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J/80 start, Nansha Sailing Association leads |
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Summer Saturday 4 & 5 During the morning of Saturday, the 11th of July, crews clambered aboard their boats in an ambient temperature of 32°C. According to the Observatory, there was a good chance it would rise further later in the day. Phew! No clouds and high UV promised to make Races 4 & 5 of the Summer Saturday Series 2026 a test of endurance. The previous week’s Typhoon Series, Race 4, had already given sailors a taste of extreme conditions – several sailors suffered heat exhaustion and were ‘rescued’ from competing boats. Oh dear. Understandably, race management feared they would be facing similar problems and made repeated warnings over Ch.72, before and during the two races. For many, late-night World Cup football and Wimbledon tennis added to the ‘exhaustion’! |
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| Henry Lam helms Buddy, victorious in both races | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Race officer, Howie Suen, set a geometric course between Shelter Island and the southern shore of Kau Sai Chau with the furthest marker located 0.75 nautical miles from the committee boat, Hebe One. The club’s 43-foot workhorse remained at anchor for the entire afternoon and marked the start and finish lines. The southwesterly breeze, from 240°, was blowing 4-5 knots with gusts up to 8 knots. The plan was for everyone to complete two laps of a geometric course for each of the two races, apart for PHS C which did one lap in Race 4 and two laps in Race 5. There were four divisions in each of the day’s races – Dragons, J/80s, PHS A/ORC and PHS C. After a brief delay waiting for the thermal influence on wind speed to take effect, the RO had the six J/80s away at 1312, followed by eight PHS A boats, two PHS C boats at 1322 and, finally, seven Shelter Cove Dragons crossed the start at 1327. There was some bumping at the ODM, involving two Dragons – protest hearing this week. |
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| Central Cove 2, Vincent Chung in command | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
An hour and a bit later, with the course shortened to 0.65 nautical miles, Suen had Race 5 underway for the J/80s at 1442. PHS A followed at 1447 and, the two entries in PHS C left at 1452. Last to start were the seven graceful Dragons. All up, 23 boats for both races. Here are the results:
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| Seven Shelter Cove Dragons joined the fray, Minion pictured here | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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