SLAM Sailing Centre
SLAM Sailing Centre
ABC Southside Regatta 6 & 7 December
傳統上，香港仔遊艇會南區帆船賽是全年最後一場帆船賽，
也是香港OP級帆船協會 1月至12 月排名賽的最後一場。那個
周末的天氣預報是強風，兩天的風速都達到六級，而且氣溫
下降。
Traditionally, the ABC Southside is the last regatta of the year and
also the final race for the HKODA rankings which runs from January
to December. The forecast for that weekend was strong wind up to
force six on both days, combined with falling temperatures.
The sailing area was just off Round Island but, with winds in
excess of 25 knots, it proved to be a challenge for most of the
fleet just to reach the starting line. Alfred and Ah-Shing were busy
doing recovery missions with capsized boats everywhere—all
clubs combined. The extreme weather forced half of the fleet
to return to shore without having started the first race. For the
others, three races were completed. The main challenge was not
to break anything. Arthur did manage to fight the raging elements
to finish 6th in the first race and 11th and 9th in the second and
third ones. Pasu also managed to achieve an 18th in the first
race. Nicolle, Zoe and Timothée were further down while the rest
of the team preferred not to start.
On Sunday, the weather forecast was the same and our team was
not totally confident about sailing another day like the one before.
帆船賽的地點是Round Island 對出，但風勢超過 25 風節，
要船隊抵達起點已是一個嚴峻挑戰。Alfred和 A-Shing 忙
於拯救翻側的船隻，不論是來自哪間遊艇會的。如此惡劣
的天氣導致一半船隻被迫返回岸上，不能出戰第一場賽事。
其他人就完成了三場賽事，而他們的挑戰是不要弄斷任何東
西。Arthur戰勝了惡劣的天氣，以第6名完成第一場賽事，而
他在第二和第三場賽事亦分別取得第11位和第9位。Pasu 也
成功保護了他的帆船，在第一場賽事得到第18名。Nicolle、
Zoe和 Timothée 排名更後，其餘的隊員則選擇不參賽。
Upon our arrival at ABC, the gusts were so strong that it was
difficult to get the boats ready. Eventually, most of the fleet left the
pontoons—with already a few capsizes in front of the Club.
By the time the fleet reached the starting line, we had a
dramatic decrease in wind resulting in firstly the AP and then
black flags being hoisted. The last race was cut short as there
was less than 4 knots of wind.
While waiting, an extra sailor (over aged of course) tried to
sail against the Pico to prove to them that an Optimist can be
faster when handled well...guess the results—the master was
humiliated by the students!
This proved a welcome and humorous interlude and an
added bonus for the young sailors, happy that the conditions
had moderated from what seemed like survival mode. Arthur
did manage to do, quote, “Well” and finished overall 9th
followed by Nicolle (20th with a good 6th position in the fourth
race) while Pasu, Zoe, Timothée and Jasmine were side by
side between 24th and 29th positions. The remainder of the
team was heavily penalised since they only sailed two races.
Kudos to Bincker and Emily, who managed to reach 12th and
16th position in the last race, respectively, and became the
Dragons’ leaders.
The prizegiving was held in the ABC bar with the
presentation of the HKODA rankings followed by the ABC
Southside prizegiving.
16 Hebe jebes • mar/apr 2015
到了星期日，天氣預報仍是一樣，我們的隊員沒有信心在相
同的天氣情況下出賽。我們抵達香港仔遊艇會之後，風勢很
強勁，實在難以為船隻做準備。最終，大部份船隻都離開了
浮橋，有幾艘船甚至已在遊艇會對開翻側。
當船隊抵達起點線時，我們感到風勢突然靜下來，結果現場
出現了AP和黑旗。最後一場賽事要縮短，因為風勢只有不到
4風節。
在等候期間，一位多出來的船員（當然是超齡的）試圖駛
向Pico。他想證明如果處理得當，Optimist也可以快過他
們