SLAM Sailing Centre
SLAM Sailing Centre
Guangdong Provincial Sailing Champions and Canton-HK-Macau Invitational Optimist Regatta
20 — 21 December 2014 Haimen, Shantou, Guangdong, China
Shortly before the Christmas holidays, the Dragons were
invited to participate in this inaugural regatta in Shantou
(500km from Hong Kong). Most of the team had already
left Hong Kong for their family reunions except Pasu, Pei
and Timothée. Vivio Chan (Pei’s mother) put herself forward
to lead the group for this new experience and accompany
our sailors, Marie B. Lacouture (Timothée’s mum), Manfred
Yip (Pei’s father and Vivio’s husband) and of course Alfred.
Thanks to Vivio, the whole journey went very smoothly.
After a short ride in the MTR to Lok Ma Chau, the team was
driven to Shantou (through the rain) arriving just in time for
dinner. They were welcomed by the organiser, Tony Liu, who
introduced them to local food delicacies and then took them
to their hotel.
On Saturday, they were warmly welcomed by local students,
who were impressed by the team’s equipment (new sails,
SLAM gear) and entourage of parents and coach etc. Some of
them were barefoot, wearing just a t-shirt. They were especially
amused to see three people in particular—one black and two
white, the only gweilos within a 300km radius! All wanted to
take pictures with them or get their autograph.
As is the custom in their school, students help each other and
all wanted to assist Pei, Pasu and Timothée by rigging their sails
(more on this in Timothée’s report).
The school—or Sailing Centre—is actually a boarding school
(similar to HKSS in Hong Kong) where different aged sailors
train from early morning to late afternoon. In the evenings, they
study their lessons. They all sleep in dormitories and eat in the
canteen. Our delegation was invited to share their lunches and
everyone had to wash their dishes and pass them to the next
group…Something they could do more often at home! In the
training centre, they were invited for some physical exercise
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before racing and found this harder than just running around the
Sai Kung football stadium! Luckily, after a hard day racing, they
enjoyed a nice massage and some very local dinner arranged
by Vivio and Tony Liu.
Onto the racing, the level was high as the sailors are trained
for racing only and. despite some old sails and basic clothes.
You can’t judge a book by its cover. Our Dragons didn’t do too
badly overall, considering that there were around 100 boats. All
of them arrived in the top 30, while Pei and Timothée got a cup
each in their category.
在聖誕假期開始前不久，Dragons獲邀參加首次在汕頭（距
離香港500公里）舉行的帆船賽。 許多隊員已離港跟家人團
聚，除了Pasu、 Pei和Timothée。Vivio Chan（Pei的母
親）親自帶隊參與這次新體驗並陪伴我們的隊員、Marie B.
Lacouture（ Timothée的母親）、Manfred Yip（Pei的父
親，Vivio的丈夫），當然還有 Alfred。感謝Vivio令整個行程
非常暢順。 乘搭短程港鐵（前稱九廣鐵路）到落馬洲之後，
已有一輛車在等候我們，接載我們一路前往汕頭（一直都在
下雨），抵埗時剛好趕上晚餐。 主辦單位負責人Tony Liu親
自來迎接隊員，帶領大家品嚐地道美食和前往酒店。
在星期六，隊員們受到當地學生的熱烈歡迎。學生們對隊伍
的裝備（新的風帆和 SLAM 裝備）和隨員（家長和教練等）
印象深刻。這些學生大部份都只是赤著腳，穿上T 恤。他們
看到三位人士時特別好奇–一位黑人和兩位白人，是方圓300
公里內的唯一兩個「鬼佬」! 大家都很想跟他們合照或索取簽
名。
他們學校的習慣是要每個學生互相幫忙索緊風帆，他們尤其
喜歡協助Pei、Pasu和Timothée。（Timothée的報告有更多
詳情）。
這間學校（或者應該稱為帆船訓練基地）其實是一間寄宿學
校（ 類似香港航海學校），不同年齡的船員由清早訓練到
下午。在晚上，他們還要上一些基本課程。他們全都住在宿
舍，在飯堂裡進餐。我們的代表團獲邀跟他們一起午膳，所
有人都要清洗自己的餐具，再交給下一個使用者…這是我們
們在家裡都應該多做的事情! 在訓練中心裡，船員出海前要先
做一些體能訓練 ，而顯然這些能體能訓練比起在西貢足球場
跑步更難受!幸好，在艱苦的賽事後，他們可以享受舒適的按
摩，以及由 Vivio和 Tony Liu安排的地道晚餐。
至於賽事方面，水準頗高，雖然他們的風帆比較殘舊而且只
有基本的衣著，但顯然船員的訓練是專門為比賽而設。你實
在不能以貌取人。Dragons隊員整體表現不俗，尤其是賽
事有多達100艘船參加。 所有隊員都位列30名以內，Pei 和
Timothée更在他們的組別捧盃。
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