The Alfred's News Alfreds News November-December 2017 | Page 9

Saturday was registration / measurement, and another training session, followed by one of the highlights of the regatta.
Grant had organized dinner for all of us with local sailing identity Samuel Chan who is friends with Grant through the Flying
Fifteen class, but also campaigns a TP52 called FreeFire.
Sam lives in a spectacular house in the Mid-Levels above Hong Kong, just below the Peak lookout, the view was unbelievable,
he as very generous putting on a delicious BBQ for us, we all swam in his pool, which overlooked all of Hong Kong, and met
some of his sailor friends.
Sunday was a day off and the Opening ceremony, my dad took me to a theme park during the day, and then left me with the
team to go into Hong Kong to the main yacht club (we were staying and sailing at an annex of RHKYC) for the ceremony.
The ceremony was amazing, with a Chinese Dragon ceremony, the Kiwis doing the HAKA, fireworks and dinner around a
beautiful pool. It was also really nice to meet up with Peter Bennett and his wife at the yacht club.
After the ceremony, we did a bit of shopping, and then went back to the hotel. We were just about asleep when the fire alarm
went off. My dad made me run down 17 stories, and he wouldn’t even let me take my laptop.
The racing followed over the next 2 days, it was challenging, with the top mark under a big headland which was affecting the
wind, and tide that was flowing up the course, toward the top mark, and then across the course at the top mark. There were
lots of recalls because of the tide, and it was difficult to judge the top mark rounding. I had mixed success, but I was very
happy with my starts.
On the second day I saw what I thought was a toy snake floating on the top of the water. I thought about scooping it up with
my bailer and putting it in someone else’s boat just for fun. Good thing I didn’t, it turned out to be real.
Day 3 was teams racing, but there was some problem with entries, so half of us didn’t get to race, so I went to the Buddha
and shopping with my dad, we bought drones, more drones and some clothes, we had dinner at a great pizza restaurant near
the Stanley market.
During the last two days, I figured out the tide and took some less risks on the wind, with some much better results, in my
best race of the series, after leading around the top mark and the reach mark, I finished 4th place, a great way to finish the
regatta.
The final day arrived and we had to pack up our gear and return the boats, which we managed in record time, because we
wanted to start trading clothes with the kids from other countries. I had been working hard all week setting up trades with
the kiwis the Japanese and the Americans, who had the best uniforms. I finished the day with a much-coveted USA Nob life
jacket, (the only one traded at the regatta), a Kiwi Baltic life jacket, and lots of other t-shirts rashies and hats.
I made some great friends at the regatta, who I hope to see again at other international regattas in the future.
I should finish by thanking all the people from RPAYC who have directly or indirectly assisted me in my sailing endeavors to
date, whilst I didn’t come home a winner, I am much richer for the experience, and was proud to represent my RPAYC.
By Bella Green
Bayley Taylor excels at the 2017 Zhik Single handed
Dinghy Regatta
Congratulations to Bayley Taylor, sailing into 1st place in the Open Opti fleet, at the Zhik Regatta at South Lake Macquarie
Amateur Sailing Club. Well done to all competitors.
The Host Club, the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, is one of the most active regatta clubs in Australia, and the crew at RQYS is
positively looking forward to hosting a great week of racing for all levels – from entry through to Intermediate and Open. In this respect,
the Green Fleet will again be offered coaching for each day of the racing with some additional fun and games planned for off water too.