Racing
Racing
The Kronenbourg 1664
Kowloon Cup on Ichiban
—a skipper’s de-brief!
Words Simon Jones
Two races: one second, one first and overall first place!
With the promise of an enjoyable two days of racing followed by a
seafood lunch in Pak A, over prizegiving, this popular event attracted
18 boats and, for sure, participants were not disappointed.
A breeze of 15–20 knots and surprising higher than normal rollers
from the SE greeted the Saturday race fleet. The course, an
islands course, caused many to resort to reefed mains, which
is a bit of a rare sight in our waters but it was the sensible call.
It was pretty gusty out there with strong bullets hitting the fleet,
particularly in the gap between Bluff and Basalt.
Robert, who led Ichiban’s short-handed crew (6-up) on this race,
also choose to run with a short headsail for what proved to be a
two-hour battle with the elements. All but two of the fleet finished
the race and it was the largest yacht Outrageous—which revels
in these brisk conditions—that won the day.
Ichiban came second as we were also able to make the best of the
conditions, while the lighter boats struggled with both wind strength
and waves. We came second by only 35 seconds on corrected
time, with Merlin third, three minutes back, which is an excellent
result for a Magic given the conditions of the day.
It was a different, far calmer scene for the boats on the Sunday.
Sunday’s format was a pursuit race with boats starting at different
times depending on their HKPN handicap. In theory, given even
conditions, if all boats are sailed equally well then all should finish on
the water together at the 14:00 pre-set finish time. ‘Best laid plans
of mice and men’! It just didn’t quite turn out like that, but we are not
complaining as it worked for us!
48 Hebe jebes • mar/apr 2015
The earlier starting boats, including Ichiban were able to make the
first mark (Table Island) on one or a couple of tacks, whereas for
the later boats the wind had abated and changed direction slightly,
meaning a number of tacks were required to make the mark. This
was a key feature in the destiny of the race.
I was fortunate on the Sunday to have more crew (9-up) and
the lighter winds (10–15 knots) allowed us to hoist the No. 1
headsail. We were third boat to start at 10.28 with the last boat—
Mojito—starting at 11.20. By the port rounding of Table (with,
surprisingly, none of the usual impact that that involves)—we
overtook Lazy Piggy (10.18 start), when they did get the Table
‘knock’, before heading out towards Nine Pins in heavy swell.
Olga and husband, David (who was visiting from Seoul)—the only
ones to do both days on Ichiban—said we did not go quite as far
to Nine Pins as on Saturday before tacking over towards the Bluff
Channel. Ichiban was coping admirably with the side swell but
most others, we thought, wouldn’t do so well.
No One Else took the inside line and arrived at Bluff before us.
However, we were first to turn at the top of the channel, towards
Bay Island. Decision time: the wind was still sufficient for us to
reach, so no spinnaker.
No One Else made the same call—so it was neck and neck to
Bay Island Mark, with Ichiban ahead by about 10m at the turn.
Back across to Bluff for the second rounding where we were
joined by Jazz, Mojito and Outrageous on their first rounding. No
One Else was ahead by 100m approaching the turn into the Bluff
Channel, but our earlier tack worked and we got well ahead.
49