Typhoon 5 & 6

With Race 6 of the UK Sailmakers Typhoon Series 2023 done and dusted, pressure is building among the front runners of the five divisions and two classes. There are four races to go and here’s how it stands:

Seawolf has a commanding lead in Division A while, in Division B, Nightshift has the two Cape 31s – Out of Africa and Capitano – nipping at its heels. Juice and Dexter II are dominating IRC Division C while Footloose could easily be overtaken by Future Seafarer Racing Team in the lively J/80s class. Minnie the Moocher is hanging on to a 1-point lead over Victoria in HKPN Division A and, in Division B, Pepper & Salt has 10 points overall compared with Zoe’s 11.5. Finally, in the DC29 Class, the real battle is between 2nd and 3rd – Voyages 52 and 56 – with 1 point separating the two.

Interestingly, an islands race was scheduled for Day 4 of the series but, with no wind at Waglan Island and the same at where a Port Shelter mark would be laid, race officer Barry Truhol decided it was pointless sending everyone on a drifter. Instead he would take advantage of favourable winds and go for two windward leewards inside Port Shelter! All boats were given Course 6.

This was a bold move and not to everyone’s liking. Temujin voiced its objections loudly over the radio but the vast majority – including Dolphin six, Out of Africa and Zannekin – were happy with the decision and enjoyed some close racing throughout the day, thanks largely to the wind holding at between 6 and 8 knots.

The windward mark was laid at 140 degrees, and 0.8 nautical miles distant. Despite the wind swinging through some 30 degrees, the RO pushed on and had the five IRC A boats away at 1120. Phoenix showed its rivals a clean pair of heels and went on to claim line honours in Race 5. Seawolf won on handicap ahead of Zannekin and Unicorn.

In the 11-strong IRC B division, Out of Africa put in an outstanding performance to take line and handicap honours. Nightshift recorded a 2nd and the Cape 31, Capitano, a 3rd.

J/80 winner of Race 5 was Footloose with Shenzhen Weekend Sailing (Jelik 6) a minute behind. Future Seafarer Racing Team (Jive) had to settle for 3rd.

Division HKPN A saw Serendipity claim a deserved line and handicap honours, ace sailor Patrick Pender at the helm. Carl Law’s Victoria place 2nd with a determined H3O in 3rd.

Veteran campaigner, Scrumpy, shone in HKPN B to win on handicap, ahead of Baby Beluga and Paul Lam’s Pepper & Salt.

Given their own start, the Chinese crews in their DC29s set off at 1145 into a wind of 8.4 knots. These colourful craft are kept in Kwun Tong and can often be seen sailing off the Kai Tak cruise terminal. Voyages 58 won Race 5. Voyages 57 took 2nd place with Voyages 32 3rd.

As conditions appeared to have stabilized, the race officer decided to lengthen the course for the second IRC race of the day – Race 6 of the UK Sailmakers Typhoon Series 2023. IRC A sailed Course 7. All other boats sailed Course 6 again.

Anxious to maintain momentum, the RO started the IRC A fleet with many of the HKPN fleet still racing. The big TP52, Phoenix, took line and handicap honours in an elapsed time of 54 minutes and 13 seconds. Seawolf was pushed down into 2nd place, and Kikukie’s Dream came 3rd.

IRC B of Race 6 saw the Cape 31, Out of Africa, claim line and handicap honours with the other Cape 31, Capitano, chalk up a 2nd ahead of Nightshift. Juice beat long-time rival, Whiskey Jack, in the IRC C Division with Talkinghead in 3rd.

Footloose again won the J/80s with Jive in 2nd and Jelik 6 in 3rd.

The enthusiastic and vocal entrants in HKPN A sailed off at 1322 into 8 knots of southeasterly wind. Newcomer Aegean66 won on handicap, with Carl Law’s Victoria in 2nd and Patrick Pender’s VX One, Serendipity, 3rd.

Pepper & Salt improved its performance to notch up a 1st in the HKPN B Division, ahead of Baby Beluga and the colourful Zoe.

The finishing order in the DC29 Class was Voyages 58, 57, 52.

Astute readers may have noticed that there is no Sportsboat class this year. That is because there are less than three sportsboat entries and the committee has decided to incorporate these boats into the HKPN Division.

It is likely that Day 5’s scheduled two geometric races will be changed to an islands race. This will maintain the balance of windward / leeward to islands courses in the series. Day 5 will be on the 6th of August 2023.