Racing
Racing
Racing above N 25, one more time!
Words CHAN Chun Keung, Vice Commodore
香港今年派出兩艘艇參賽，分別是Polar Star III (47’) 和Tipsy
Easy (50’)，兩艘艇都是由經驗豐富、來自香港的遊艇會的
隊伍駕駛。這是我第三次與Polar Star III 參與賽事，共航行了
800海里。今年唯一令人失望的事情是，我們在航程中沒有捉
到魚。
賽事在4月23日下午在宮古島對開的平良港（Hirar-ko）展
開，在距離石垣島80海里的順風／背風賽道進行。
由於船員Joseph Chan和Michael Li Ming坐陣，Polar Star III
是最快繞過尾標離開宮古列島的賽艇，Tipsy Easy緊隨其後。其
餘9隻由中國和日本船員駕駛的賽艇在面對順風／背風賽道表現
比較保守，可能是因為他們想留待下一部份的賽事時發力。
The Okinawa Friendship Race between the islands of Okinawa
and Taiwan, is an international yacht race that has been running
since 1998. The race’s 13th run, in 2014, was the first time that
both Miyako Shima and Ishigaki Shima were included—bringing
the total distance of the passage to more than 200 Nm.
There were two boats from Hong Kong entering the race this
year: Polar Star III (47’) and Tipsy Easy (50’), both Beneteau Firsts
sailed by teams from yacht clubs in Hong Kong with extensive
experience in racing. This is the third time Polar Star III and I have
sailed 800 Nm with the boat to take part in the event. The only
disappointment this year was not being able to catch any fish one
word dangling.
The race started from Miyako Shima on the afternoon of the 23
April with a windward leeward course just outside the Hirara Ko
(harbour), prior to the departure on passage to Ishigaki Shima
about 80 Nm away.
With the experience of regular crew used to racing in Port Shelter,
including Joseph Chan and Michael Li Ming, Polar Star III was the
first boat to round the last buoy and dash into Miyako Retto after
two rounds of a triangular course, with Tipsy Easy following closely.
The remaining nine boats, sailed by Chinese and Japanese sailors,
were quite conservative during the windward / leeward race—
42 Hebe jebes • Jul/Aug 2014
most likely because they wished to preserve their boats for the
passage racing to come.
In no time at all we were off on passage, everybody took different
choices of course heading to the first waypoint depending on
the size of their boat and their local knowledge of the sea. It was
cloudy with mild swells and very soon flashing spinnakers and
genoas began to appear on the water. We slowly eased into the
mood of surfing on the Pacific Ocean. Our skipper ordered us to
put on our full ocean gear when the light began to dim. The breeze
was a constant 15 to 18 knots coming from our stern. Polar Star
III chose to drop her spinnaker but keep up a full main sail in the
dark. There was drizzle overnight and this part of the race was less
of a challenge to our experienced crew.
Tipsy Easy continued to carry her asymmetrical spinnaker to
pass two small islands midway, which were Minna Shima and
Tarama Shima, about 4.5 Nm apart. She soon found herself
leading the fleet and going on to cross the finish line early in the
morning with Line Honours—only taking slightly over 13 hours to
complete this part of the passage.
The second part of the passage started early on the morning of
the 25 April with a downwind start. There were no waypoints with
the destination of Keelung about 140 Nm away.
We had an easy ride for the first 12 hours and I am sure
that the heavens began to get jealous. For, exactly when we
crossed the latitude 25 degrees North, the wind began to
build up from the north with gusts close to 40 knots. Soon,
large swallowing swells picked up to 3.5 metres high when we
headed into the Black Current, about 60 Nm east of Taiwan.
Luckily there was no heavy rain or it would have felt more
uncomfortable for some of the casual sailors on board. We did
not want to meet challenges like the Sydney to Hobart Race,
so we reefed the main sail for a steady ride.
Just as I described last year in Hebe Jebes, the maximum
deviation between the compass heading of the boat was about
30 degrees from the COG when we were inside the Black
Current. There was a constant northward lift against the wind as
predicted while we were approaching Taiwan. With a boat speed
of only 6 knots with 9 knots SOG, simple geometry suggested
that the current was pushing us some 4.5 knots sideways.
1998年開始舉辦的中日友好親善帆船賽（Okinawa Friendship
Race） ，賽事會來回日本沖繩和台灣， 至今已是第13屆
了。2014年的賽事首次同時加入宮古島和石垣島的賽程，令
整個賽程超過200海里。
在賽道上，每個人都根據船隻的大小和對當地海域的認識，
選擇不同的路線前往第一個航點。那時候天氣多雲，有輕微風
浪，色彩繽紛的三角帆和球帆很快就在海面升起。我們慢慢地
投入了在太平洋滑浪的心情。當光線開始變暗時，隊長命令我
們穿好全副裝備，微風穩定地以15至18風節從我們的船尾吹
來，Polar Star III 降下了大三角帆，但在黑暗中仍然保持拉起全
主帆，夜裡有微雨，但這段賽道對我們經驗豐富的船員來說，
算不上是一個挑戰。
Tipsy Easy 則繼續揚起不對稱的三角帆通過水納島（Minna
Shima）和多良間島（Tarama Shima）—這兩個相距4.5海里
的小島。她很快就發現自己已領先其他隊伍，早上就可以通過終
點線取得Line Honours，全程只花了大約13小時就完成了這部
份的賽程。
第二部份的賽事在4月25日早上，在