Volvo Hong Kong to Hainan Race start
by Koko Mueller, RHKYC 3 Nov 2016 08:57 GMT
3 November 2016
It was clear blue skies and a 6-7kt north-easterly breeze for the start of the 390nm Category 1 offshore Volvo Hong Kong to Hainan Race which started today at 1320hrs. Race Officer Simon Boyde set a committee boat start line to the north of the RHKYC main clubhouse at Kellett Island with the warning signal sounding at 1310hrs. Most boats seemed to favour the pin end of the line. It was only the 100ft super maxi Scallywag that favoured the committee boat end; possibly to make sure to keep clear of the other boats.
With all boats getting away cleanly at the start, they tacked their way through Victoria Harbour. Scallywag was the first to make it through the Lei Yue Mun Gap, followed by the TP52s Standard Insurance Centennial and FreeFire. Next through the gap was the Ker Custom 42 Black Baza with Jo Aleh on board. Jo won a Gold and Silver at the London and Rio Olympics for New Zealand. Surprisingly this will be Jo's first offshore race and she quotes "I am looking forward to sending her downwind, hopefully the forecast stays in so we get to Sanya quickly!"
The last boat to make it through the gap was the Sun Fast 3600 Ymir which is the smallest boat in the fleet, crew member Darren Catterall said "We may be the smallest boat in the fleet but the boat is built for downwind, hopefully we arrive in Sanya in one piece before the beer runs out".
Once through Lei Yue Mun Gap, the fleet headed south-east towards Waglan Island then bore away towards the north-east tip of the Dangan Liedo Island rounding it to starboard with the rest of the Lema Islands. Once past the Lema Islands the fleet head will head south-west to Sanya on the southern tip of Hainan Island in China.
The current race record for the Volvo Hong Kong to Hainan Race is 25h 54m 33s set in 2014 by Karl Kwok's Beau Geste. Everyone, including FreeFire's owner Sam Chan are looking to Scallywag to break the record. Says Chan, "If we can do it in 24 hours, they can do it in 12... and definitely under 18".
All boats will be carrying Yellowbrick trackers, which update live tracking information at 30 minute intervals throughout the race, this can be viewed at www.rhkyc.org.hk/hkhainantracking.aspx
Fans can also take part in the race through www.sailonline.org who bring the virtual version of the Volvo Hong Kong to Hainan Race, to armchair sailors around the world. Enabling them to pit their navigational skills against the real fleet with the feed from the Yellowbrick tracker showing the position of the real yachts overlaid on the virtual race screen. The challenge will be negotiating the conditions; Sailonline uses almost real-time weather downloaded from NOAA and the boat physics are considered to be the most life-like of any online simulation.
The race is organised by RHKYC in cooperation with the Bureau of Culture, Broadcast & TV, Publication and Sports of the Sanya Municipal Government, with the finish hosted by Serenity Marina in Sanya, Hainan.
Entry List:
| Sail No. | Division | Boat Name | Owner / Person in Charge | Type | TCC |
|---|
| HKG 2283 | IRC Racer 0 | Free Fire | Sam Chan | TP52 | 1.368 |
| HKG 2276 | IRC Racer 0 | Scallywag | Seng Huang Lee / David Witt | 100ft Super Maxi | 1.934 |
| PHI 2286 | IRC Racer 0 | Standard Insurance Centennial | Ernesto Echauz / Stephen Tan | TP52 | 1.352 |
| HKG 2296 | IRC Racer 1 | Black Baza | Anthony Root | Ker Custom 42 | 1.232 |
| HKG 2163 | IRC Racer 1 | Mandrake III | Fred Kinmonth / Nick Burns | Sydney GTS 42 | 1.178 |
| HKG 2282 | IRC Racer 1 | Straight Up | Mark Whitehead | Mills 40 | 1.15 |
| HKG 2275 | IRC Racer 2 | Outlaw | Adrian Bell | Azuree 46 | 1.139 |
| HKG 2207 | IRC Racer 2 | Ymir | Kjartan Furset | Sun Fast 3600 | 141 |
More information on the Volvo Hong Kong to Hainan Race website, www.hkhainanrace.com