SLAM Sailing Centre
SLAM Sailing Centre
HK Nationals,
special report from Emily Keg
究竟是身處香港還是紐西蘭。主辦單位為我們提供最好的比賽環
境。 在觀音的看顧下，當天陽光普照，順風天氣為我們創造出
理想的比賽條件。比賽雖然激烈，全程以公平的形式進行，賽中
的優勝者也是在最後一場比賽中才誕生出來 。
由於有太多的船在同一時間起步，賽事委員會決定以顏色彩帶來
把水手們分開成為四個比賽隊伍，然後安排其中兩隊率先起步作
賽，另外兩隊則緊隨其後，如此類推，確保所有隊伍都有機會和
對方進行決鬥。
我們需要在賽前便提早預訂好90升（5罐，每罐18升）的汽油，
並在每天比賽進行前為船隻入油。為水手們來說，這也是個新穎
的比賽，其中比賽場地的大小便是一個問題（參見圖）。在空間
有限的情況下，他們需要在船上，而不是地上，為他們的船隻裝
帆，而事實證明了這樣也不錯，因為在裝配船隻的過程中每個人
都能互相幫助。船隻的下水和回復程序也跟以往的非常不同，
水手們需要按照指引中嚴格的順序來進行這些工序，違規的水手
會在開始比賽前被扣10分。
比賽地點位於吐露港，四面環山。這環境令我們一度懷疑我們
Arthur和Jasmine在週末的OCS級別中的首場比賽作時，Nicolle
和Pei卻只能分別以小組第8和第12名來完成賽事！在接下來的
比賽中，Zoe的穩定表現，讓她以第五名完成七場比賽中的其中
四場賽事，而Pasu和Pei也在比賽中盡了全力。Pasu以第九名
來完成他的五場賽事。比賽的末段主是Emily和Timothée他們兩
人之爭，Nathan，Bincker和Alan則緊湊的雙雙衝線。可悲的
是，我們沒有選手能排在前五位，只有Nicolle一人被香港遊艇
會、香港仔遊艇會、J-asia和白沙灣遊艇會的教練們授予最佳進
步表現獎，因為她成功以第四名來完成第三場的比賽。退休後
復出的Calum Gregor在Optimist級別中作賽，他是繼 Thorwen
Uiterwaal之後，首人以一連三勝的姿態連續成為Nationals帆船
賽中的贏家。
The weather was perfect
for the HKODA National
Championships at HKSSA
at Tai Mei Tuk on 22 and 23
November—APEC blue sky and
sunshine. It was exhilarating
knowing that I would be
competing against 89 other
boats, some of them from
overseas—it would be a bigger
challenge than other regattas.
To prepare, Alfie had arranged
for the Dragons to train at Tai
Mei Tuk the week before, so we
knew what the conditions were like.
It was an early start on Saturday; the team left HHYC at 7.30am on
the bus with our racing sails. It was all business—we were briefed
by Alfie, went over the course and our sailing notes. As this regatta
is an Optimist-only regatta and the overall fleet was very big, the
race committee introduced a different type of classing system—the
fleet would be split into four colours: red, white, blue and yellow.
Each day the fleets would change.
When the team was on the water, we were briefed again by Alfie, did
our warm up drills and checked the start line to see the best side to
start from while waiting for the five minute horn. Most of my starts
weren’t properly timed as I didn’t have a watch (put that on the
Christmas list please, Mum!), however many of Zoe’s, Nicolle’s and
Jasmine’s starts were brilliant. In the first race, I was doing quite well
until near the finish. Instead of going through the finish gate, I went
off the course and back to the committee boat—Pasu and a few
other boats had followed me, oops! I didn’t realise my mistake until
Alfie came in a safety boat to tell me—I was already halfway to the
committee boat. The other sailors that had followed me had realised
the mistake and had already turned back.
By the time we returned to HKSSA, everyone on the team was tired
out from the races. The volunteers pulled our boats up the slipway,
gave us refreshments (more chocolate!) and then we ate pizza.
After we derigged our boats, we went to put our sails in the sail rack
One of the rules for this regatta was that we would have to sign
off the land when we launched, if we didn’t do this we would be
penalised, but it was really easy to remember because when we
signed off we were given a few Snickers bars, a bottle of Iso-Tone
and a Watsons water.
that Alfie had brought from Hebe Haven, but we found that the rack
had been filled with sails from RHKYC—we managed to clear their
sails and put our sails in. Travelling on t H