HONG KONG—Day 3 (Race 4) ofhe Hebe Haven Typhoon Series 2016 took place on Sunday July 3 with an islands race for 53 competitors from 7 Classes.
The weather forecast was for a southerly airstream with sunshine and showers in moderate winds but increasing to fresh at times in open waters. The forecast was correct. The races started at 11am in a 12 knot southerly which at times gusted up to 25 knots in the open seas. The races started in sunshine and most boats reached the Bay Mark or Bluff Island in the sunshine but it was a mixture of sunshine and showers from then until the end of the race, with some showers being more like torrential rain. The speed of the wind and the gusts caught some boats by surprise requiring sailors to take emergency action.
Even in the fairly steady breeze at the start of the race “Mojito” lost a ’man overboard' which delayed them for a while. Other boats were seen not able to turn at the Bay Mark, overshooting the mark for some distance and a few “crabs” were spotted at the northern end of Bay Island. But generally it was a good enjoyable afternoon, although a bit wet for the camera at times.
All races started in Port Shelter and finished at Table Island.
IRC-A and B boats took in the islands of Table (s), Steep (p), Bluff (s), North Nine Pin (s), Bluff (s), Port Shelter Mark (s) to finish at Table Island. IRC-C, Sportsboats, HKPN-A and J80’s took in Table (p), Bay Mark (s), Steep (p), Bluff (p), Trio (s) to finish at Table Island. The HKPN-B route was Steep (p), Bluff (p), Trio (s), to Table Island finish. The length of the races were 24, 21 and 15 knots respectively.
In IRC-A Sam Chan’s “FreeFire”, with a seasoned crew seemed to lap up the conditions and came home 20 minutes ahead of the next boat, group series leader “Zannekin” who found the route a bit more testing – this was sufficient for “FreeFire” to take first place on corrected time by 12 minutes. Straight Up came 3rd. After 4 races “Zannekin” still leads the standings with 15 points, “Straight Up” is on 17 points and “XF” is on 18 points.
In IRC-B, “Seawolf” is still forging ahead with another 1st place “Sell Side Dream” came 2nd maintaining 2nd place overall with 9 points. Hero Racing Team’s “Blue Bunny” won line honours and 3rd place to stay 3rd in the standings on 11 points.
“Dexter II” took line honours and 1st place on corrected time in IRC-C, “Red Kite 2” came a close second and “Gambit” maintained good form taking 3rd place. “Dexter II” leads the standings on 7 points with “Gambit” 2nd on 12 points and “Whiskey Jack” is lying 3rd on 15 points.
Steve Bourne helming “Merlin” seemed in his element in the driving rain as he sped along in torrential rain at the north end of Bluff. He took his 3rd win of the series 8 minutes ahead of Gareth Williams in “Sidewinder”, with “Catch 22” coming home 3rd. “Merlin” leads the standings on 5 points, “Catch 22” is lying 2nd, “Ricochet” with 11 points and “Ricochet”, who did not compete in this race as owner Julie MacKenzie, was officiating as Race Officer, is in 3rd place.
“Jazz” and “Jive” had a head to head as the only 2 J80 class boats in this race with “Jive” taking the honours 20 minutes before “Jazz” crossed the line.
In HKPN-A, “Bits and Pieces” scored their 3rd win of the series and now has an 8 point lead in the series ahead of “Shikari” with 14 points. “XT” came 2nd in race 4 and is lying 3rd in the series standings with 16 points.
“Gecko” is showing a strong performance in the HKPN_B, came in 2nd in race 4 to stay top with 8 points. “Scrumpy” came first in this race but is currently 10 points off the lead with 18 points. “Sleeepy Pigggy” is second on 14 points and “Lazy Piggy” is 3rd with 16 points. “GA” who was lying in 2nd place in the standings after 3 races, has temporarily lost ground by not competing in this race.
Next Races
This Saturday July 9, two geometric races will be held for Day 3 of the Summer Saturday Series.
