Xena runs down the Vietnam coast

Position at 09:40: 12 09' N 109 41' E.  The red pin

They're in no wind, motoring.  All well.  Passage Weather suggests breezes will freshen from N to NE over the next few days, so good for the continuing run down the Vietnam coast.
On-board Predict Wind still not working.  I'm in touch with the PW folk in New Zealand, and they're going to try a remote fix.  Meantime they have no email or weather on board, so we're in touch each morning by SMS on the Satphone.
Note they made a bit better 24-hour distance than last year.

You know how you can never find a cab when you want one?...

New York, post Hurricane Sandy.  More photos      Photo: Charles Sykes, AP. 

Xena heads South

Red Pin: Position at 09:30, 30 October.  15 22'N 109 31' E

After a bit of ducking and weaving around Typhoon Son-Tinh, and some contretemps with the Sanya Marina that would not let us back in -- for nothing other than bureaucratic reasons -- necessitating an overnight stay in the Sanya commercial port, fending off anchor-dragging coastal vessels, Xena and crew (Grant, Noel, Oscar) headed off yesterday morning and at this morning are at the red pin above as of 09:30. Grant reports "all well".  There's a bit more to this whole saga over the last few days, which I won't go into here, save to say that "safe haven provisions" don't mean the same in China as elsewhere....
They are travelling in fluky 5-10 knot breezes from all over the shop, circulating around a weak high after the passing through of the typhoon; from NW to SE mainly (but also sometimes from W...)
By comparison, the yellow pin just to the East of the red pin, is where Xena was last year on her way down to the King's Cup, so we're 10 days ahead of then...

Sanya port in a storm

Xena headed off ex Sanya, Hainan, the night before last, to go North to avoid the above bit of weather, but then came back into Sanya Port, after some discussions by Satphone, where she now is safely tucked in with some commercial craft, experiencing 40+ knots, anchor holding.  This nasty lump of 50+ knots is forecast to go by today and be out of the way to the NW by tomorrow afternoon, winds then moderating staying SE for a couple of days, then freshening from NE -- what we want as Xena's headed down to Phuket in Thailand for the King's Cup.
Fortunately the Immigration guys in Sanya didn't cause a problem, as we might have expected from previous experience, saying they understood the issue, Safe Haven, Port in a storm, and all that...
PS: for friends and family who may not know: Hainan is the Chinese Island, right above that bit of purple...  It's where we sailed to in the race last week from Hong Kong, 365 nautical miles.

UPDATE (09:00, 28th Oct):

 The TRS became named Typhoon Son-Tinh and moved a bit faster than
expected, to the N. Vietnam Coast.  Here at 08:00 HK time this morning.
For the trip south to Phuket, winds expected to moderate and veer South,
before backing to North again later in the week, and abating.

UPDATE: Photos from Grant in Singapore and issues during the Typhoon in Sanya.

Hainan Start: nice photo

RHKYC Hainan Race 2012 - Xena makes the pace up the harbour -  Guy Nowell/RHKYC 

From Sail World.com.  Here.  Thanks to TC for the link.  Click to enlarge.
LATER (26 Oct): Ray of Raymarine went down yesterday to Sanya and managed to finally fix the instruments (all of which had been off for the whole of the race).  Was the DCU (digital control unit).
Race report....
A quick trip down to Sanya in Hainan... just not quick enough to catch the racing boats....

Day Three: regatta win, and home East around.... Suppin' the Cup

Middle Island Prize giving, Day Two (Saturday):
Biggus, Cess, Alfie, Liz, Iris, Grant, TC, Jono

Race Three, windward/leeward: Forse and Jono. This one was
close: we won by only 1 minute....

Heading back to Middle Island after Race Four, Sunday: Iris, Alfie,
Grant, Strompfie, TC, Matt, Jono, Biggus

Cruising Mode: on way back to Kellett Island: Matt, Jono,
Forse, Liz, Alfie

Biggus, Grunter, Strompfie, Cess, Matt, Iris

Jono, Liz, Alfie, a-winin' 'n cheesin'.  Note Jono's "8-pack"...

Cess, Matt, Iris, Biggus, Liz, Alfie

Poolside, Royal HK YC... evening 14th October.

China Coast Regatta, Premier Division Cup

Getting down and dirty.... sipping Rum and Ginger from the Premier
Division China Coast Race Cup

Jono.  Mr Cool

Oscar takes a toke...

Cess

Our two house guests: Gioia and Annie Reid get into the act

Annie and Gioia show off the Cup to be engraved with "XENA, 2012"

Race note: Race three a W/L twice round, we won by only one minute, in fresh-ish breeze of up to 10 knots, E at 080-100.  Race four, a geometric, triangle followed by sausage, in dying breezes, we won by 10.5 minutes.  A1 and J1 sails.  Great crew-work: fast and smooth gybes, good working upwind.
Results.

Waiting..... Day Two China Coast Regatta

Boat boom tent up at Middle Island, waiting for AP to go down.... Day Two
(Thanks to Cess for photos)

Waiting for wind on Day two, races started two and a half hours late.  They sent us off finally on a windward-leeward in about barely 5 knots of breeze, very fluky, shifty... fuuuun!  We were first on the water in our class, in one hour fifteen, and ten minutes in front on corrected time.

... waiting... so PF goes over some safety stuff, for
Hainan crew: Hainan race starts 18th Oct...

Result: one short windward/leeward of about one hour fifteen: we won by 15 minutes elapsed, 10.5 corrected. Hardly any wind.... 080-100 degrees.

The nav-lads and technology gaggle...

Biggus, Jono and TC kill some time waiting for race two to start,
fiddling with a gaggle of technology.
Posted from my iPhone

China Coast Regatta, Day 1

Biggus, Grunter, TC, Forse, Jono, Mark, Noel
Cess, Alfie, Liz, Splash.  Photo taken by Oscar in dinghy

I guess piccie says it all.... win by 31 minutes ET, 22 mins CT

Slow race day, winds fluky galore and light, 5-10 knots max... holey like cheese.
We did course 8, a 15.5 miler that gave a choice of N or South of Beaufort on the run home; we chose N, which turned out fine.... One in the bag...
Thanks to Cess and Richard for the photos.
And I guess I should post this, that Cess calls "shortest and tallest"...  Oscar will be with Xena on the delivery to Phuket and back, and racing with us to Hainan in the meantime.  He's a good Bowman.

"Shortest and Tallest". Oscar and Forse

A Day on the Water...

Some photos from Heiko and Cron, who came out with us on cruise Sunday 23rd September.  I met Heiko on the Cape to Cairo car trip in 2011, and Cron his mate and colleague, both of South Africa.  Also joining us was Adrienne Loeffler, who I recently met at the Club Siena pool, a nice place to meet folk....
Easy breezes, no swell, beautiful sunset.  And a swim while drifting off Big Wave Bay.
Thanks to Heiko and Cron for the photos..

Adrienne and Jing

Yours truly, sleek in black...

PF and Cron

Cron, Adrienne, Noel and Jing

Heiko mans the Bow

A beautiful Hong Kong sunset....

... and more sunsetting....

And so to bed... Xena lies happy alongside the pontoon at the Royal
Hong Kong Yacht Club.  In the background, Qingdao, a Class 40
that is going to be sailed round the world by Gao Chuan.
Report of that attempt here.

Tragedy off Lamma: 36 dead

Rescuers check on a half-submerged boat [Lamma IV] after a collision near Lamma Island,
off the southwestern coast of Hong Kong. Picture: Kin Cheung Source: AP

Last night as Jing and I were enjoying a meal at Tosca, on the 103rd Floor of the ICC building, just to the south of us, off Lamma island a tragedy was playing out... a Hong Kong & Kowloon Ferry hit another ferry carrying over 120 passengers, employees of Hong Kong Electric company, to the National Day fireworks.   At latest count the death toll is 36.  Apparently the HKK Ferry hit the other amidships at full speed.  What was going on there?
One of many stories here.
My letter to the South China Morning Post, 17th October.