McWilliam triumphs

Yellow Dragon comes out on top in Hong Kong's Loro Piana Around The Island Race

Less than ideal conditions did nothing this morning to dampen the enthusiasm of the 200 boats entered for the 2008 Loro Piana Around The Island Race. In a classic pursuit race, entrants departed Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour from Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s Kellett Island clubhouse, with staggered start times on two start lines to try and chase down their ‘slower’ rivals.

Even with a couple of OCS rulings and a few no-shows, the fleet still made an impressive sight making its way east through Lei Yue Mun Gap towards Cape D’Agiular and Shek O. With only 4-6 knots South Easterly on offer with a little more on the South side of Hong Kong Island, Race Officer Jimmy Farquhar elected to shorten the course for all classes at the Ap Lei Chau mark, just off the famous fishing port of Aberdeen. This proved to be an astute decision as the breeze dropped out to 4 knots.

Line Honours were claimed by local legend Sam Chan on TP52, Ffree Fire 52 but Chan was to be thwarted by the Longtze Premier of Thierry Barot, helmed by Jamie McWilliam, which triumphed on ATI corrected time. Hot on McWilliam’s yellow transom was Alberto Signorini of Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, sailing Magic 25 Good Vibrations, and claiming third place overall and a second place in the Sportsboat class.

As one of the Italian entries encouraged by event Sponsor, Loro Piana, Signorini was joined in the Sportsboats by Mr Pier Luigi Loro Piana (on Magic 25 It’s My Pleasure) and by Nicolo Reggio (on Magic 25 Black Magic) representing Yacht Club Italiano. In spite of the dearth of breeze, Mr Loro Piana enjoyed the event, commenting that the atmosphere of the event reminded him of sailing parties in Italy, and noting his pleasure in watching the development of the relationship between the Italian and Chinese Sailors.
It took over three hours to finish the remaining boats, with RHKYC Commodore’s wife, Suzanne Downes putting in a special performance with fourth overall, first dinghy and top lady helm. The final boat to cross the line was Scrumpy , whose team should really get an award for perseverance, after missing the finish line, only to spend another hour getting back into a position to cross it.

The Prizegiving will take place at RHKYC Kellett Island on Monday 24 November, with Mr Pier Luigi Loro Piana presenting the prizes. Sailors will also be treated to a presentation from two of Italy’s most prestigious Yacht Clubs after which there will be an exchange of Burgees between YCCS, YCI and RHKYC.

Top 10 results:

Sail Number	Boat Name	Skipper	ATI	Class	Corrected ATI
NED810	Yellow Dragon	Thierry Barot	1.050	SBR	3:10:35
HKG2238	Ffreefire 52	Sam Chan	1.334	IRC	3:27:16
HKG057	Good Vibrations	Yacht Club Smeralda - Alberto Signorini	1.075	SBR	3:30:45
HKG3700	My Ffair Lady	Suzanne Downes	0.834	FF15	3:33:41
HKG3830	Squiffy	Howard Williams	0.834	FF15	3:34:59
1885	The Black Pig	Mike Scantlebury	1.241	Hobie Tiger	3:43:08
HKG1046	Mango Jam	Tom Sheppard	0.963	Etchells	3:44:07
HKG3046	Sky's The Limit	Gideon Mowser	0.935	SBR	3:44:20
HKG3701	Puff 'N Stuff	David Chow	0.834	FF15	3:44:26
HKG3604	Ffolly	Martin Heath	0.834	FF15	3:45:26