Whilst it was misty in the morning there was enough breeze to allow three races for the Optimist Main, Intermediate, 2.4mR, RS Feva and 29er fleets to be added to the scores on a fantastic fourth day of sailing at the Sun Hung Kai & Co. Hong Kong Race Week 2024.
In the 29er class, which incorporated the 2024 29er Asian Championship, Cameron Law and Christopher Lam had a great day today and whilst they closed the gap between them and the dynamo female duo of Emily Polson and Tiffany Mak, the girls still took the overall win by two points. Japanese team of Yuto Tsutsumi and Taishi Goto got into 3rd place.
Racing had been affected by the misty and shifty conditions at Tai Tam area for the ILCA fleets and eventually two races were finally held after a move to Stanley Bay. In the ILCA 6 fleet, Stephanie Norton took one bullet today and kept her grasp on 1st place overall. Five points behind her is Singaporean sailor Isaac Goh (who also took one win today) and in third place is Nancy Highfield. In the ILCA 4 fleet, the resounding winner is Isaac’s brother Ian Goh with 22 points, local sailor Zixi Huang jumped to 2nd place with 58 points and Tiago Salgado in 3rd place with 61 points.
Taking the win in the biggest fleet of the regatta was local Optimist Main fleet sailor Zihan Liu, six points ahead of Margaux Nguyen-Minh whilst Thai sailor Adison Ein jumped up to third place. In the Optimist Intermediate fleet, Chinese sailor Wei Xuan Ysai from Chenjinhao Sailing Club came in first, beating Yichen Xiao from Ducky Sailing in second and Muyu Mu from Macau, China in third place.
After winning 11 races out of 12, parasailor Yuen Wai Foo was crowned the champion in the 2.4mR class for the fourth time at Hong Kong Race Week.
Based on a great consistent performance, local sailors Hin Yat Yeung/Sze Ching Tsang finally got 1st place in the 15-strong RS Fevas. Second place went to Jiayin Li/Xiaotian Ma followed by Huang Zi Shu/Yu Ming Wu from Vanhang in third.
There was a big fleet of 33 entries in the Optimist Green Fleet where young sailors get to have their first ever racing experience in a regatta and which included seven young sailors from Mainland China and two entries from Macau, China. Local sailor Chloe Wan from HKSF took the win.
Principal Race Officer Barry Truhol summed up the regatta : "All races were completed to schedule. There was a little bit too much fog which really did hamper the racing and the visibility because when it's not foggy, Hong Kong is a beautiful place to look at, but the sailors are all in and safe. We've had an excellent international jury who have been really helpful in helping us with protests and handling of cases. Overall it's been fantastic.”
The prizegiving ceremony was held after racing at Middle Island. Hong Kong Race Week Race Chairman Peter Davies commented "we are glad to increase the size of overseas entry by bringing in so many boats from Mainland China and Macau, China. In spite of the fog we had for three days, we managed to finish all the scheduled races, so I think it’s great! “
In all, 271 sailors from 10 countries and regions from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong (China), Ireland, Japan, Macau (China), Mainland China, Singapore, Thailand and the USA participated in a wonderful week of racing. See you next year!
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