The 7th edition of the Sun Hung Kai &Co. Hong Kong Race Week (which this year also incorporated the inaugural 29er Asian Championship) came to a close today. Competing in the event were 236 sailors from 12 countries and regions including Australia, Belgium, Chinese Taipei, Greece, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Mainland China, Macau (China), Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand and the USA.
The day started with a grey sky and a bit of rain and when the sun coming out, the breeze didn't play ball and completely died. The race management team tried in vain to find some wind however after a few hours of sailors hanging around in the race areas of Po Toi and Stanley Bay, the N over A flag was hoisted signaling that racing was abandoned for all fleets except the Optimist Green Fleet which managed two races in Deep Water Bay.
In the 29er fleet, competing in the first ever 29er Asian Championship, dynamo female duo Emily Polson and Tiffany Mak kept their 1st place overall throughout the week including six 1st places. Behind by a mere three points were Cameron Law and Christopher Lam. In 3rd place were Jayden Fung and Jack Dingemans.
Over in the ILCA 6 fleet, Zhaohiu Ding from Mainland China finished 1st place overall followed by Hong Kong sailors Peter Jessop and Patrick Ziteng Feng.
In the ILCA 4, Singaporean top sailor Isaac Goh stayed strong from the start. He lifted the trophy with 7 points ahead of fellow Singaporean sailor, Josiah Tan. Thailand’s Thanapat Sircharoen came in 3rd place.
Taking the win in the biggest fleet of the regatta was Greece’s Optimist sailor Emmanouil Anastasios Vomvylas who had a massive lead of 20 points ahead of Zihan Liu from Hong Kong, with Chinese sailor Rong Sheng Deng in 3rd place.
For Optimist Intermediate fleet, Ethan Kiu from Aberdeen Boat Club came in first followed by XinRan Liu and Caleb Pang from Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club.
In the 2.4mR, parasailor Yuen Wai Foo took 5 bullets in total putting him in front of Virgile Bertrand, taking his 3rd champion crown at Hong Kong Race Week.
In the RS Fevas Shirley Ma and Yike Luo from Mainland China sailed their way to the win in front of Hong Kong’s Simon Leung and Tommy Mou.
The Optimist Green Fleet got two races in today. Nine year old Mainland China sailor Qian’ai Wang took the win.
Principal Race Officer Barry Truhol summed up the regatta :"the whole event was very well organised by Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. We had very successful races; from extremely strong wind for first couple of days, then we had lighter wind which is challenging for sailors in another way and then unfortunately today no wind at all, but as an event, I think it was fantastic and fun. The competitors put great effort to be sporting, everyone was very polite and helped each other out, it was great.”
The prizegiving ceremony was held after racing at Middle Island. The Hong Kong Race Week Race Chairman Peter Davies began the proceedings by thanking the Hong Kong Government through the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and Home Affairs Bureau and title sponsor Sun Hung Kai & Co. for their great support in this event. Davies also thanked our Race officers, including Barry Truhol, Brenda Davies, Inge Strompf-Jepsen and Elberti Uiterwaal-Postma for their hardwork throughout the week. Davies also mentioned there were up to 100 volunteers each day taking part in this event for 236 sailors on four race courses.
See you at Hong Kong Race Week 2024!
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