Saturday, December 01, 2007
The past few weeks have been dominated by the final preparations for the 24hr Charity Dinghy Race which took place on 6th and 7th of October and I am very pleased to say that it was a resounding success. We had 27 boats and over 500 competitors racing round the 1 mile course in a very forgiving breeze.

In terms of donations we achieved a significant milestone in collecting just over $1,000,000 which this year will go to the Children’s Cancer Foundation, Enlighten (Action for Epilepsy) and the Sunnyside Club, a club whose aim is to put a smile on the faces of those children who suffer with either physical or mental handicaps. The Club has annually hosted some of these children over recent years and it is a pleasure to be able to assist them in a financial way.

Many people generously gave their time by volunteering to help in the running of the event. Ken Trice chaired the 24hr Race Committee comprising 22 people who all worked really hard over the last 5 months to make this event a success. Space does not permit me to list out all those on the committee but just to mention the sub-committee chairpersons:- Jan Daughton recruited and organised the many volunteers, (about 120 of them) as well as sorting out the numerous prizes. Holger Berthelsen took on the dockside management, while Mara McCaffery organised the manual lap counting assisted by Werner Dahn who designed and built the electronic lap-counting system. Mark Houghton looked after the sailing aspects and Mike Franco once again came up with the marine solutions. Wing Li managed the sponsorship and advertising for the event. My thanks also go to Nic Robinson for making “Cloud II” available for lap counting.

Kevin Lewis and Richard Mortimer did a sterling job keeping us all entertained with both music and microphone, and amazingly Richard still had a voice left on the Sunday afternoon to entertain us all prior to the prize-giving. Luckily Samiya Allen in the First Aid Section had little to do apart from patching up a few cuts and bruises, and Nigel Evans as Incident Controller thankfully had a quiet 24 hrs.

All the staff did a marvellous job as usual.

Sincere thanks go to them all, our many sponsors and to all the volunteers too numerous to mention individually.

The event could not have been the undoubted success that it was without the continued support and co-operation of our friends at RHKYC, ABC and Outward Bound. They were very kind to have lent us their Stratos and Laser 2000 dinghies and rafts respectively, to make up the fleet, without which the event could not have been as big or as successful as it was.

Many thanks also to everyone who supported or donated funds to the event. Special thanks go to Hang Lung Properties, the main sponsors for the event, for their very generous support. I can assure them the money is going to very worthwhile charities.

By the time you read this we will have had our Financial Forum and hopefully members will have a much clearer idea of the Club’s financial situation. I look forward to seeing as many members as possible who can attend this year’s AGM which is to be held on 24th November. This is your annual opportunity to stand for election and/or to elect your representatives in various Committees, and ensure your vote is cast on any important policy changes or future developments that may be on the agenda.

Philip Boothroyd

Thursday, November 01, 2007


The course for the first race was three sausages for the faster boats in Div A, B and SBR and two for the Div C and HKPN. As it turned out, the conditions were favourable all day and having finished the first race, it was straight into the second, a slightly shorter one to allow the fleet to get back and change for the evening’s entertainment care of Baccos, Peperoni's and our favourite band, Vin Rouge.

Sunday morning dawned ugly. Scattered showers and squally thunderstorms were the order of the day and the HKO had it absolutely right. In excess of 20knots from the NE and a windward leeward course to start with soon sorted the men out from the boys and Barry must have been rubbing his hands with glee, as wipe-out after wipe-out on the downwind legs made visits to UK Halsey a certainty.

The last race of the regatta was an island course and 16 nautical miles was quite sufficient for all but the Div A boys who used their speed advantage to complete 23 miles. Port Shelter was awash with colour as the majority of the fleet led by Jelik beat up to the red and white beacon and the finish.

A thoroughly well attended, run and appreciated regatta and our thanks to all the sponsors and our RO and team. The results, as you all know are on the HHYC website for your perusal.

The Long Beach 24hr Dinghy Race was the usual success but the event is covered by both our commodore and Vice Commodore so I will leave it to them to describe the weekend

Next up is the Winter Saturday series which starts on the 3rd Nov and we hope to see you all on the start line. We also have a hectic weekend on the 10th and 11th Nov when you may choose whether to do the Crew Helm, the new fun event The Hebe Hills Race or both.

Keep up to date with the HHYC racing calendar and come join the fun.

Good sailing and remember that this is one of the only sports where both the boats and the crews frequently end up with wet bottoms.

Dave Campbell

Thursday, November 01, 2007
Hello Members!

The 24 hour dinghy event imposed its “clear the yard” deadline again this year which saw a few people burning the midnight oil to get boats ready to launch. The event ran very smoothly again this year, thanks to a host of dedicated volunteer organisers and the efforts of Mike Franco and the Operations Team. Congratulations go to all these people for the delivery of another first class Hebe event.

There has been a change to the Club’s organisation, to bring the maintenance and operational management of the dinghy and keelboat fleet under Mike Franco’s team with the sailing programme remaining under the Dinghy Sailing Committee and managed by Johnnie, Merrick and Ale Shek.

The readiness and general condition of our fleet relies to a good measure on hirers taking good care of the equipment and reporting any faults to Lisa, Mike or Jimmy promptly on return. I would like to request your assistance with this and in leaving the boats in a clean and tidy condition after use.

With my own boat ATE out of commission, I have used both the Sonata “ShunFung” and the Impala “Deerstalker” on recent weekends both of which we thoroughly enjoyed. These boats are a great asset to members – inexpensive and fun to sail.

On the subject of “dead boats” I would like to appeal to all members to help us in dealing with this issue. We have substantial waiting lists for club facilities and it is unacceptable to have our limited capacity occupied by dilapidated and unused vessels. Measures to improve enforcement of our policy of “active use” as or precondition are now being discussed at committee level. The best solution of course lies with the membership in tackling the problem at source …… If you do not use your boat, sell or dispose of it to make room for a member who does.

Fair Winds!

Mark Ashton

Sunday, July 01, 2007
The summer weather has again taken its toll on our dinghy programme. With dinghies we must stop all sailing when a thunder storm warning is issued.  Even if there appears to be no apparent threat of a storm we must return to base if we are already sailing or postpone all further activity until the warning has passed.  It’s different for the keel boats, their responsibility lies solely with the skipper of the boat whether to race or not.  There are also other issues to consider, having Club staff at risk, insurance company policy and of course parents not wanting their children being exposed to anything that might be harmful.

Sorry, but if there is a warning posted, we must stop.

Our spring dinghy regatta was one such victim and unfortunately there were just no dates available for a re-sail.

Jonnies summer programmed continues despite interruptions from storms. There are 4 water sports weeks planned for July with 20 people each week plus stage 1 and 2 and adult courses. A busy month.

We are still looking for a second instructor, there are some possibilities with temporary staff to see us through the summer but a permanent instructor is more desirable. We have been approached by a young Pakistani who has a monumental CV of sailing achievements Enterprise European and Asian Oppie Champion amongst them. He is currently coaching 49er teams.  Unfortunately he doesn’t have any recognised instruction certificates but wouldn’t it be nice to have such an obvious racing talent in the Club, teaching?

It’s time to start thinking about this year’s 24 hour race.  To start this and similarly to last year, can all the kids put their thinking caps on as we would like to have a new design for the medallion/key ring.   It’s again a competition and entries must be in by 15th August. Works of art can be on any size paper not necessarily in colour, we are looking for unique but dinghy sailing themes
The raft race will be featured again but this time with handicaps and with amended rules of engagement. Details to be advised later.

Our youth Club members are active again this year,   Last month, Sam Sakai and Brian Tse won the HKSF Open dinghy regatta in the 420 class and Peter Austin came in 8th in a Laser standard.
Akira Sakai was 2nd in the 21 Optimist fleet.

Sam is currently in Poland sailing in their 420 youth championships. He will also sail in Medimblik, Holland at the Europeans and then sail at the French 420 Nationals.

Akira Sakai came a highly respected 30th out of 272 Optimists at the Singapore Nationals. This was no mean achievement, Singapore pours huge funding in to their youth sailing programme and they sail to a very high standard. Congratulations are in order here.
Akira will also be sailing in the Optimist Asian championships.

Peter Austin will be sailing his Laser in the UK Youth championships in Weymouth UK in August and from what he tells me he will also be sailing the Australian Youths in Australia early next year.

At the Mad May Ball we raised a considerable amount of money from Club members to help our youth attend various events either singularly or as HHYC teams. Jan Daughton and her team organised a truly fun event and obviously by the amount raised, Club members wholly supported the charitable side. It could be argued that Richard Mortimer on the microphone was hugely instrumental in pulling cash from members who attended the dinner auction.

This fund will be administered by a 3 or 5 person Committee and I think to start with anyone wanting funding should apply to the GM stating details of the event and how much.  

We have been invited to the Selangor Gapurna Youth Match racing Championships in Malaysia.  The sailing is for youths between the ages of 15 to 25 to match race in Platus, the Beneteau 25 altered to suit Asian waters. They will provide everything; all we need to do is arrive.  This is a fantastic opportunity and the Club is trying to put together a team of 5. Currently Akiko Sakai and Peter Austin have shown interest. The unfortunate draw back of this event is that it starts on 21st August which is when the schools start their new Academic year. Anyone interested in this would also be eligible for Club funding from the youth fund.

Just in over the wires is advice that Peurto Galera YC would like to invite HHYC to participate in their regatta... Dates are Nov 2-3-and 4th November. The boats they sail are Larwins which they say are similar to the UK Mirrors.  Below is part of an email from PGYC

“In the meantime, we will be racing our Lawins, which are virtually identical to the Mirror Dinghy. We plan to have an under 18 and open class, min. 5 races in each Class each racing day. As the Friday is a public holiday here, we initially plan to race fri, sat and sunday. However, that may prove difficult for you in terms of the extra day off from school, in which case we will have our regatta Sat and Sun to accommodate HHYC.

We have 10 boats available, so we could accommodate at least 2 teams.

We can arrange for accommodation to suit your budget. From Manila you would have to rent a van to get to Batangas and then, depending on the arrival time ferry or private ferry to PG. We can organise all of this for you.

We are hoping to get some sponsorship to help with these costs for all the participants, but don't have firm commitment as yet.”

This sounds like a good event for our more younger members as I suspect the Mirror look- a-likes become too small for anyone over 14 to15 years old.  More details to follow.