Out of time

Light winds cause Maiden Hong Kong to finish outside Boracay Race record

Light and variable winds after leaving Manila Bay and overnight in the Verde Passage led the fleet onto being becalmed on the north east corner of Mindoro. All chances of Frank Pong's Juan 115ft Maiden Hong Kong breaking the record on her debut race went out the window. Ironically the present record of a little over 17 hours was set by Frank last year on his 75ft Jelik that is lying on anchor at the Boracay finish line waiting for the President's Cup to begin latter in the week. The wind on the approaches and in Boracay has been above twenty knots for the past twenty four hours. This helped them streak across the bay in front of Boracay Beach at 18 knots trying to make up for lost time with the press boat in hot pursuit.

Finishing after 2:00 pm gives Maiden Hong Kong an elapsed time of over 24 hours and a good workout on her maiden race.

The port hand bias at the Manila start line saw some crowding out at the pin end with Paul Bankowski's Ker 11.3 Jaywalker eventually being called over the line. A quick U-turn saw them start again and join with the forty to fifty footers on a close reach in eight knots of breeze down the Luzon coast. As the sun sets in Boracay no other boats are expected until late in the night or early morning making it one of the slowest events on record. Several boats have notified the race committee that they are proceeding under motor and hope to arrive tomorrow sometime.