Monsoon Winter 1,2,3

Squally showers and rough seas, thanks to Typhoon Yinxing, forced the Hebe Haven Yacht Club to postpone Race 1 of its popular Monsoon Winter Series. What a shame as conditions inside and outside Port Shelter on Saturday, the 9th of November, were described as "moderate" by one and "not life threatening" by another. Rules are rules, however, and when the Observatory raises the No.3, the club must respond accordingly. That's just the way it is.

There were, fortunately, fall-back dates and, on Saturday, the 23rd of November, race officer Queenie Ho decided she would try to squeeze in Race 1 after her scheduled Races 2 & 3. This would put the series back on track.

With a consistent 8 knots from the east, Ho positioned Hebe One, the club's 43-foot utility catamaran, in the eastern quadrant of Port Shelter and dispatched her support team to lay the marks. "Communication," she told them, "would be on Whatsapp, as VHF is not always reliable." The competitors, on the other hand, would continue to use Channel 72.

A change from recent practice would be the use of white marks. For example, a P4 sampan with an orange flag as the ODM would return to being a fixed white mark. Around the course, there would be yellow and orange marks, no black.

At midday, the sun began peeping through the clouds and the northeasterly steadied at 6 knots. Temperature was 22 degrees and humidity, 61 percent – benign conditions for the 19 boats that had showed up to race. "We often get 'walk-ins' and are expecting more J/80s," said senior mark layer, Rob Allen, "so numbers could increase to even more than the 26 listed entries!"

At 1250, the RO made her official welcome in English and Cantonese, confirming that the J/80s and PHS A boats would sail two laps of Course 2, with a distance of 0.7 nautical miles to the top mark. PHS B would do one lap of Course 1. Incidentally, there were not enough boats to make an IRC division so the committee included them in PHS A. In closing, Ho thanked Carlsberg for their valued sponsorship and wished everybody a great afternoon's sailing.

At 1100, three J/80s made a clean start, followed five minutes later by twelve PHS A / ORC boats. The wind had increased slightly to 8 knots as the four boats in PHS B got away at 1310.

All three divisions finished within an hour confirming that the RO had made the right call on course lengths. First boat home was Coral Harbour but, on handicap in PHS B, slipped to 2nd behind Spaceship and in front of Noah in 3rd.

In the competitive PHS A / ORC division, Merlijn filled top slot, with Gearboxx in 2nd and Ocean's Five, 3rd. First Order (Baring Asia 2) swept the board in the J/80 division leaving MNOG (Jelik 6) in its wake, and Weekend Sailing (Jelik 7) bringing up the rear.

During the course of Race 2, there had been a 20-degree windshift so the RO decided to relay the marks as quickly as possible for Race 3. The support staff did an amazing job of getting everything in place before the five-minute warning signal at 1430, even upping anchor and moving the committee boat in the process.

At 1435, three J/80s slipped across the line in the consistent breeze, First Order (Baring Asia 2) in the lead – it stayed that way for 32 minutes and 30 seconds. Well done, Jason Chan and crew. In 2nd came Weekend Sailing (Jelik 7) and 3rd, MNOG Sailing (Jelik 6).

Then it was the turn of the thirteen PHS A / ORC boats. A focused race by Bridget Chan and crew saw Minnie the Moocher emerge victorious. Merlijn filled 2nd place and Zoe's Guard, 3rd.

Coral Harbour again won PHS B ahead of Spaceship and Noah. Marmalade brought up the rear in 4th.

The last boat to finish Race 3 was Harpseal at 15:19:33, still leaving time for the 'missing' Race 1 to be re-sailed. But there was no time to waste – the race officer decided that all three divisions would start together at 1530.

In the excitement, Jibulai got too far ahead of itself and had to re-start. The remaining 18 boats took advantage and, relishing the conditions, were soon on their way to the top mark. On handicap, Zoe's Guard conquered all while Minnie the Moocher came 2nd ahead of the VX One, Serendipity.

PHS B boat, Coral Harbour, finished in an amazing 24 minutes and 2 seconds but had to accept 2nd on handicap. Noah scored a 1st and Spaceship a 3rd.

The J/80s saw, once again, First Order (Baring Asia 2) topping the results and leaving Weekend Sailing (Jelik 7) to accept 2nd place and MNOG (Jelik 6), 3rd.

The next race in the Monsoon Winter Series will be held on the 7th of December 2024.