Hong Kong Etchells

Jamie McWilliam provides his lastest installment as the drama unfolds

Ah, October! That brutally teasing month in Hong Kong… fabulous weather, great strength in the wind, but so often a wretched Northerly, leaving the Hong Kong Etchells fleet at the mercy of their Race Officer, and on this occasion it proved impossible to set a decent course, and so after a short “beat” to Hung Hom, nary a place changed hands except for a brief bit of beating from Shau Kei Wan to Kowloon Bay. The race was notable for nothing other than it being a beautiful day, the new team on 536 going out “coachless” and making it round the track in one piece on what was a very technically challenging day, and the level of hangovers around the place after National Day celebrations the night before.

The Wanchai Belle won from Quest, with Easy Tiger pulling a good third after incorrectly thinking they were over at the start and going back. Alex Hill on 555 (not sponsored by a cigarette company YET) seemed to have the Cowboy Trophy points in the bag for (allegedly) hitting a mark and then uttering the immortal line “we didn’t think anybody saw us” before doing their turns… Your reporter finds this hard to believe, but competition for nominations in this category is intense… In any case, it was only while on the dock afterwards that Alex was spared the embarrassment of outright Cowboy victory, when our lionhearted colleagues on 536 returned to the dock, heading downwind at pace with the main still up – remember, these guys had NEVER been out on their own before – and only through the muscly fending-off skills of ex-Munster forward Denis MacCarthy was disaster avoided. Good work lads, they secured a tie for the Cowboy points.

Next weekend is Port Shelter Regatta, round the cans on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, and on Sunday afternoon a race round the islands.

Results table so far:

No.	Name	Skipper	1	2	3	Total	Place
1133	Wanchai Belle	McWilliam/Pender/Parker/Mok	0.75	9	0.75	10.5	1
555	Heather	Mowser/Hill/Tunkey	2	3	9	14	2
788	Marianne	Martinet/Chapatte/Defline/Magnan	6	5	6	17	3
884	Easy Tiger	Kaye/Watson/Norton	9	6	3	18	4
1235	Lickety Split	Hill/Yourieff/Maynard	11	4	5	20	5
938	The Answer Is...	Whitehead/Macaulay/Breen	7	8	8	23	6
1046	Mango Jam	Day/Downes/Stonhams	4	2	DNC	26	7
1047	Marianne II	Berland/Brunet-Moret/Freches	3	DNC	4	27	8
269	Diva	Yeadon/de Bagneux/Savage/Leung	10	15	7	32	9
1190	Zulu	Botsford/Scott/Beattie/Knox	12	0.75	DNC	32.75	10
1243	Gunga Din	Burns/Williams/Angus/Abbott	5	10	DNC	35	11
760	Sailbad the Sinner	Fleming/Nieto/Ellis/Fung	14	12	10	36	12
696	Nikopol	Fabre/Cohen-Addad/Bahurel	DNF	11	11	37	13
787	3 x 11	Jimmy Farquhar	8	13	DNC	41	14
1051	Quest	Kinmonth/Thornburrow	DNC	DNC	2	42	15
536	Chailo	Green/MacCarthy/Meenan/Wilson/Winter	DNC	14	12	46	16
903	Get Smart	Badenach / Storey	DNC	7	DNC	47	17
606	Malpractice	McCool/Smith/Carrol	13	16	DNC	49	18
912	Wild At Heart	Harold Dudok Van Heel	15	DNC	DNC	55	19