SLAM Sailing Centre
SLAM Sailing Centre
Emily and Timothée and a close finish between Nathan,
Bincker and Alan.
Sadly, none of our sailors managed to be in the top five,
and only Nicolle was awarded a prize by the coaches
(RHKYC, ABC, J-Asia and HHYC) for the best improvement
over the weekend as she had managed to finish 4th in the
third race. Calum Gregor—returning from his Optimist
retirement—won the Nationals for the third time in a row,
followed by Thorwen Uiterwaal.
HKODA Nationals
The weekend of 22 and 23 November was the event of the year
for all the Hong Kong Optimist sailors. This year, the event was
organised by HKSF (Hong Kong Sailing Federation) together with
HKODA (Hong Kong Optimist Dinghy Association) and hosted in
Tai Mei Tuk at the HKSSA (Hong Kong Sea School Association)
around the Tolo Harbour, a brand new venue for all the racers. It
was the biggest competition ever held in Hong Kong for a single
class with ninety boats, including twenty from Taiwan, China,
Finland and Macau with competitors aged 8 to 15.
The event is very complicated in terms of logistics as, with
eleven boats from Hebe, we had to send a second safety boat
(by sea) and it took Ah-Shing and Howie three hours to come,
and three hours to get back! Another issue was gasoline, as
there is no petrol station on the way to or in Tai Mei Tuk. We
had to pre-order 90 litres in advance (five tins of 18 litres each)
and refill on each day before the races. For the sailors, it was
also an innovative event as the space was an issue (CF
map). They had to rig their sails on their boats for the first
time instead of using the floor. This proved to work okay and
Soon after the Nationals, Alfie had to take the boats back
to Middle Island to prepare for the ABC Regatta and a joint
training session!
everyone was helping each other. Launching and recovery
was also different as it was done by column in a strict
order, according to the guide. Failure to do so would have
generated a 10-point penalty before even starting the race.
The race area was located in the Tolo Harbour, surrounded
by mountains. We were wondering if it was Hong Kong or
New Zealand. The organisers could not have asked for better
conditions. Sunshine and good winds under the watchful
eyes of Guan Yin made for ideal competition conditions.
The competition was fierce but fair and the winner was only
decided in the last race.
香港樂天帆船錦標賽
在11月22和23日週末所舉行的香港樂天帆船錦標賽（HKODA
Nationals）對香港Optimist級別中的所有選手們來說是一件
年度大事 。該賽事今年由香港帆船運動總會（HKSF）與香港
Optimist級帆船協會（HKODA）聯合主辦， 比賽地點位於大
尾篤、吐露港附近的香港學校風帆協會（HKSSA）。對所有參
賽者來說，這是一個嶄新的比賽場地。這次的比賽