“Challenging, but I hope all good in the end” is how Principal Race Officer Charlie Manzoni summed up today’s racing at Hong Hong Race Week.
Said Manzoni “It was a difficult day today; we managed to get one race completed in pretty windy conditions however the wind then completely died across all races courses apart from Area D. We then went on the hunt for wind; the Optimists had already moved from Area B to Area C but we eventually sent them home.
We took all the Area C boats (420s, 470s, 2.4 Metres, Laser 4.7s and Laser Radials) all the way out to Area D to try to get some races in but we only managed a race for the 420s and the 470s.”
Optimist fleet Race Officer Sofia Mascia added “Due to difficulties with the wind only one race was sailed despite us changing the sail area three times in search of some breeze. The young sailors, however, made the most of their down time with water fights!”
Fun was also the name of the game for the Green Fleet which raced in Repulse Bay with about 12kts out of the north east. Race Officer Alex Hill said “We had two very good practice starts and we managed to have our Race 4 in about 10-12kts. It was a very nice morning but as we started Race 5 the wind became extremely light at 4 or 5kts and as sailors were making their way to the first mark we had a dramatic wind shift. The group had stayed together however and we made the decision to allow the race to continue despite the major shift in the wind. In the end, we managed to get Race 5 completed and I believe that had we abandoned and reset the course we would not have managed to complete Race 5. In the end we stayed on the water and the sailors played some games. We had a fun race just for a laugh to help the sailors make their way home and we landed on time and all seems pretty good.”
Brenda Davies, Race Officer at Area C said that “sailors were happy with their first race and we were actually well within our sequence for Race 5. The 420s, 470s and 2.4 Metres were on the course when the wind clocked from about 050 to 330 and dropped away so at that point we abandoned the race. “I thought it was all over and we were going to go for tea but Charlie (PRO) had a different plan! We zoomed up to Beaufort and piggy backed onto the 29er / Hobie 16 course where I was welcomed on board committee boat Hector Ross. We reset the course; added some extra marks and made the windward leeward into trapezoid at a high rate of knots and managed to give the 420s and 470s a race. It was in about 4 to 5kts of wind which was okay and ended up shortening the course at the top mark D on the second way up. The other classes got to go home a little bit earlier. It was a long day!
“There was more luck at area D” said Race Officer Dave Norton. “We had great wind in the morning giving a steady 10-12kts for the first two windsurfer races though by noon the breeze had dropped to 8kts for their third race. We got the 29ers and Hobie 16s away just before 1400hrs and had a great race exactly on target of 30 minutes and by the time we started Race 5, the wind had dropped further. “
Despite a slow afternoon with 12 classes racing a total of 58 races have been completed in two days!
No doubt everyone agrees with Norton’s last sentiments “Let's hope the wind is back for tomorrow.”