Kong eyes overnight success
David Kong in Tickled Pink is the favourite to win Race One in the Banca del Gottardo Uin-na-Mara Series which starts today off Steep Island (Ching Chau) opposite the Clearwater Bay Marina.
A small fleet of nine boats had signed up yesterday for the start of this season's six-race series with organisers, the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, hoping that more would join in as the event unfolded. Surprisingly, defending champion Mark Houghton's RB was not among the flotilla of Cruiser Class boats that will take part in Race One, which is an overnight race of around 65 nautical miles. 'He has not entered at the moment, but we hope he will join in for the rest of the series,' said RHKYC spokesman Lindsay Lyons yesterday.
Houghton won this same race last year on RB in a time of 20 hours, 30 minutes and 37 seconds. He also won the overall title recording three first place finishes and one second place. Competitors are allowed to discard their worst finish.
The Uin-na-Mara series - named in recognition of the contribution made to local Cruiser racing by longtime fans Hector and the late Phyllis Ross' boat - will be sponsored for the first time by Banca del Gottardo. 'My best wishes go out to all the yachtsmen and I hope they enjoy the competition,' said Thomas Graf, chief representative of the sponsors in the SAR.
The 2001-2002 series will include three overnight races, an islands course and two windward/leeward courses, possibly using Waglan and Ninepin Islands as the marks instead of the traditional black buoys. The series is scheduled to end next April.
The series was originally devised to augment the Hong Kong Cruiser racing calendar and provide challenging race opportunities in addition to annual excursions to the Philippines and China coast.
