For many of the classes it was a selection regatta and therefore racing was closer than ever and many sailors have now qualified for their respective world championships this year where they will represent Hong Kong. As well as the changes to the race format the Regatta Committee also wanted to develop the atmosphere onshore. Each day after racing there was food for the competitors as well as music on the hardstanding before the daily prizegiving where the racing bibs were handed out to the leading sailors to wear for the following day’s racing. Day 1 saw light winds and, for the Optimist Class, many black flags as the tide carried the fleet over the line early in the first two races. Despite the delays from having to restart races, the separate finish committee boat meant that the other classes were not affected. The forecast for Day 2 was light but thankfully it turned out to be better than expected with most fleets managing to even fit in an extra race. On Day 3 the breeze finally faded to nothing forcing the race committee to keep the competitors onshore until hosting AP over A at around 1300hrs to signal no racing for the day. However, the final day of racing saw 10 to 15kts of wind for most of the day and all fleets were able to complete enough races to secure a second discard. It was close racing in all fleets; most of all the Hobie 16 fleet where the top two places overall were only decided in the final race with Tom Nunan getting the better of Tong Shing in the final race. In the 29er fleet, Yann D’Argenlieu and Nathan Bradley recorded five out of 11 race wins to finish 1st ahead of Ferdinand Heldman and Leo Giustiniani. The 470 class was dominated by Eliza Ling and Martha Wong winning eight out of 10 races whilst Tse Sui Lun and Chik Ho Yin recorded seven wins to finish 1st in the 420 class.The Laser 4.7 fleet was won by Nick Bezy with an impressive eight out of 10 race wins, while Xavier Moulin came out on top in the Laser Radial class. Cho Ping and Puk Chi Yeung were clear winners in the Access 303 class with nine out of 10 race wins. The Optimist Green class was won by Blincker Uiterwaal while his older brother Thorwen won the very competitive Optimist open class. The Regatta Committee would like to thank the team of over 60 volunteers who assisted both on and off the water. A huge thank you to the regatta’s title sponsor, Aberdeen Asset Management – with their support we were able to deliver a new level of regatta in terms of race management and also onshore activities. Next year the event will move to February and will be held in the week before Lunar New Year. Last month it was announced that the Hong Kong Sailing Federation and the Asian Sailing Federation (ASAF) have agreed that the 2015 event will be incorporated into the ASAF Youth Cup series, with the ASAF Youth Cup Hong Kong Race Week scheduled to take place from 14 to 17 February 2015.