Alma Mater Race

The World Maritime Merchants Forum Alma Mater Race, organised by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s Young Members Committee, took place on the 16th of November in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour under a stunning blue sky and a steady easterly breeze of 10 to 12 knots. Forty-six boats joined this annual event, creating a vibrant and spirited atmosphere on the water.

This fun-filled race celebrates school pride, with teams formed based on their academic affiliations – whether from local universities, international schools, or secondary schools. As long as at least half the crew has ties to a particular institution, they can race under that institution’s name!

As in previous years, the University of Hong Kong was the largest participating academic institution, fielding eight boats, including teams from the Faculty of Dentistry and Hornell Hall. The event also welcomed alumni from prestigious institutions around the world, including Cambridge University, University of Chicago, Imperial College, University of Manchester and University of Newcastle, Australia. Adding to the international flavour, sailors from two Chinese Mainland universities – Dalian Maritime University and Wuhan University – flew in to join this annual celebration of ‘school spirit’ on the water.

The club’s Sail To Change community outreach programme proudly entered two teams, representing the Hong Kong Sea School and Aberdeen Technical School, showcasing the programme’s commitment to youth sailing development.

This event also brought together sailors across generations. On DBX2, Wah Yan College alumnus Thomas Wong, who graduated 60 years ago, sailed alongside Sean Law, a Primary 3 student. Another inspiring story came from Terence Cheng, skipper of Stingray and also a Wah Yan College alumnus. Terence first discovered sailing through the 2022 edition of Alma Mater while helping on the Wah Yan spectator boat – despite not knowing how to swim or sail at the time. Today, he owns several racing yachts and is an active member of the sailing community.

Boats were divided into five starts based on their RHKATI / PHS ratings, with the slower boats setting off first. The final start featured the Etchells and larger yachts, including Arcturus+, Full Tilt, MNOG Alpha, Ocean’s Five. Race officer, Mark Dowding, set a course starting from Hung Hom, through Lei Yue Mun to TCS 4 and back to a club finish line after passing several harbour marks.

Under RHKATI, the Ruffian, Victory 9, representing Diocesan Boys’ School, took the win, followed by another Ruffian, Skellum, representing Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2nd place, and Flying Fifteen Full Power (skippered by Sam Chan), representing the University of Manchester, in 3rd place. In the PHS division, Big Boat Lion Rock, representing HKU Dentistry, took the win, with Impala, Saturday Again, from Aberdeen Technical School (skippered by Ben Lam) in 2nd place, and Kiasu! (skippered by Chris Li) from St Paul’s Co-educational College in 3rd place.

- photos RHKYC / Luke Van der Kamp