ABERDEEN RACING ACADEMY
October Edition: Newletter 7
Introduction
The summer holidays are over and we are straight back into the second half of the year which is going to be extremely busy for all our Academy sailors. Our optimist team's first event was the 50th Anniversary Opening Regatta, quickly followed by our top Optimist sailors competing in the IODA Asians hosted by Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. The Optimist team also have the HKODA Nationals in November, the entry form is attached below.
Our 29er team are preparing for the Youth World selection events which take part on the 8th and 9th October, followed by the 21st and 22nd October. Training is also under way for the 2018 29er Worlds to be held in Hong Kong over the New Year. The 29er team look forward to meeting up with old friends from overseas and hosting them in Hong Kong.
As always we shall continue to post updates on the Academy's Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/aberdeenracingacademy/?fref=hovercard
50th Anniversary Opening Regatta
The Optimist team had 9 Academy sailors competing. Casey Law, Juliette Clot, Penelope Martin, Carter Stewart, Emily Polson, Amaury Guillosson, Arno Zurcher, Cameron Law and two of our newest members Chloe Becker and Vaitiare York.
For the newly reformed Feva team this was to be their first regatta, two ARA teams competed - Marcus Shek/Julia Lin and Samuel Johnson/Aaron Dampier.
Day 1 was a disappointing day for all competitors, boats were launched at 9.30 am but with no wind and lots of sitting around the fleets were sent back to shore. As the wind steadily increased towards the middle of the afternoon, sadly it also brought a severe thunderstorm giving the race committee no choice but to cancel racing for the day.
The race committee were optimistic to get some sailing started for day 2. Eventually a windward - leeward course was set at Stanley Bay and the breeze reached between 4 - 6 knots, so racing began. Casey Law made an excellent start in Race 1 finishing 4th. Race 2 saw the Optimists struggle at the top mark caused by the strength of the tide, however this did not seem to phase Casey as he finished 1st. Juliette Clot also did well finishing 14th overall. Our newer members of the team also sailed well, Carter Stewart finished 19th in the first race, and Emily Poulson finished 31st overall. Sadly due to the strength of the tide and wind once again dropping the third race had to be abandoned.
Division B were only able to complete two races caused by the difficult conditions, ARA's feva teams finished 13th and 15th overall.
Congratulations to Casey who finished 2nd overall.
Optimist Results can be found: http://www.abclubhk.com/upload/Sailing/Opening_Regatta/2017/Opening-Regatta-Sept-2017-results-OP.pdf
Division B Results can be found: http://www.abclubhk.com/upload/Sailing/Opening_Regatta/2017/Opening-Regatta-Sept-2017-results-Div-B.pdf
2017 Asian and Oceanian Championships
The fleet was split into 2 flights yellow and blue with 66 and 65 boats in each group. Hong Kong brought out blue skies and 5 to 10 knots of breeze for the first days competition, the race track was positioned off of Stanley Bay and the sailors sailed a classic Optimist Worlds course. Casey had a slow start to the day but he finished on a high in race 3 finishing 9th.
Day 2 of racing saw a better than forecasted easterly breeze of 6 to 12kts, the day started with some shifty conditions in the morning and the wind varied between 40 and 50 degrees which made the course setting tricky but all worked out well in the end with a consistent breeze of 10 knots throughout the day. Racing for the youngsters turned out to be very tactical and challenging due to the tide. Juliette and Penelope had their best results of the week, Penelope finishing 29th in the first race and then Juliette following in race 3 with a 29th as well. Casey also did well finishing 10th in the last race.
There were ideal conditions for the penultimate day of racing, sunny skies and 12 to 20 knots, the only challenge the competitors had to contend with was the 1 to 2 knots of spring tide across the racetrack. The last qualifying race and first championship races were sailed.
The sailing conditions for the final day of racing were excellent with 15 to 18 knots of breeze over the racetrack once again located off Stanley Bay. The Yellow Fleet was the first to the line with all racers getting away with a clean start. Casey did well in the first race of the day finishing 28th in the yellow fleet, the competition was extremely competitive with some very talented young sailors.
Casey finished 46th in the Yellow Fleet
Penelope finished 42nd in the Blue Fleet
Juliette finished 47th in the Blue Fleet.
Well done to Casey, Penelope and Juliette.
Final results can be found at:
ABC 50th Anniversary Resail - 29er Opening Regatta / 1st Youth Worlds selection event
Well done to the entire team.
Upcoming Events
Youth World Selection Events
The second 29er HKSF selection event for the Youth Worlds will be held on the 21 - 22 October please remember to complete the entry form.
HKODA National & Open Championships 2017
Southside Regatta
29er Worlds 2018
The link for entry form for the 2018 29er Worlds can be found below.
Sponsorship
Subscription
Aberdeen Boat Club
Email: dinghycoach@abclubhk.com
Website: http://www.abclubhk.com
Location: Aberdeen Boat Club Ltd., 20 Shum Wan Road, Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Phone: 852 2552 8182
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aberdeenracingacademy/