Tam Nguyen Wins Dragon Class Championships

Yachting—Dragon Class Championships 2016-17

Championship winner Tam Nguyen in ‘Zephyr’ chases Andreas Brechbuhl in ‘Wyuna’ at the windward mark during championship race 7, on day 3 of the Dragon Class Championships 2016-17 off Lamma Island on Sunday Nov 20. Bill Cox/Epoch Times

HONG KONG—The Hong Kong Dragon Class Championships took place off Lamma Island with 3 days of racing, Friday Nov 18 to Sunday Nov 20 with 13 boats taking part. Nine races were completed in the series, with 3 races each day.

The wind was fairly consistently from the north-east (60 to 80 degrees) but varied in strength and water swell and current changed with the tide, posing many questions to helmsmen. But conditions were much better than expected with a lot of sunshine, although partly cloudy on days 1 and 3.

Race winners on day 1 were Lowell Chang, Tam Nguyen and Simon Chan, with the leaders after day 1: Tam Nguyen on 8 points, Lowell Chang on 10 points, Marc Castagnet on 11 points and Frederic Azemard on 12 points.

Lowell Chang helming 'Davinloong' round the leeward mark during day 3 of the Dragon Class Championships on Sunday Nov 20, 2016. Bill Cox/Epoch Times

In race 4 (first race of Day 2) Marc Castagnet was well ahead of the fleet at the windward mark but missed the offset and collected 14 points (DNF), allowing Andreas Brechbuhl to come through to take the win. Tam Nguyen won Race 5 but picked up a hole in the hull during the start of Race 6 and had to retire but he was given points redress at 3.6. Marc Castagnet won race 6.

Frederic Azemard helming 'Wudi' during day 3 of the Dragon Class Championships on Sunday Nov 20, 2016. Bill Cox/Epoch Times

At that point Frederic Azemard in D47, who had a really consistent day of racing, was leading with 12 points, with Tam Nguyen (D55) lying 2nd just behind on 12.6 points. Lowell Chang (D46) was on 14 points 3rd, Marc Castagnet (D1) was 4th on 17 points, and Simon Chan (D8) was just 1 point further back, leaving the championship wide open for day 3.

Tam managed to get the hole fixed with the kind assistance of Darbi, a fiberglass specialist and was therefore able to race. Tam came 2nd in race 7 and won races 8 and 9 to take the Championship win. Lowell had two 3rd places and a 2nd place finish to come 2nd. Overnight leader Federic Azemard had a poor start to the day with two 8th places but picked up a 3rd place in race 9 to edge ahead of Simon Chan to finish 3rd in the Championship.  

Tam Nguyen, winner of the Championship, was in control on day 3, finishing 2nd in Race 7 and 1st in the last two races on Sunday Nov 20, 2016. Bill Cox/Epoch Times

The top 5 on low points scoring are, Tam Nguyen (12.6 points), Lowell Chang (17), Frederic Azemard (23), Simon Chan (25) and Marc Castagnet (27).

Video: http://www.vrsport.tv/video/?progId=2336&vidType=program