South Africa win in China

Andi Robertson reports from the China Cup International Regatta, plus amazing photos from Carlo Borlenghi

Led by former Shosholoza America’s Cup skipper Mark Sadler, South Africa’s team Sheraton retained their perfect scoreline today to win the China Cup International Regatta on Shenzhen’s Daya Bay, off the Longcheer YC.

Appropriately for this increasingly international regatta, South Africa's participation this year with two teams ensured the event has now drawn teams from all five continents of the world and fittingly it was Sadler and his crew which was put together by former grand prix campainger Ellias Perch and South African Beneteau dealer Robbie Dove who won the top award this year.

A pair of wins today in the strongest breezes that have yet been enjoyed over the three year history of this exciting, emerging regatta ensured they won overall with a race to spare. Impeccable as their execution may have been, with consistent sailing and strong tactics in each of the six races over four days, ironically the only minor blot on their copybook was a spectacular, full scale Chinese gybe (when the boat rolls spectacularly before the boom crashes over) today which they took a little time to recover from.

Peak windspeed today was 26 knots, but most of the time it was a settled 21-22, to produce some blissful racing conditions, imprinting great memories for the crews of the 30 First 40.7 Beneteau One Design fleets from 13 different countries and regions.

The short, steep choppy seas kicked up a regular drenching for crews but with bright sunshine and air temperatures at least in the mid 20’s, there was little to complain about, a day which over wrote the images of last year’s near windless Olympic regatta, clearly proving just how good sailing in China can be. It was the perfect high note to end on.

Sheraton sailed steadily and conservatively to ensure their scoreline remained unblemished, while a tussle between the Auckland-based crew on Team Yachtfinders Global and China Boating was to settle the runner’s up spot. After the first of today’s two windward-leeward races the Kiwi and Franco-Chinese rivals were on level points, so whoever won the final race would secure second place for the regatta.

“We are delighted to win and will be back next year if we are invited.” said Robbie Dove, Beneteau agent in South Africa. “We had never sailed a Beneteau 40.7 before we came here, but we did our research and learned how to set up the boat, and we spoke a little to the Japanese teams who have won here in the past years, so we kind of knew what to expect.

“We had a nice day in the breeze, we wanted to play safe and not take any risks and we didn’t except putting it in the p**s in the last gybe, so it was safe day and we enjoyed it. It is great to win overall, our objective really here was to come out and sail Ellias Perch who is one of our sponsors and a grand prix sailor from the past, and Robbie is trying sail some Beneteau’s in South Africa, and so to come and win the regatta is the bonus.”

The Kiwi team stayed cool under pressure, taking fourth to China Boating’s sixth, while the Hong Kong team on Simpson Marine sneaked in to steal third overall.

Yachtfinders' skipper-helm Jayson Herbert was formerly a top Kiwi Laser and OK sailor who raced at this regatta last year as a trimmer, but who admitted this was his first time steering a ‘big boat’ in a major race. He explained: “We had a seven point buffer on China Boating, they beat us by two in the first race today and so taking the drop into account we were level on points, we were second equal going into that last race. We got off the line OK and we were good up the first beat but went the wrong way and three or four boats got through, but a good run and a good beat we were ahead of them to the finish.

“When we arrived we could not even gybe so I thought we probably had a bit on, so we are very happy with second place.

“It’s an awesome event. To have 30 boats all the same on the start line is just great, very different to what we have at home.”

The South Africans may have been mostly in a league of their own, but the battle for the remaining podium places finished with only two points separating second from fourth placed China Boating, whilst Peter Robson’s Team GBR satisfied their primary objective this week, improving on their ninth place last year as they landed fifth overall.

Results
China Cup International Regatta, Longcheer YC, Shenzhen, China

1 Sheraton (R Dove/E Perch), South Africa 6pts.
2 Yachtfinders Global (B Marshall) New Zealand, 16pts.
3 Simpson Marine (R Wyatt) Hong Kong, 17pts.
4 China Boating, China, 18pts
5 Team GBR, (P Robson) 27pts

Many many more photos on the following pages....