into second place in the series with four 2nd place finishes. Other contenders in the six boat line-up for the series prizes are “Goddess” and “Stingray.” Both of these boats are on 20 points after missing Race Day-3 so if they both take part on final day on Dec 20 it will be a real fight for 3rd place. “Stingray” was seen out on the water on Saturday competing in the RHKYC Sports Boats Championships.
HKPN
The picture is now becoming clear for the HKPN competition as “Ichiban” won both of the races on Day-3 to lead by 14 points an almost unassailable lead if they take part in the final 2-races, but it is still a very tight race for 2nd and 3rd places as any one of the next 5-boats could snap up a prizes. At present if 2-discards are allowed there are three boats “Getafix,” “Applause” and “X-Terminator” all on 14-points, “Kyte” is on 15 and “Bits & Pieces” is on 16.
Dragon Class
“Zephyr” (D55) with a 1st and 2nd place finish on Day-3 is heading the Dragon Class standings on 9-points, “Davinloong” (D46) did the reverse (2nd and 1st) is second on 15-points and “Kam Loong” (D8) is on 17 points, but “Maiden Hong Kong” (D40) and “Celines” (D1) are also well in the frame for a prize.
Next Races
The next race day in the Hebe Haven Winter Saturday Series for Races-7 & -8 take place at Port Shelter on Dec 20.
Dragon Class Championship Series
The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s 2014-15 Dragon Class Championship Series is scheduled to run over 2-weekends on Jan. 17, 18 and Jan. 24, 25, 2015 with a total of 10 races, 3-races on Saturdays and 2-races on Sundays. A top class field of some 18 boats is expected to take part.
The professionals were well represented last year with 5 boats including 2 top teams from Russia with RUS76 helmed by Dmitry Samokhin. The other Russian boat, RUS34 was helmed by International Dragon Association (IDA) Vice-Chairman Vasily Senatorov. Theis Palm, North Sails Dragon expert re-joined HKG55 after a successful campaign with Tam Nguyen in Europe.
Last Year’s Results:
Overall Championship: 1. Tam Nguyen (HKG55), 2. Dmitry Samokhin (RUS76), 3. Vasily Senatorov (RUS34)
Hong Kong Helm: 1. Tam Nguyen (HKG55), 2. Karl Grebstad (HKG51), 3. Phyllis Chang (HKG50)
Corinthian Trophy (no professional sailors): 1. Mac Castagnet (HKG1), 2. Lowell Chang (HKG46), 3. Simon Chan (HKG8).
