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Sailing - 14. April 2011.

San Fernando Race 2011

20 boats are in the final throes of preparation for the 2011 edition of the biennial San Fernando Race, which starts in front of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's Kellett Island clubhouse at 1210hrs on Wednesday 20 April.

Run under the auspices of the Royal Ocean Racing Club the race, at 464nm, is one of RHKYC's shorter Category 1 Offshore Races and is popular with owners testing their vessel offshore for the first time, particularly as it offers a tactical challenge paired with some exhilarating sailing.

In the IRC Racing Division, Geoff Hill's TP52, Strewth has been active on the Asian sailing scene for over four years. Flying in for the race, navigator Lindsay May is no stranger to the boat, or the South China Sea, and will be well prepared for the traditionally lumpy first night out.

Sam Chan's new TP52, FreeFire, will be embarking on her first Asian offshore and will be spicing up her usual crew with 'the Volvo five' - members of the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team who will be using the race for some valuable offshore training and team bonding. The five includes Jamie Boag and VOR veterans Ian Walker and Paul Wilcox, together with UAE Olympic sailor, Adil Khalid and Emirati sailor, Butti Al Mheiri.

While the TP52's will be battling it out for Line Honours and may possibly break the race record of 49h 55m 12s, set by 70' ULDB Sled, Ffree Fire in 2001, the Division offers them some stiff competition on corrected time, with Anthony Root's 2009 IRC Overall winner, Red Kite II, returning to defend her title, with Mark "Lefty" Findlay as navigator.

The IRC Racing "new girls", albeit with a wealth of offshore experience on board, include Nick Burns and Fred Kinmonth's Mills 40.5, EFG Bank Mandrake, Steve Ho's Millenium 45, Surfdude and Simon Powell's Archambault 40, Sell Side Dream.

The Easter dash to San Fernando in Luzon province is particularly popular with the Cruising fleet of Hong Kong, offering as it does a great destination from which to head off cruising after the race has finished. YK Szeto's Bermudian Sloop, Cutting Edge, Wayne Thompson's J145C, Redeye and Thomas Weisinger's Sun Odyssey 36i, Vega, are all new to the race and face stiff competition from Crystal, Dearg Doom, Kei Lun and Tipsy Frenz, all of whom have made the crossing before.

IRC Premier Cruising features the Warwicks of Andrew Rickards (Moonblue) and Pete Churchouse (Moonblue 2) together with Peter Forsythe's 2009 Premier Cruising winner, X55, Xena and Rob Stanley's new Swan 55, Sunshine. The fleet of 20 is rounded out by Trilogy HK and Akuna, racing under HKPN performance handicap.

Race events kick off with the San Fernando Charity Dinner on the evening of Friday 15 April, when participants will bid on a variety of auction items to raise funding for the Home of Loving Faithfulness orphanage, which has been supported by RHKYC through its San Fernando Foundation since 1987.

 

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