Around the Island Race, Hong Kong, November 10th 2013

L to R: Angel, TC, Zoe, Noel, Garry, Dagmar, Jing, Claes,
Jade, Steve, Biggus, Stevo.  Post race, Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club

We raced Xena in the annual Around the Island Race (ATIR), this year with over 250 entries, in about 20 classes, everything from Flying Fifteen dinghies to Frank Pong's Custom 75-footer.
A great race this year, with plenty of wind, rarely below 15 knots, averaging in the 20s, with occasional gusts over 30 knots.  This was the wind being sucked in from just north of East, by the super typhoon Haiyan, which has wreaked havoc in the Philippines... an ill wind...  Rather shocking and sobering to think, as we enjoy our race, such devastation was happening in our neighbour country.... our thoughts surely with them, as must also be our help...

LATER: The best way to donate is via our Club, which will match your donation one for one.  The link is here.

EVEN LATER: if you're not a Club member and wish to donate,  send a cheque payable to "Royal Hong Kong Charity Foundation Ltd" or  transfer money directly to the Foundation's HSBC account number 652-214743-001.  Receipts can be issued at request to email here.

Only one slight area of less pressure, as always south of the Island around Cyberport, where it dropped to 5-10 knots, but we never stopped, and made it round the island in just 3 hours 15 minutes, which averaged 8 knots even, for the 26 nautical mile course.  And we were fastest speed on the water in our division.
In our Class we came second, to the Beneteau First 50 Lighthorse.  We beat them by 10 minutes on elapsed time, but needed to be a bit more to beat them on corrected, which put us 4 minutes behind them.  Oh well -- I still recall we raced that boat last year in the China Coast Regatta, beating them five out of five races, so it will all be on next time we meet them.
Special guests on board Xena yesterday: Claes Tallberg, who is Commodore of the Nyslandska Jaktlubben in Finland and is in Hong Kong with about 20 other Commodores for the ICOYC Commodores’ Forum. To whom we said: "Tervetuloa"! (which is, I trust, "welcome" in Finnish).  And two youngsters, "Sharks" they call them, who are on the Club's Youth Sail training program: Freya and Thorwen (piccie below), who were making a transition to a big boat from 29ers (Freya) and Optimists (Thorwen).
Results (Click "IRC Cruising")
Above photo missing a few of the crew: MC Danger, myself, who took the photo and the two "Sharks", young sailors on RHKYC's sail training program:

Freya Darnton and Thorwen Uiterwaal-Postma
young "Sharks" with RHKYC youth training courses.

And another of the crew:

Only difference with one above, is I'm in this one...

Beauties and the Best... Stevo with Dagmar and Jing.

Some photos from Cess:

Hold on tight to that mainsail, Gaz!...

Whoops!....

Post mortem.... Jing, Biggus, Forse, Stevo, Zoe

Angel and TC

Dagmar and Forse, with prize giving lady.  RHKYC Poolside Prize giving
11th November 2013.