Lipton Trophy

The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's Top Dog Trophy Series 2024-25 began on the 2nd of November with the first of four constituent events – the Lipton Trophy pursuit race – which saw 62 boats set off at staggered start times according to their RHKATI rating.

Different from normal yacht racing, a pursuit race sees competing boats given staggered starting times determined by their handicap. The slowest boats start first, with the faster boats starting afterwards in pursuit. In theory, if all the boats are sailed equally well, all boats should finish at the same time.

The Etchells class was the largest participating fleet, with 15 boats on the line, including King of the Pin, whose owner, David Salembier, was having his wedding reception at the club after racing.

With the northerly breeze being blocked by Kowloon Peninsula, the wind gods were not especially generous, and it was a tricky day even for the seasoned harbour sailors, with a strong tide and light breeze varying 1 to 15 knots, swinging from 015° to 100°.

Racing saw competitors beating eastwards up the harbour, rounding a mark off Tai Koo Shing, and then hoisting their kites to head back up to Hung Hom – a tactical race with competitors seeking low current patches while trying to stay in maximum breeze. The 2.5-lap windward-leeward saw a spreader mark at the bottom, keeping fleets separated in the busy conditions.

Ruffian Victory 9 was holding off the faster classes until the third rounding of Tai Koo Shing. However, two Cape 31s, which started last, just had enough runway to catch the smaller boats. Race officer, Inge Strompf-Jepsen, made a good call to shorten course at Tai Koo Shing, close to the target finish time. Capitano took the gun just 40 seconds shy of the optimum target time 1630, followed a minute later by another Cape 31, Out of Africa. The VX One, Serendipity, took 3rd place with the Ruffian, Victory 9, filling 4th place.

The Top Dog Trophy Series consists of four races: the other three are the HKRNVR Memorial Vase on the 11th of January 2025, the Sun Hung Kai Around the Island Race, re-scheduled for the 18th of January 2025, and the Tomes Cup on the 3rd of May 2025.

-photos RHKYC / Guy Nowell