Southside Regatta

What a turnout – 139 boats in five classes, and 159 young sailors giving their best on two courses south of Hong Kong. Racing started on Saturday at 1100 off Stanley for the two Optimist classes and further south off Po Toi for the two ILCA classes and 29ers.

It was fierce competition for the Main and Intermediate Optimist fleets as they battled it out around a trapezoid course, set by experienced race officer, Inge Strompf. Can you imagine 72 spirited youngsters, hailing from Hong Kong, China, Macau, Thailand and Italy, all under 15 years old, giving no quarter and finishing six demanding races over two days? In the final tally, Alix Nguyen-Minh claimed victory in the Main fleet and Darryl Fok took the honours in the Intermediate fleet.

The Laser ILCAs got through six windward / leewards under the watchful eye of race officer, Bonnie Cheng, with Tiago Cheng De Villemor Salgado emerging victorious in the ILCA 4 fleet. Samuel Tan-Hardy showed his winning ways in the ILCA 6 class while Kiwi prodigies, Will Leech & Will Mason, notched up an incredible five wins in eight races in the 29ers.

Well done everyone, including the 49 volunteer race officials who made it happen.