Clean start

Skandia already gobbling up the miles in the VinaCapital Hong Kong to Vietnam race

All 13 entrants made a clean start in the VinaCapital Hong Kong to Vietnam Race that started off Lamma Island near Hong Kong at 1200 hrs (local time) today. Drawing into a quick lead on the water was Grant Wharington's maxi Skandia, taking only six minutes to reach the windward mark and already having covered 67nm by the 1800 hrs position report.

Reports of boat speed reaching 20 knots bear out the forecast of force 6 to 7 winds during the early stages of the race, but with nearly 600nm left to go, it is currently impossible to hazard a guess at a finish time for Skandia.

Further back in the fleet, Ffree Fire, skippered by Russ Parker, is lying second ahead of Fred Kinmonth's Mandrake and Neil Pryde's Hi Fidelity.

As always, the fleet will get stretched out during the course of the race and entrants' respective handicaps over 656nm will have a huge bearing on who wins out on corrected time.

Handicap positions at 1800

Pos	Boat	Lat	Long	DTF
1	Ffree Fire	21 deg 24	113 deg 42	605.6
2	Hi Fidelity	21 deg 28	113 deg 49	612.1
3	Hocux Pocux 2	21 deg 32	113 deg 47	614.8
4	HSBC Johan III	21 deg 34	113 deg 51	618.3
5	Mandrake	21 deg 26	113 deg 47	609.5
6	Moonblue 2	21 deg 33	113 deg 48	616.1
7	O'Feeling	21 deg 37	113 deg 42	617.3
8	Polar Star III	21 deg 38	113 deg 52	622.2
9	Shahtoosh	21 deg 33	113 deg 50	616.9
10	Siren	21 deg 30	113 deg 49	613.9
11	Skandia	21 deg 09	113 deg 39	591
12	Tipsy Free	21 deg 46	113 deg 47	627.4
13	Windseeker	21 deg 46	113 deg 50	628.6