Boats Bunch-Up For Summer Titles

Racing was exciting at the Hebe Haven Summer Saturday Series on Saturday Aug 3, with steady brisk winds of up to 20 knots, but it did force a few retirements during the afternoon.
Boats Bunch-Up For Summer Titles
Sports Boat ‘Merlin’ and IRC competitors ‘Signal 8’ (right) and ‘Lighthorse’ (left) set off upwind from the Leeward Mark during Race-10 of the Hebe Haven Summer Saturday Series on Saturday Aug 3, 2013. ‘Merlin’ (064) the Series leader came second to ‘Fly By Wire’ in this race, while ‘Signal 8’ had double firsts (of line honours and on calculated time) in both Race-9 and Race 10. (Bill Cox/Epoch Times)
8/7/2013
Updated:
8/7/2013

Racing was exciting at the Hebe Haven Summer Saturday Series on Saturday Aug 3, with steady brisk winds of up to 20 knots, but it did force a few retirements during the afternoon.

Rear Commodore Sailing, C.K. Chan sailing in Bits & Pieces told the Epoch Times after the day’s racing that the conditions proved to be exciting.

“It was exciting because we had the tail winds of the typhoon. I believed we had close to 20 knots at some moments,” said Chan.

He was also pleased to race some different types of courses.

“The RO [Race Officer] also offered new variety of courses from the typical sausages,” he commented.

With just one more Race Day, and two more races to come in the series, it is still all to play for in each of the four Divisions.

Assuming racing takes place on the last Race Day, and four discounts are allowed, changes to all top three positions is possible in each category.

However, based on past performances “Taxi”, “Merlin” and “Puff” are still strong contenders for the top spot in IRC, Sports Boats and Dragon categories, respectively.

The field is a little more open in the HKPN category, with a close fight for the first two places between “Getafix” and “JeNa PaBe” and several boats (“GA”, “Jazz”, “Kyte” and “Windseeker”) are lining up to wrestle the third spot from “Bits & Pieces”.

IRC

In the IRC class, “Signal 8” achieved a double first in Races-9 and -10 for both line honours and on calculated time, but having missed so many of the races in the series it does not help much in her overall series standings.

On the other hand, “Taxi”, who came second in each of the two races, consolidated her position as the leader in the series.

“Impala I” came fourth and third respectively in these races and has now moved into second place, with “Barnstormer” and “Moll” contesting third place overall.

HKPN

In the HKPN class, “Bits & Pieces” achieved another two line honours in Races-9 and -10 giving her second place on corrected time behind “GA” in Race-10, but five boats (“Windseeker”, “GA”, “JeNa PaBe”, “Getafix”, and “Kyte”) climbed above her on calculated time in Race-9.

In series standing terms, the current order and points (taking four discards into account) are: “Getafix” (9), “JeNa PaBe” (10), “Bits & Pieces” (14) with three boats, “GA”, “Jazz” and “Kyte” all on 16 points.

Sports Boats

In the Sports Boats class, Steve Bourne in “Merlin” came in first and second respectively in Races-9 and -10 to stay in the top position in the series.

Frank van Kempen in “Fly By Wire”, who is always a threat, won Race-10 and was third in Race-9. This moved him up to second place in the competition and only three points behind series leader, “Merlin” (5), assuming four discounts are allowed.

Jim Daly in “Stingray” secured a second and third place, which puts him in third equal place with “Phoenix” on 12 points.

Dragon Boats

“Puff”, the series leader in the Dragon Boats class, had another bad day last Saturday Aug 3 retiring during Race-9 with loose rigging and not starting in Race-10.

So the race for number one spot has become more tense. Only a couple of race days ago we commented that “Puff” only needed one more win to wrap up the series, but since then she has had a fourth place and two withdrawals. While “Puff” is still expected to win the series, “Moonraker II”, “Eaux Vives” and “Maiden of Hong Kong” all have a chance of picking up a series prize.

In Races-9 and -10 first place honours were shared between “Moonraker II” and “Eaux Vives”, respectively, with “Fei Chi” taking third place in both races.

Next Races

The final two Race Days of the Hebe Haven Typhoon Series are scheduled for Sunday Aug 11 and the following Saturday Aug 17.

Meanwhile, the final Race Day of the Hebe Haven Summer Saturday series is scheduled for Saturday Aug 24.