You couldn’t ask for better conditions today; blue skies, 9 to 10kts and a flat sea state across the course! The Optimist race track was set in Stanley for their initial start however the first flight to go were a little bit too eager and they had two general recalls. After the second general recall there was a wind shift, the course was reset and, finally, they got away cleanly. The top three Optimists continued their lead from yesterday with Norway’s Julia Jacobsen two points ahead of Hong Kong’s Casey Law and India’s Uma Chouhan one point behind in third.
The Green Optimist Fleet which fosters the development of racing skills for new sailors had an excellent day, 4 races, flat water and fun. Hong Kong’s Felix Mulder is in the lead followed Vianney Bourrut Lacouture and China’s Chuhan Zhang in third.
Principal Race Officer Barry Truhol said, “The conditions were fantastic; sunny, constant breeze and the race courses went without any problem. The sailors came back smiling. For the high-performance craft, they went out again to Po Toi where it was lighter today but there was no swell, and the sailing was exceptionally good. Everyone got in all their races and there are some tired but happy sailors coming back to shore. A good day.”
In the Laser Radial fleet, Chinese Taipei’s Hsiu Chu Daniel Huang continues his lead followed by Hong Kong’s Stan Picard. In third the top female is Stephanie Norton who had a great day today notching up 3-1-5 in her races. Norton said, “It was a lot lighter and a little shiftier than yesterday. It was better but also more complicated because yesterday the focus was more on strength and today’s was more like you had to think a little harder. Still, I had a good race today, got a first, but it was quite hard. In the stronger winds the guys are really strong but in the lighter winds the girls are really fast.”
Also on the Po Toi race track, the 420 fleet’s Eloi Defline and Thibault Minne continued to battle it out with Duncan Gregor and Matthew Clark. Defline commented on the battle with Gregor/Clark, “The wind and the current were unstable today; it was quite hard to know where to go on the course, and Gregor/Clark were really good as well today. Good racing though we didn’t win the last two today - but we will come back strong tomorrow. In the last two races we messed up our starts and it just got a little nuts and that's all. Hong Kong Race Week is nice, the organisers are really good and the courses are nicely laid out.” Even with Defline/Minne racking up two second places today, they are only one point ahead going into the final day of racing.
With the breeze forecast to considerably increase tomorrow for the final day of Hong Kong Race Week, and sailors excelling in different conditions let’s see how it affects the leader boards.
Provisional results at https://www.hongkongraceweek.com/results
今天各組賽事順利完成，初場樂天小帆船組別賽道定於赤柱，但第一組出發時過於急速，因而需要兩度重新起步。在第二次起步後，風向改變，大會需重新設定賽道，最後所有賽船順利出發。三甲排名如昨日一樣，順序為以兩分領先，來自挪威的Julia Jacobsen，緊接有香港代表Casey Law及以一分之差，位列第三的印度選手Uma Chouhan。
樂天小帆船初級賽組別今天進行了四場比賽，海面平靜，所有選手均樂在其中。香港代表Felix Mulder暫時領先，Vianney Bourrut Lacouture緊接其後，第三位有中國代表Chuhan Zhang。
總裁判長Barry Truhol稱：「今天天氣晴朗，風速平穩，十分適合比賽，各場賽事均能順利完成，各組選手亦帶著滿面笑容回來。」
在雷射輻射型帆船組別的賽事方面，台北選手Hsiu Chu Daniel Huang繼續保持昨日優勢，排在第一位，力壓香港代表Stan Picard，第三位的是一名女選手Stephanie Norton。今天Norton 的成績為3-1-5；賽後她表示今天的風勢比昨日明顯減弱不少，昨天需要用較大的力量完成比賽，而今天需要思巧更多，更具挑戰性。
蒲台島賽道方面，420帆船賽由Eloi Defline 和Thibault Minnie繼續對戰Duncan Gregor 和Matthew Clark。Defline說：「今天風勢不穩，較難在決定航道，Gregor和Clark均做得十分好。」雖然Defline和Minnie在今天兩場賽事中排在第二位，但她們仍以一分領先，進入明日最終回賽事。
明天為香港帆船賽周的最後一天，預料風勢將會增強，選手需使出渾身解數爭取最佳成績。
請到以下網頁瀏覽每日最新排名： https://www.hongkongraceweek.com/results