ABC Southside Regatta

ABC Southside Regatta 2019

The Aberdeen Boat Club’s annual dinghy regatta took place on 30 November and 1 December. After last year’s reduced event due to the impact of Typhoon Mangkut the regatta was back to full strength and the Club welcomed over 115 dinghy sailors to its newly renovated Middle Island Clubhouse.

Day one was a cracker with sunshine and good wind. The fleet was split onto two race courses with 48 Optimists and 9 Division B dinghies racing in Stanley Bay while the 29ers, 420s and Lasers raced just off Po Toi. The Optimists and Division B completed their planned 3 races each while on the Po Toi race area the fleets managed to fit in one additional race each to complete 4 each, with the 29ers completing 5 as this class favours the shorter 30min races.

In the Optimist fleet Peter Jessop (HHYC) secured two bullets and a third to top the table closely followed by Ethan Kong of ABC with 7 points after three races. There was a tie for third between Sean Liu and Tomoe Thiry (both RHKYC), although Sean’s two 2nd places meant he was holding 3rd place overall at the end of day one.

Division B consisted of the 2.4mR, RS Feva and Topper classes. It was Foo Yuen Wai (Sailability) who led after three races with Aaron Dampier and Oskar Wong (ABC) in their Feva holding 2nd place after a tie break with Puk Chi Yeung (Sailability) in his 2.4mR.

The Lasers completed 4 races on day 1 and in the Laser 4.7 fleet Douglas Leung (RHKYC) secured an impressive 4 straight wins matched by Stan Picard (RHKYC) in the Laser Radial fleet. Lumiere Ng (HHYC) and Ma Yuk (HHYC) were 2nd and 3rd in the Laser 4.7 fleet, while Emily Keg (RHKYC) and Emil Tulberg (RHKYC) were 2nd and 3rd in the Radial.

The 420s also managed 4 races with Duncan Gregor and Matthew Clark (RHKYC) leading the fleet with 6pts with Eloi Define and Thibault Minne (RHKYC) in second. Julia Jacobsen and Bertille Voets finished their day on a high with a win in race 4 to put them in third place overall.

The 29ers completed 5 races on day one which also meant they were able to have a discard one race score for the overall results. It was Casey Law and Augustin Clot (ABC) who topped the leader board with 7 pts. Second and third both had 10 pts and with tie break rules applied it was Pei Yip and Pasu Chu (HKSI) just ahead of Karrie Clark and Penelope Martin (HKSI).

Day two’s forecast was not optimistic and when dawn arrived the weather stations across Hong Kong were struggling to find anything that could be recorded as a steady wind. All possible race areas resembled a mill pond and so the competitors were kept ashore with the AP flag hoisted first thing in the morning. The race committee under the leadership of Barry Truhol and David Norton were out on the water measuring 2 to 3kts of wind with small moments of excitement when the anemometers flicked over to 5 or even 6kts. This was never maintained and quickly dipped back to 2 to 3 or even 0. By 1230hrs it was clear that conditions would not improve to allow for fair (and fun) racing so the Race Committee hoisted AP over A. With a couple of outstanding protests from the previous days arbitration these were heard before a lively prize giving got under way at ABC Middle Island just after 2pm with prizes were awarded by ABC’s Rear Commodore, Graeme Brechin.

As well as the 100+ competitors the Club would like to thank all the volunteers who assisted on both days to deliver this regatta as well as RHKYC Middle Island for accommodating many of the competitors on their hardstanding. We look forward to seeing everyone back along with new entries for the next Southside Regatta currently anticipated to take place on 5 & 6 December 2020.

Regatta website with results and more photos https://www.abcmiddleisland.com/southside-regatta

Photos by Panda Man Takumi Images