First a soothing piccie to relax by....
This was our third time in an Offshore race with Xena and we still chase the Line Honours and Corrected Time double for our Division in an Offshore race, something we have managed in some inshore races (eg here). First race in '09 we were second over the line and first on corrected time. Second race in '10 we were first over the line and second on corrected. This race, we were Line Honours and third corrected. We were also third overall across the line after the TP52s, which are out-and-out racing yachts. (*).
RESULTS
(*) Note for our non-sailing readers on Ratings and "Corrected" time: A boat's IRC rating is given to each boat based on a formula from the Royal Ocean Racing Club, looking at factors such as weight, length, type and weight of keel, hull type, sail size, etc.. It is, broadly speaking, a measure of how fast a boat is, with one (1.000) as the basis, known as a boat's "time corrector" or TCC. It is aimed to make competition between different boats fair. In theory, boats sailed equally well, in the same winds, will end up with the same corrected time, when their elapsed times (ET) are "corrected" by multiplying the elapsed time by the TCC. TCCs in our races will usually vary between about 1.000 to 1.4 (see the results). Example: our TCC is 1.215. Thus our ET of 73 hours 53 minutes 10 seconds is multiplied by 1.215 and becomes 89:46:18. The IRC is different from Performance Handicap systems, such as HKPN, in which the performance of a boat is taken into account: the better it does, the more handicap it has.
Some factors: we had SatCom/PredictWind course routing equipment on board, which gave us suggested routing for the first day. But at the end of day one, the PC laptop had a hard-drive crash, and it didn't work after that. (I was rather tempted to blame Jing for that, as it was a Lenovo, built in China....). So no more routing information for the rest of the race. There was one other boat in the fleet (Red Kite II) which had the SatCom system, and it told them to duck South on day two to avoid the developing wind "hole". They did that, and didn't stop (won the race, in fact). We didn't do that, and got stuck in a hole for 10 hours, with long periods of zero boat speed.
We came in to the finish under spinnaker on light breeze, max of about 10 knots. The fleet behind us came in on a building breeze of 25 knots, which took them straight to the line. One in our division came chasing us doing 12 knots, where we were 8-9. That, and the hole, meant we couldn't overcome the handicap we had: that we had to "give time" to the first place winners of some 2 hours per day. That is, we had to be 2 hours faster in a day than them to win, or about 6 hours in the total race. May not seem much to some of our readers, but it's a lot in a race like this with boats of similar length.
Ah well, as they say, "that's yacht racing". And full marks to the crew of corrected time winners, Sunshine, a lovely Swan 55, new to Hong Kong. We look forward to racing them again, which could be in the Hong Kong to Vietnam race.
And full marks to the crew of Xena, too. With the info we had, we raced a great race, with great expertise on view. It was a privilege for Jing and me to have them on board. Never did they stop trying and never gave up. That's the spirit! Next time, folks... as now we plan for the Sawadee.com Regattaa in Koh Samui, Thailand. And probably the Hong Kong to Vietnam Race in October.
Xena leaves in about two weeks for Samui, with the Regatta May 30 - June 4.
Couple of other piccies. More to follow in due course.
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| Sunset from Cabana Resort, Race HQ at San Fernando |
RESULTS
(*) Note for our non-sailing readers on Ratings and "Corrected" time: A boat's IRC rating is given to each boat based on a formula from the Royal Ocean Racing Club, looking at factors such as weight, length, type and weight of keel, hull type, sail size, etc.. It is, broadly speaking, a measure of how fast a boat is, with one (1.000) as the basis, known as a boat's "time corrector" or TCC. It is aimed to make competition between different boats fair. In theory, boats sailed equally well, in the same winds, will end up with the same corrected time, when their elapsed times (ET) are "corrected" by multiplying the elapsed time by the TCC. TCCs in our races will usually vary between about 1.000 to 1.4 (see the results). Example: our TCC is 1.215. Thus our ET of 73 hours 53 minutes 10 seconds is multiplied by 1.215 and becomes 89:46:18. The IRC is different from Performance Handicap systems, such as HKPN, in which the performance of a boat is taken into account: the better it does, the more handicap it has.
Some factors: we had SatCom/PredictWind course routing equipment on board, which gave us suggested routing for the first day. But at the end of day one, the PC laptop had a hard-drive crash, and it didn't work after that. (I was rather tempted to blame Jing for that, as it was a Lenovo, built in China....). So no more routing information for the rest of the race. There was one other boat in the fleet (Red Kite II) which had the SatCom system, and it told them to duck South on day two to avoid the developing wind "hole". They did that, and didn't stop (won the race, in fact). We didn't do that, and got stuck in a hole for 10 hours, with long periods of zero boat speed.
We came in to the finish under spinnaker on light breeze, max of about 10 knots. The fleet behind us came in on a building breeze of 25 knots, which took them straight to the line. One in our division came chasing us doing 12 knots, where we were 8-9. That, and the hole, meant we couldn't overcome the handicap we had: that we had to "give time" to the first place winners of some 2 hours per day. That is, we had to be 2 hours faster in a day than them to win, or about 6 hours in the total race. May not seem much to some of our readers, but it's a lot in a race like this with boats of similar length.
Ah well, as they say, "that's yacht racing". And full marks to the crew of corrected time winners, Sunshine, a lovely Swan 55, new to Hong Kong. We look forward to racing them again, which could be in the Hong Kong to Vietnam race.
And full marks to the crew of Xena, too. With the info we had, we raced a great race, with great expertise on view. It was a privilege for Jing and me to have them on board. Never did they stop trying and never gave up. That's the spirit! Next time, folks... as now we plan for the Sawadee.com Regattaa in Koh Samui, Thailand. And probably the Hong Kong to Vietnam Race in October.
Xena leaves in about two weeks for Samui, with the Regatta May 30 - June 4.
Couple of other piccies. More to follow in due course.
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| Xena at start. Photo Ian Mann |
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| Photo: Barry Hayes |
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