A weekend on the water

The May Day long weekend: Jing and I with Inge and Strompfie, up Mirs Bay way....

Inge, Strompfie, Forse, on way up.  Nice breeze, speeds to 10 knots...

Strompfie at the wheel, having just passed this unidentified red steel ketch.

Jing enjoying the fine weather.  At least, not too much rain...

Xena snuggled into Double Haven, Mirs Bay.  From near the restaurant

Colour study: Wong Shek Pier.
Green Island and Tap Mun behind the Danbuoy (the yellow thing...).

Sharp Peak, peaks out, from Wong Shek Pier.
Both Strompfie and Jing have climbed it.

Relax on autopilot on the way back to HK.

Duk Ling, back on the water just recently.  Hong Kong's
last sail-driven junk

Jing's Sydney-based colleague sends her this, from the other morning
in Sydney Harbour, from the UBS building.

Chinese Sailors Come a Long Way in the Volvo Ocean Race

Members of the Dongfeng team racing last year. The Chinese crew members in
this year’s Volvo Ocean Race have quickly overcome their lack of experience. CreditYann Riou/Dongfeng Race Team, via Volvo Ocean Race

NEWPORT, R.I. — The Chinese team in the Volvo Ocean Race could not have performed worse during a trial run in September, less than a month before the actual race began.

With France’s top ocean racers training the crew, the Dongfeng Race Team watched a $15,000 sail slide overboard and a Chinese crew member cling to a halyard as he met the same fate, the line shredding his palms, only to be rescued along with the sail.

“The French guys were getting loads of grief,” said Mark Turner, one of the Chinese team’s managers, at a stopover here last week. “The other teams, everyone, thought we were irrelevant.”

But Dongfeng, whose crew includes members who had never slept on a sailboat or spoken English before February 2014, arrived in Newport on Thursday as the victor of the race’s sixth leg, which started in Itajaí, Brazil, on April 19. It was the second leg the team has won in the nine-leg race around the world, which covers 11 ports and about 39,000 nautical miles.

Read the rest.....

San Fernando 2015: Maysak Makes Mean

The Course: from the Club Facebook

Typhoon Maysak meant we couldn't go to San Fernando, so the Sailing Office sent us on an Category 1 offshore course of about 360 miles, around virtual marks to the south of Hong Kong (at left), which the club called "Not the San Fernando Race".
A predominantly light winds race, Force 1-4, with occasional 6, which I characterised as "a mix of frustrating and exhilarating". To which someone said "that's pretty much the description of any offshore race", to which I say "True 'dat".
We had a couple of times where boat speed was 0.0 knots.
But we also had a great first night under A2 spinnaker with winds up to 25 knots, boat doing 12-13 knots (top score was AK with a burst of 13.7 knots), and a nice morning reach, winds 15-18 knots and steady boat speed over 10 knots.
We won our IRC Premier Cruising division, and came 4th overall.  Great crew work and camaraderie.  No major damage, save a blown A1 kite on the last afternoon, quickly retrieved.
Some photos, with various thanks to Angel, TC, Jonno, Ken and Guy (Club Facebook photos here):

Pontoon, RHKYC, 1 April.  TC, Mark, Jonno, AK, Ken, Forse, Dan, Noel, Kiwi

Pre start: watch that sheet!  Kiwi, Forse, Noel, TC, Jonno, Ken, Dan, Mark, AK

Light winds past Waglan Island.  And Jonno's cool shades...

More light winds driftin'... Noel, Kiwi, AK, TC, Shifty, Ken

Kiwi and AK on helm, light winds racing....

Kiwi on the job

Noel and TC check the AIS as Kiwi trims: plenty of shipping on the course...

TC, Mark, Dan (aka "Shifty")

The two old buggers: Ken and Forse

Arriving back in the Emerald city of Hong Kong, evening, 3 April

Canapes on the boat, 3 April, RHKYC pontoon

Dan, Ken, TC, Forse, Jonno, Mark, AK, Kiwi

Prize giving, RHKYC 4 April.  Pixie, Forse, TC, Kiwi, Dan, Ken, Mark.
(photo-bombed by the man in blue...)

[PS: some folks were asking about the name "Xena"; where did it come from.  Here's a post on that]

Dongfeng wins Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race

China boat, Dongfeng, arrives in Sanya, Hainan Island, China
winning Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean race.

There's a report in the South China Morning Post, here (needs registration, but not money).
More details on the Volvo Ocean Race site, here.

Vestas Wind

From here.

I certainly empathise with Chris Nicholson, of Team Vestas Wind, which ran aground on a reef of Stage 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Yachting World. 
The New Yorker.

Yesterday at the demos

Some photos from my iPhone, from the Hong Kong democracy demonstrations, in Central, yesterday. My brief comments below photos:

Straight off the DB ferry, into IFC Mall.  Pretty much business as usual...

... and past Exchange Square, the usual groups of Filipina domestic
helpers on a public holiday...

... hanging out in Central, just like a normal Sunday

And in the walkway to IFC, they gather in groups
based on where in the Philippines they come from.
Chit-chat and  noodles...

... and doing business, as usual.

Lots of visitors -- mainly mainlanders -- get a vantage point up
Connaught Road, Central's Main St, just looking on

Past collection points for food and water, free for all

A talkathon, Main St, Central

My free translation:
"Peacefully protest;
Fight to the end;
Head winds... Only make flying easier".
(The phrase "fight to the end" is a Maoist one...)

Main St Central closed.  Crowds chilling. There were some people
walking along spraying water mist on the people to cool them off (32C)

Looking East to Wanchai, where the crowds were
even bigger, "tens of thousands" by most accounts...

HSBC HQ in the background. (and the WWI cenotaph)

Strollin' and chillin'

Young girls collect rubbish. The roads were also
being cleansed of chalked-on slogans.
Those pads on foreheads are cooling pads (32C)

Yellow brollies have become the symbol of the demos.
More free food and drink

"What next?" people ask.  Here I just record photos.
The commentariat (BBC, Bloomberg, CNN, New York Times) has no idea: anything from "wait it out", to "Tiananmen 2.0".
I said to Jing early on that the best may be "Wu Wei", a Taoist concept of "do nothing" (to achieve something).... That seemed to be a strategy till this morning, when Beijing has gone all tough: "the foreign forces behind these illegal demos must be cut down" and "if the demonstrators do not stop these illegal occupations, the consequences will be unimaginable".  These are scary words.  And they've cancelled all Chinese tour groups to Hong Kong (about 75 % of tourists to HK)
Some things for certain: Beijing will not compromise on the election package for 2017; Chief Executive CY Leung will not resign; and Beijing will not hesitate to interfere if it sees any challenge to its one party rule or chance of this "chaos" (Luan) happening on the mainland.
In short, the two main aims of the protesters (Leung to resign and open elections in 2017) are unachievable, and even their leadership acknowledges this.  For an self-admittedly unattainable goal, they risk what Hong Kong already has: freedom of speech and assembly, clean and open government, the rule of law overseen by an independent judiciary..
So, while one hopes for a peaceful outcome, one fears the worst.....
Meantime, effects on business?  Down about 15-20%, when this China Golden Week they usually expect a 20% increase. So that's about a swing of 30+%. And that's the difference between being bottom-line black and bottom-line red.  Rents still have to be paid and they're the highest in the world.
Tomorrow is back to work. Then a weekend.  Alan Zeman, a long-term business man in Hong Kong -- well connected with the government --  is predicting fewer Occupiers next week and gradual return to normal, with maybe some conduit to discussions between the demonstrators and the government. I hope he's right, but I fear he's wishfully thinking.
As the traditional TV pundit sign-off goes, when you really don't know: "Time will tell"....

Typhoon Kalmaegi puts boats on shore

Typhoon Kalmaegi hit Hong Kong on September 15.  This is a Tayana 55
on the rocks at Nim Shue Wan bay, near us here in DB.  Just needed a
secure mooring line to avoid this hassle...  There were two other boats
driven onto the beach.....

... And this is how they got her off...

Xena crew lists

China Coast Regatta here.
HK to Hainan Race here.
ATIR here.

Xena first call: China Coast Regatta, Hong Kong to Hainan Race and ATIR

Hi All,

First call to join us on Xena for the following, one, two or all:

• 10-12 October: China Coast Regatta
• 16-19 October: Hong Kong to Hainan Race, Cat 1.
• 16 November: Around the Island Race (ATIR)

Can you let me know which you could be available for?

(Note: I'm sending this out to a few more folk than we can fit on Xena, so it's possible I may have to trim numbers to fit our maxima: 14 Inshore and 10 Offshore.  If so, I'll do the trimming by my own secret algorithm…. part of which is first in, best dressed….)

Cheers to all,

Peter ("Forse")

North Clients Claim the Podium at Rolex China Sea Race

Stevo's write up for the North Sails magazine... A good story, well told.

And from X-Yachts magazine -- http://www.x-yachts.com/news/company/china-sea-race-2014?contentmap=444

RCSR Prize giving, 30 April

From the RHKYC Facebook page.  Hop over to FB to Like it..

Simon Powell, Chairman of the China Sea Race Committee, presents
Forse with a lovely photo of Xena at the race start (16 April).
Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, 30th April 2014.

RCSR Xena photos

Photos on Picasa, here.  Courtesy Jonno and Celine.

Below from Jonno, photos from the Rolex China Sea Race (RCSR).  You can see what a light-airs race it was.... (Crew full names here).

Subic, about 2:30 am on 20th April.
LtoR: Big Al, Noel, Forse, Jing, MC, Celine, Biggus, Stevo, Jonno

At RHKYC pre-start, 16 April.  Forse and Noel;
Jing and Wobbles; MC and Big Al
(The cranes and cement behind are part of the work
on a new under-harbour road tunnel)

Click "Read more" to see photos below the fold

Pipped in the Philippines. Xena's Rolex China Sea Race

Xena races out of Victoria Harbour, 16th April 2014.           Photo: Sina.com

Xena is now back in Hong Kong, put to bed at the RHKYC pontoon on Thursday night, 24 April at 20:30, having left Subic at 14:00 on 21 April, for a trip time of 78 hours.  

Thanks to Jonno, Noel and Lony for helping me bring her back.  And with no damage; a first. 

We used only the Storm Tri-sail and high-cut delivery jib, which worked fine and meant less strain on the rig.  Delivery winds mostly gentle to nothing on first few days and then 20+ knots and choppy confused swells 3-4 metres on the last day, with plenty of fishing boats to dodge.
Xena performed beautifully both in the race and on delivery back to Hong Kong.

Strompfie asked me to write an article on the race for the X-Yachts magazine.
DRAFT X-Y Article is below.  RCSR Crew: Please feel free to comment: either in the comments section below, or direct to me.
And also: can you send me some photos that I can add to the blog. Thanks.
Best, Forse

Pipped in the Philippines.  Xena's Rolex China Sea Race

Words (560): Peter Forsythe                                     Pictures: J. Rechten; Sina.com

If you have to get pipped into second place by 31 minutes in an offshore race, what better way than by another X Yacht?

That was the case with us on our X-55, Xena, in the recent Rolex China Sea Race, a 565 NM Category One Offshore race from Hong Kong to Subic Bay in the Philippines.

After 84 hours on the water, we needed Hong Kong’s latest Xc-50, Explorer, to come in 9 hours after us, as she rates 1.089 to our 1.205. In fact, she arrived in Subic 8 hours 35 minutes after Xena, giving a corrected time difference of 34 minutes.  Well done new Xc-50!

The Rolex China Sea Race usually starts with a breezy first day and night, as the north-east monsoon kicks in.  Out of Victoria Harbour turn half right, set a rhumb line course of 145 degrees, crack sheets and set up for a long reach on Port tack.  Then, as you approach the Philippines, it becomes a very tactical race, dealing with shifty and light breezes and attempts to avoid the notorious “Luzon hole”.  In the 2012 race, we were leading the whole fleet for 2 ½ days, including TP52s and a 90-footer.  Then we fell into the “hole” for 6 hours, zero wind, zero boat speed, floating with sails down, fishing for squid in the middle of the night.

But this time the breezes were gentle even as we headed out, making the first night the calmest any of us had done.  The winds continued gentle all the way, 3-12 knots.  Xena showed her light-wind colours, as we managed to keep moving, with boat speed above wind speed, even in zephyrs of 3-4 knots.

It was a rhumb-line race, but with the fleet being forced south of rhumb by veering winds.  One tactical call was middle of night two: do we tack back to the rhumb, or stay on Port? No, we won’t tack. We tried it last time and it didn’t pay. 

Another tactical call was approaching Subic Bay around midnight.  Do we duck inside a rock and the mainland, or leave the rock to port, north of us? We decided on the inside duck, just as the full-ish moon rose ahead to give us a clear view of the gap.  Mistake. 

From 9 knots boat speed under our North Sails' A2 spinnaker, we came to a screeching halt with zero wind and boat speeds.  A whisper of wind and we hoist the Code Zero, tack with the tide, which gives us apparent wind, and head back to the main bay. 

Meantime, we had our long-time friendly rivals Moonblue2 (a Warwick 61) right on our tail just two boat lengths behind us.  They stayed in close to shore, while we searched for wind in the bay. 

One a.m., and the land breeze kicks in, 18 knots and a race to the line, which Moonblue 2 won by minutes, giving them another win in our “on the water” competition, which now stands at 3-2 to Xena in races to the Philippines.

And so to Subic and its pretty town of Olongapo. Rum and calamansi.  Mahi-mahi, dried milk fish, prawns.  Friends met, lies told.   

Wait for Explorer….  Result: X-Yachts First and Second in Premier IRC Division, Rolex China Sea Race.  Well done, XY!

Another Subic under the belt and the next one to look forward to, searching for a second win, our record to Philippines now being one win and three seconds.  Ducks in a row,  we need another bullet….

Peter Forsythe

26^th April 2014

In a box out-take:

Xena Crew: Regulars: Peter “Forse” Forsythe and Jing Lee (Owners); Steve “Stevo” Trebitsch (Crew Boss);  Ben “TC” Harding (Navigation); Michael “MC” Dangar (Main); Richard “Biggus” Hawkins (Radio Op); Noel Gabutin (Mid-Mast). Newbies: Alan “Big Al” Reid (Trim assist); Joe Bottomley (Bow); Jonathan “Jonno” Rechten (Mast); Celine “Wobbles”  Shao (Sina.com embed and Trim Assist); Robert Bottomley.

Pete Churchouse on the China Sea Race

Moonblue 2, leaves Victoria Harbour, CSR 2012

Pete Churchouse, owner/skipper of Moonblue 2, one of the boats in our Premier Division writes about the race on our Club's Facebook page, here.  For those of you who don't Like Facebook, here's the text:
Rolex China Sea Race - starts Wednesday 16 April

Owner/Skipper Peter Churchouse has had Moonblue 2, a Custom Warwick 64 ft since new in 2000. His crew of two women and ten men are from New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the Philippines and France. The crew that are flying in for the Race are Doug Flynn (Australia), Brian Wade (New Zealand), David Baker (Australia) and Greg Conley (France). Moonblue 2 has done every Rolex China Sea Race since 2002 (save for 2010 when she was being repainted) and personally, Peter has at least 12 under his belt.

Timing is everything it seems. Pete is hoping to avoid “the bloody awful holes at the mouth of Subic Bay which kill the boats that get there between 1600 and 1700hrs as the inshore wind dies.

Outside boats carry the wind for 30 miles and we all end up at the same place, having been miles ahead. You sit at the mouth of the bay as the sea breeze dies inshore, and the land breeze does not kick in until about 2200hrs - so that’s five to six hours of sitting there going nowhere while the slower boats are still enjoying the breeze up the coast all the way to the mouth of the bay, just in time to pick up the evening land breeze! If you are a super fast racing boat, you get to the mouth of the bay during the day, when there is plenty of wind, but for the ‘faster’ cruising boats like Moonblue 2, we get there just as the wind dies. It’s a fact of life that we have to live with going to that destination.

Pete says that “possibly the best parts of this Race are the evenings after Day 1, when the typical configuration is spinnaker up, modest winds, flattish seas and a beautiful full moon that comes up at about 2100hrs on the port bow, and goes down behind the stern over the course of the night - and huge ‘Pixie’ pies baked beans, pots of coffee and lashings of Branston Pickle and brown sauce. The teapot and sundown is also keenly awaited!”

Apart from looking forward to some great fishing, Pete is planning on doing well in the Race and enjoying the tactical challenges that come with it. “With all the ‘racing’ boats masquerading as ‘cruising’ boats, it is difficult for genuine ‘furniture’ boats to do well under IRC. In fact it is almost a waste of time thinking that you can do well in Premier Cruising Division in such genuine cruising boats given the increasingly racing configuration of some of the boats that slip into this division these days - or older racing boats that decide they are now cruising boats.” says Peter, adding that “everyone that is a racing boat in sheep’s clothing is Moonblue 2’s greatest competition, I like to race against genuine similar ‘furniture’ boats - unfortunately that is increasingly not the case”.

Pete continues to join offshore races despite what he describes as a “yachting bureaucracy making these events more difficult to do” by “adding increasing levels of regulatory and administrative encumbrances to the sport.” He’s dreading the the possibility of “a new raft of rules that need to be complied with next time, adding further additional layers of reasons not to participate.” Let’s hope so too Pete, we would love to see you on the start line every time!

Back to the Race that Pete is taking part in - Pete says “there are all these folks that think the Hobart Race is the ‘biggie’ for sailors and yes it is a classic hard race for sure. But this Rolex China Sea Race takes sailors much further offshore and well out of range of airborne help in the event of a disaster. Hence a need to be well-prepared. I have had guys on board who have done literally double-digit Hobart races and get as sick as a dog on this Race given a very uncomfortable quartering sea on the first day out typically. It is not quite the benign tropical paradise that some people might imagine.”

The mast walk by Alex Thomson

Alex T, 30 metres up.  Click here for the vid.

This, reminds me we need to do a rig check...
(h/t to Hetho for the link)

Report into the abandoning of “Walawala 2” on the HK to Vietnam Race

Walawala 2, August 2012 on Western Circuit.  Courtesy WW2 Facebook

Report of the review into the abandoning of “Walawala 2” on the Audi Hong Kong Vietnam Race on 18 October 2013.

This review of the abandonment of Walalwala 2 is well worth reading, and worth close scrutiny in particular by Xena crew in forthcoming Subic Race. [Backup PDF file here].
BTW: Our crewmate on forthcoming race to Subic, Stevo, was on Walawala 2 when she went down.... 

Pine-Pacific's Premier Performance: King's Cup 2013

Two X-55s "match race" in Phuket
Xena (blue kite) and Pine-Pacific battle it out at King's Cup, 2012.
Note the different spinnaker set-ups: us with pole, Pine with bowsprit.

This year, Xena didn't make the trip down to Phuket, so we didn't get the chance to tussle again with our sister ship, Pine-Pacific, the "other" X-55 in Asia, as we did at last year's King's Cup.
Pine cleaned up in the Premier IRC Division, taking all six races, some by as much as 30 minutes corrected.  Their only competition was the lovely grey Swan 75, Silandra V, but Pine beat her handily, including on the water in Race 4.
As Phuket Wan news says:

In Premier class, Pine-Pacific has dominated their class all week, and took two more victories again today. The team have been in a ''class of their own'' all week, and finished well ahead of nearest rival Silandra V.

So well done to Ithinai Yingsiri and his crew!
Also in the Division, another old sparring partner, the First 53f5 Baby Tonga, now owned by our neighbour Garry Smith, under charter to an Aussie crew, as Sailing Adventures and they too made it to the podium in Race 5; well done lads and ladies.

Baby Tonga crew pick up their second place silverware.  Our mate and
neighbour, Garry Smith in the middle.  Sorry don't know the others...

In other Div's news, of boats we know:
IRC 0: the big boys.... Neil Pryde racing again in his much-campaigned Wellboune 52 Custom, Hifi, came in third to two TP52s, just pipping another Hong Kong sailor, Frank Pong on his RP Custom 75, Jelik into fourth.
IRC 1: Long-time Xena cremate, Stevo, was racing on the Patrick Pender & Jamie McWilliam's Ker40, Signal 8 picking up a podium-finish third, in the hotly contested IRC1 Division.
IRC 2: Pete ("Sorro") Sorensen in his newly-bought Beneteau First 44.7 Fujin (Matt Allen's ex Ichi Ban), scored a second overall in their division IRC2.  Sailing mate Rob's Sailplane, a First 47.7, was chartered to Russian Kirili Sakhartsev -- whose folks had looked after us so well on our Russia trip in May this year -- and finished a creditable 4th in the division.
IRC 3: Hong Kong boat, the A35 Red Kite II owned -- and raced so well -- by Anthony Root and crew, won handily, tussling along the way with Matt Allen's new Ichi Ban an Adams 10.
LATER:

Baby Tonga, 2nd place, R5, on the King's Birthday....
Owner Garry gets his just desserts, from Dagmar..