11/11/2014
Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club Around the Island Race
Hong Kong’s Biggest Annual Celebration of Sail and Paddle
Sunday 16 November
This year’s Around the Island Race marks 150 years since the first race to circumnavigate Hong Kong Island was recorded, featuring a mere six boats racing around Hong Kong Island to starboard. Sailors have since regarded this route as a tricky challenge with unpredictable wind shifts and strong tides.
Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club introduced the race as an annual event in 1983 with 258 boats the largest recorded entry for the modern-day 26nm circumnavigation. The logistics for the largest event on the Hong Kong sailing calendar include a team of around 50 volunteers to man onshore and on-the-water safety.
On Race Day there will be two start lines immediately in front of the Kellett Island Clubhouse in Causeway Bay featuring up to 20 separate starts for sailboats, whilst over 30 local and international crews on outrigger canoes and coastal rowing boats will start and finish in the calmer surroundings of the RHKYC Middle Island sailing and rowing centre.
The race course features a 26nm circumnavigation of Hong Kong Island to starboard, which has been sanctioned by Hong Kong Marine Department since 2003. If the breeze is sufficient, boats will finish back where they started, at RHKYC’s Kellett Island clubhouse, however if winds are light, the Race Officer may decide to finish the fleet at Green Island, Cyberport or Stanley.
Entries are likely to range from one-person dinghies to 50-foot-plus cruising yachts. The outright winner of the race will be the boat finishing in the shortest time once ATI handicaps are applied and which will lift the La Cigale Trophy at the official prizegiving on Monday 17 November.
Apart from the raft of trophies and prizes presented by the Club for the Around the Island Race, a separate trophy known as the Cariad Trophy is awarded by the Hong Kong Sailing Federation to any boat which independently breaks the record for the fastest circumnavigation.
Last year, with the wind gods clear and present, Extreme 40 Aberdeen Asset Management finally smashed the record set by the late Dennis Wong in 1990, lifting the Cariad Trophy with a new, fastest ever elapsed time of 2h 13m 11s. Not to be outdone, a further 13 new elapsed time records were set in the 2013 race by the one-design and monohull fleets.
The Online Entry Form, Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions for the sailboat event can be found at the event website http://www.rhkyc.org.hk/AroundtheIslandRace.aspx. The official entry deadline is 1800hrs on Monday 10 November, with late entries accepted up until 1800hrs on Thursday 13 November.
(photo: Around the Island Race 2013, RHKYC / Guy Nowell)
