https://www.scmp.com/rss/13719/feed Robby Nimmo, an award-winning advertising copywriter, has been writing for the South China Morning Post for 10 years. She writes the left-field rather than the on-field, social commentary rather than sporting commentary. She is also a regular contributor to the Rant column in the Sunday Post Magazine. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Years ago, while travelling around the Australian Outback with my father, a beggar stopped and asked us for money, so that he might eat. My dad later spied that same man in a pub, at the bar, and tapped him on the shoulder. “You didn’t need food, you needed a drink,” my dad com­plained. “I want my money back.” ‘Begpackers’ hit the road as Hongkongers refuse to fund travels We may have been smack in the middle of the country, in what has been called Australia’s “red centre”, but at that point,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2171210/begpackers-hong-kong-are-they-all-fake-or-are?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2171210/begpackers-hong-kong-are-they-all-fake-or-are?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Nov 2018 00:30:45 +0000 Ten pound pom I was a “10 pound pom” who arrived in Australia from Britain in 1956 (on the assisted passage migration scheme that ran from 1947 until 1982 with subsidised fares of £10). To get a world cruise for £10 is not a bad deal. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a 12-year-old boy from Wickford, in Essex. The ship we migrated on – The Otranto – was a first world war troopship that was on its last voyage before going to the knackers. It broke down about six times, its fuel system... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2165928/vietnam-war-photographer-derek-maitland-crippling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2165928/vietnam-war-photographer-derek-maitland-crippling?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Sep 2018 10:15:15 +0000 “Look out for your squad”, “Know when to chill” and “Water is your H2Bro” were put to the test over the tournament, and for the 30 KELY Support Group volunteers sending the messages to people aged 18-24 it’s a job far from finished. KELY offered free water, support and medical assistance to people in this age group who partied too hard.  “We are all about harm reduction and prevention being better than cure,” said Cindy Ng, KELY’s assistant programme manager. A few hours spent with staff and... https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2140768/sevens-seen-help-hand-youngsters-stadium-and-socially-conscious?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2140768/sevens-seen-help-hand-youngsters-stadium-and-socially-conscious?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Apr 2018 06:29:50 +0000 A few years ago, English prop forward Jason Leonard said in a box at the Hong Kong Sevens: “I’m having a great time, but my liver wants to go home”. While we all know the best way to not get a hangover, it seems the cures are as varied and as international as the teams on the pitch. Japanese plump for sour plums called umeboshi steeped in green tea, and turmeric tablets. The German word for hangover is “kater”, which is the word for male cat. All Berlin cafes offer kater breakfasts on Sundays,... https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2140758/sheeps-eyeballs-sardines-glass-milk-how-prevent-horrible-hangovers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2140758/sheeps-eyeballs-sardines-glass-milk-how-prevent-horrible-hangovers?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Apr 2018 04:12:12 +0000 Proving that the Hong Kong Sevens is a game for all, last year was the first year that women were allowed into the Carbine Club pre-Sevens lunch, rubbing shoulders with a host of all-time greats. They included Springboks Jean de Villiers, John Smit and Mornay du Plessis, and former Lions Andy Nicol, Warren Gatland, Lawrence Dallagio, Andy Hall, Peter Wheeler and Ieuan Evans. This year, the bush telegraph was working overtime and women were quick to take up the still coveted seats, despite this... https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2140717/sevens-seen-women-lions-den-last-and-dont-forget-tip-your-taxi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2140717/sevens-seen-women-lions-den-last-and-dont-forget-tip-your-taxi?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Apr 2018 10:00:43 +0000 Happy Valley is the cauldron famous around the world for rugby and horse racing. It was here in 1976 that the first Hong Kong Sevens was held at the Hong Kong Football Club, this week the club is the venue of the Tens.  There are as many places in the world called Happy Valley as there are Hong Kong Sevens teams this weekend – 24 in total. And the world’s “Happy Valleys” seem to be parallel to the rugby nations with places in Wales, Kenya and the United States, Canada, South Africa and... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/2140272/black-humour-illicit-drugs-or-murderous-mosquitoes-just-how-did-happy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/2140272/black-humour-illicit-drugs-or-murderous-mosquitoes-just-how-did-happy?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Apr 2018 08:03:47 +0000 There’s no prize money for coming first in a Volvo Ocean Race, just the prestige of leading the field in the world’s toughest and longest sporting event. But in 15 days, Hong Kong became the real winners.  Apart from the Hong Kong team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag taking the leg that really mattered to them, there was the chance to showcase the beauty of Victoria Harbour – again. As Dongfeng skipper Charles Caudrelier said as he was about to board his boat and sail the next leg: “There are few places... https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2131788/volvo-ocean-race-mooring-itself-kai-tak-sports-park-will-put-sailing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2131788/volvo-ocean-race-mooring-itself-kai-tak-sports-park-will-put-sailing?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Feb 2018 00:04:35 +0000 Women will only be equal when we stop thinking of them as different. This applies not only in business, but also in the business of sailing. Libby Greenhalgh, navigator on Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, the Hong Kong-funded boat who won the leg from Melbourne to Hong Kong, says sailing is not unlike industry. A survey of 3,000 global companies found that women held 14.7 per cent of board seats, and only four per cent are CEOs. “When you look at the three pinnacle events of sailing, we see that... https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/2130671/volvo-ocean-race-blazes-trail-women-sailing-americas-cup-lags?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/2130671/volvo-ocean-race-blazes-trail-women-sailing-americas-cup-lags?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Jan 2018 03:55:07 +0000 Tycoon Lee Seng Huang has praised his skipper David Witt and his triumphant band of “Scallywags” for facing down a series of huge challenges during the fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race – and still managing to be the first crew into Hong Kong. The man they call “The Boss” on Thursday revealed his constant worry as Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag lurched from one crisis to another in the Southern Ocean. “I was shocked when I was informed of the man overboard incident, but to recover a crew member in... https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2130473/team-good-hands-under-witty-scallywag-boss-reveals-his-relief-after?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2130473/team-good-hands-under-witty-scallywag-boss-reveals-his-relief-after?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Jan 2018 02:50:35 +0000 Hobbling around in a protective “moon boot”, Volvo Ocean Race sailor Annie Lush can attest that when you take on Mother Nature, sometimes she bites back. The around-the-world yacht race is no easy life – there’s the searing daytime heat that can leave crews bored out of their minds and fractious; the lack of sleep; the freeze-dried food and the relentless cold at night. But there’s also the scary feeling of knowing you could be stranded with a serious injury in the middle of nowhere. Late in the... https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2130341/stranded-below-broken-bones-lonely-injury-ordeal-volvo-ocean-race?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2130341/stranded-below-broken-bones-lonely-injury-ordeal-volvo-ocean-race?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Jan 2018 06:58:41 +0000 The sun was streaming through the Volvo Village with not a cloud in the sky. Local yachtie Marty Kaye was pumped from a visit to the Scallywag display at the village, opposite the Grinding Challenge. “We’ve got to stop people thinking sailing is an elitist sport,” said Kaye emphatically, just as a freewheeling freebie frisbee released from the wayward grip of a child knocked him in the head. Will Scallywag win again in Volvo Ocean Race? We can with the support of Hong Kong fans, says skipper... https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2130009/were-aiming-build-city-sailors-grass-roots-take-priority-volvo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/2130009/were-aiming-build-city-sailors-grass-roots-take-priority-volvo?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Jan 2018 00:00:15 +0000 School of hard knocks I was born in Brockley, a poor part of southeast London, in 1958. Millwall (football) fans were the biggest hooligans on the estate. It was deprived and violent, ripe for modernisation, but there was honour amongst thieves. Everyone looked after each other. My dad, who was a bit of a villain, died at 38. I was six, my brother was two and my sisters were 10 and 12. Mum had some sort of breakdown. Dad left her debt and four kids to raise. Mum didn’t do much mothering in the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2123281/rugby-coach-pantomime-dame-hong-kong-based-briton?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2123281/rugby-coach-pantomime-dame-hong-kong-based-briton?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Dec 2017 05:15:30 +0000 Skipper David Witt will be hoping his crew’s experience in unpredictable weather will help Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag play catch-up with the rest of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet as they approach the “Doldrums” off the west coast of Africa. The Hong Kong representative was in last place among the seven-boat fleet less than three days after leaving Lisbon in Portugal on the second leg towards Cape Town in South Africa – a 7,000 nautical-mile journey. It is one of four long legs in which the fleet will... https://www.scmp.com/sport/article/2118959/scallywag-skipper-david-witt-confident-ahead-equatorial-crossings-during-volvo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/article/2118959/scallywag-skipper-david-witt-confident-ahead-equatorial-crossings-during-volvo?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Nov 2017 08:45:50 +0000 David Witt made a promise to himself that his next Volvo Ocean Race experience would be on his own terms. That was in 1998 when he was part of the Norway’s Innovation Kvaerner team who finished fourth. Now, 20 years later, 46-year-old Australian Witt is about to fulfil his dream as he skippers Hong Kong’s Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag in the 2017-2018 race with a crew who are not only physically prepared for the testing 45,000 nautical-mile race but who are also mentally fine-tuned for a nine-month... https://www.scmp.com/sport/article/2116409/hong-kongs-sun-hung-kai/scallywag-gives-david-witt-chance-tackle-volvo-ocean?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/article/2116409/hong-kongs-sun-hung-kai/scallywag-gives-david-witt-chance-tackle-volvo-ocean?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Oct 2017 10:40:10 +0000 Hong Kong’s Tiger Mok is ready to make a major leap up as one of the crew members for Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag in the Volvo Ocean Race. Scallywag is the first-ever Hong Kong entry for the round the world event – skippered by Australian David Witt. The 37-year-old Mok has experience in the China Sea Race and also competed in Hong Kong to Vietnam and Hong Kong to Philippines races. However, the 45,000 nautical mile Volvo event is a daunting move up in distance for the Hong Kong sailor, who will... https://www.scmp.com/sport/article/2116406/hong-kong-sailor-tiger-mok-ready-major-step-volvo-ocean-race?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/article/2116406/hong-kong-sailor-tiger-mok-ready-major-step-volvo-ocean-race?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Oct 2017 10:15:00 +0000 In the past few years, we seem to have lost our way with language – or rather, we have let it sweep us up in a tsunami of sayings and buzzwords that are excruciating in their inanity. Nowhere more so than in the corporate jungle of Hong Kong office life. These words seem designed to obfuscate rather than communicate. They contrive to depersonalise a situation to the point of political correctness and corporate-speak overload. Ironically, they put the breaks on any real meaning, stopping it dead... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2102500/opinion-office-jargon-can-buzz?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2102500/opinion-office-jargon-can-buzz?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Jul 2017 00:15:28 +0000 The “Mexicans” from the UK – three aircraft engineers and a resume writer – wrote their own ticket to the most topical outfit of the Sevens with suits like brick walls, proving that with a good idea, anyone can be a Hong Kong Sevens celebrity. Some were sevens virgins, some old hands, but this troupe sitting beside a posse of punks older than Johnny Rotten had the crowd in their palms. Sweltering in their suits that cost £39 on Ebay their armpits were damp, but never their spirits. It was hot,... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2086202/another-sevens-wall-curtain-falls-weekend-thrills-and-spills?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2086202/another-sevens-wall-curtain-falls-weekend-thrills-and-spills?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Apr 2017 11:46:56 +0000 In Chaos Theory, the “butterfly effect” happens when a small change can result in huge changes later. Far from chaos, for Hong Kong rugby one change made a huge difference – the arrival of a new coach for the Hong Kong teams, Dai Rees, in 2009. These days, Hong Kong has a full-blown “Tafia” as they are known in the city’s rugby circles, paying homage to the name used for Welshman outside of Wales – a “Taff” – a name often used by the military, originating from the River Taff which runs through... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2086144/italy-might-have-mafia-hong-kong-has-tafia-sevens?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2086144/italy-might-have-mafia-hong-kong-has-tafia-sevens?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Apr 2017 04:21:33 +0000 Maybe it’s the grown-up equivalent of the swear jar, but for a bunch of school mates from Perth there was a betting jar that got them to the Hong Kong Sevens. It only took six years. “Me and eight mates all put A$20 a week [around HK$120] in a betting syndicate, called “Ca$hmoney,” says 30-year old Mitch Reddell. “We’d bet on horses, the AFL, any sport that was legal. After a while we forgot to bet. And then we realised that the money was growing faster without it.” For satellite engineer... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2086046/unsuccessful-betting-syndicate-gets-aussie-bucks-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2086046/unsuccessful-betting-syndicate-gets-aussie-bucks-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Apr 2017 09:09:38 +0000 “Timing has always been the best element in my life. I have been blessed to have been in the right place at the right time.” So said Buzz Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon. Ricky Cheuk Ming-yin, the first local Chinese player to score a try at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Argentina in 2001, could say the same thing. Although the poster boy for local rugby, now aged 34, has achieved much, being an astronaut is not one of them. However, in a sense his father was an “astronaut”, this... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2086023/hong-kong-rugby-hall-famer-ricky-cheuks-sense-timing-finely?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2086023/hong-kong-rugby-hall-famer-ricky-cheuks-sense-timing-finely?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Apr 2017 05:00:52 +0000 Like many hallowed “men’s only” clubs – particularly in golf – the Carbine Club allowed women into their pre-sevens lunch yesterday for the first time. It is the lunch everyone hears about but only the select get invited to. They have always stayed under the radar, with “Kai Tak Rules” and no reporting. “Because what happens on tour stays on tour,” as the saying goes. No theme was required for the club named after a horse born in 1885. The name says it all and carries gravitas with corporates... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2085825/women-carbine-club-why-next-youll-see-morris-dancing-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2085825/women-carbine-club-why-next-youll-see-morris-dancing-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Apr 2017 11:44:06 +0000 Each year before the tournament, a buzz appears on the streets as tourists roll in from all around the globe to watch the best Sevens tournament on the planet. For two tourists last year – friends of former Sevens tournament director Peter Burbidge-King – the dream became something of a nightmare. But in the spirit of rugby, just had to be laughed off. “I asked South African mates Brian Whittingham and his partner, Sue Van Wyk, who live in Perth to join us at the Sevens,” Burbidge-King recounts.... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2085792/when-you-come-hong-kong-sevens-and-spend-weekend-haunts-wan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2085792/when-you-come-hong-kong-sevens-and-spend-weekend-haunts-wan?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Apr 2017 10:07:02 +0000 Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Acceptance. These are the four stages of waking up. There’s no way around it. No way to sugarcoat it. The best way to get the best seat at the Sevens is to get there early. (However for a very small and barking mad handful, that does not necessarily mean getting up early.) There are four divergent, discordant groups who unanimously agree to this. They’ve done it year in, year out. And they know all the tricks, such as leaving your South China Morning Post on the back... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2085090/you-snooze-you-lose-how-get-best-sevens-seat-house?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2085090/you-snooze-you-lose-how-get-best-sevens-seat-house?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Apr 2017 04:03:20 +0000 The breathtaking tenacity of Joost van der Westhuizen on the field was matched only by that the World Cup-winning former Springbok and Hong Kong Sevens star displayed in his long fight against the debilitating disease that eventually claimed his life earlier this year. Van der Westhuizen died of motor neurone disease (MND) in February. Apart from being an integral part of the team that made history when South Africa won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Van der Westhuizen played in the inaugural Rugby... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/fifteens/article/2085691/how-late-joost-van-der-westhuizen-turned-springbok-pride?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/fifteens/article/2085691/how-late-joost-van-der-westhuizen-turned-springbok-pride?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Apr 2017 03:55:26 +0000 After a decorated 22-year stint at the helm of New Zealand, master coach Gordon Tietjens has provided more than a little food for thought since taking the reins at Samoa. Tietjens is credited with changing the game when it comes to diet in sevens rugby and while it is yet to show in Samoa’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series performances, the Kiwi is making his presence felt. “They were not training hard enough and they weren’t eating the right food, simple as that,” Tietjens said. “I had one team... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2084690/sir-can-i-eat-legendary-sevens-rugby-coach-gordon-tietjens?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2084690/sir-can-i-eat-legendary-sevens-rugby-coach-gordon-tietjens?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Apr 2017 09:01:16 +0000 Part three of the series features one of the most successful coaches in the history of the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens, as well as an All Black who used the Sevens as a platform launching his stellar career and has become a regular attendee since. You can read part one of the series here, and part two here. Gordon Tietjens Former New Zealand sevens coach and new Samoa coach I played here in 1983 in the first national sevens team and first coached here in 1994. When I look back and reflect, I’m proud... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/2083772/46-my-players-became-all-blacks-how-hong-kong-rugby-sevens-changed-my?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/2083772/46-my-players-became-all-blacks-how-hong-kong-rugby-sevens-changed-my?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Apr 2017 06:01:29 +0000 Part two of the series features one of the legendary figures of the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens, as well as a national treasure from New Zealand and a Hong Kong Rugby Union Hall of Famer. You can read part one of the series here. Waisale Serevi Former Fiji player inducted as one of the Hong Kong Sevens legends in 2015 I always say, “No Hong Kong Sevens, No Serevi”. It’s true the Hong Kong Sevens made me who I am today. It doesn’t feel that long ago since it was 1989 and I first came to play here,... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/2083495/no-sevens-no-serevi-how-hong-kong-rugby-sevens-changed-my-life-part-two?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/2083495/no-sevens-no-serevi-how-hong-kong-rugby-sevens-changed-my-life-part-two?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 Mar 2017 06:02:47 +0000 Just over a decade ago, a booted and (bespoke) suited banker arrived at a pre-tournament lunch on Sevens Friday. He was fresh from a conference in Australia. Dressed in a navy suit and blending in with the other guests was Peter Phillips, Queen Elizabeth’s grandson and Princess Anne’s son. Not long after enjoying the Sevens experience, he moved to Hong Kong with his Canadian wife, Autumn, for a period. Perhaps the Sevens touched his life that weekend, as he mixed with the same Hong Kong Sevens... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2083455/how-hong-kong-rugby-sevens-changed-my-life-part-one?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/2083455/how-hong-kong-rugby-sevens-changed-my-life-part-one?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Mar 2017 06:01:20 +0000 We’ve all done it – knowing full well we shouldn’t. Caught off guard coming out of the shower or going into a meeting, returning from the supermarket with an armful of groceries, or preparing dinner for family and friends, we’ve answered that call from “No caller ID” or prefixed with the number “3”. Yes, it could be the boss checking in from abroad, an important client or even a long-lost relative – but then the inevitable blitzkrieg of babble ensues from the telemarketer on the other end of the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2077375/how-deal-cold-callers-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2077375/how-deal-cold-callers-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Mar 2017 09:30:45 +0000 When a tycoon says that “I’d like to have a serious conversation” you listen. And experienced yachtsman, David Witt was all ears after a chance meeting last year with Hong Kong-based tycoon Lee Seng Huang. The winds had blown them together in Hong Kong after a corporate sailing event, setting in motion the purchase of the 100 foot supermaxi now named Scallywag, which finished a record-breaking third in line honours in last month’s Sydney to Hobart race. As group executive chairman of Sun Hung... https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/2063567/how-expensive-curiosity-led-sea-rescue-and-record-sydney-hobart?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/2063567/how-expensive-curiosity-led-sea-rescue-and-record-sydney-hobart?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Jan 2017 07:24:14 +0000 I’ve sailed in over 20 Hobarts, and around the world a few times, so it was disappointing to break a record but not win the race. The weather proved good for my boss’s first Hobart. SH [Lee Seng-huang] certainly shows plenty of spirit. We were galloping the whole way. I’ve never before gone to Hobart and not had to sail upwind. Our goal is to be the first Asian team to win Hobart line honours. This will be a year of development to make it happen. We have kept a number of our [previous... https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/2063564/scallywag-skipper-david-witt-we-want-be-first-asian-supermaxi-win?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/2063564/scallywag-skipper-david-witt-we-want-be-first-asian-supermaxi-win?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Jan 2017 07:20:05 +0000 Unless you are a pro or at the elite upper echelons of sailing, you have little chance to be invited to sail in a Hobart race. And at over 50 and as a Brit living in Hong Kong, I knew that I didn’t have the sufficient network to get a ride. And I knew that I could shout it all over the main bar at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, but with old knees and a bad back, it was never going to happen. I’d seen this race for over a decade and I wanted to go. I decided to go with Clipper Ventures. I knew... https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/2063563/sydney-hobart-novice-simon-crockett-us8000-worth-every-cent?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/2063563/sydney-hobart-novice-simon-crockett-us8000-worth-every-cent?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Jan 2017 07:19:14 +0000 I started sailing the Hobart when I was 16 on board Chutzpah with my father, Bruce. He was born in New Zealand and my mother in Melbourne, and my wife says I have a chip on both shoulders and a passport for each of them. We’ve had six boats called Chutzpah – Yiddish for audacity – even though no Aussie sports commentator can seem to pronounce it. The Hobart race is unfinished business. Winning every position in the top 10 but first place on handicap has been punishing. If you can’t win your... https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/2063562/sydney-hobart-veteran-drew-taylor-race-unfinished-business?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/2063562/sydney-hobart-veteran-drew-taylor-race-unfinished-business?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Jan 2017 07:18:34 +0000 CONFLICT RESOLUTION I’m visiting Hong Kong for The Brazzaville Foundation. Brazzaville is the capital of the Republic of the Congo and the foundation is an organisation dedicated to peace and conservation in the widest sense. The foundation follows on from the Brazzaville Accord in 1988, which brought about the peaceful settlement of conflict in Southern Africa and secured the independence of Namibia. The accord also paved the way for the release of Nelson Mandela from prison and the end of... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2056349/prince-michael-kent-grown-hong-kong-wonder-africa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2056349/prince-michael-kent-grown-hong-kong-wonder-africa?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Dec 2016 00:00:36 +0000 Christmas is a time for giving – and a time for receiving. And each year over the festive period, tonnes of unwanted gifts (and their packaging) find a new home – in our landfills. Hongkongers simply don’t have enough space to fit all their holiday gifts into. Hong Kong’s plastic waste epidemic, and why it’s bad news for all of us I have known parents who will buy two of each present for their children, based on the logic: “I don’t want my kids to argue over their toys.” Why, though, don’t we... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2052922/why-hongkongers-should-teach-children-give-not?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2052922/why-hongkongers-should-teach-children-give-not?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Dec 2016 03:03:19 +0000 A childhood in Savannah, Georgia, could not be any more different from that of most Hong Kong children. In the harvest season on the banks of the blue bayou, the waft of hay and honeysuckle fills timber porches resplendent with swinging timber couches. With their long pontoons bearing pagoda-like structures, even singers Roy Orbison and Linda Ronstadt found the bayou something worth singing about. It was in this Deep South rural idyll that Cheryl Haworth spent her childhood outdoors, dreaming... https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/1972833/bigger-you-are-more-invisible-you-are-olympic-champion-cheryl?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/1972833/bigger-you-are-more-invisible-you-are-olympic-champion-cheryl?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Jun 2016 10:43:50 +0000 We could be heroes Tina Turner’s Mad Max anthem “We don’t need another Hero” doesn’t reflect the Hong Kong Sevens. In fact, we have a surfeit of heroes, and there’s always room for more. They are everywhere in the stadium. From the parents who tirelessly go bleary eyed to the pitches around Hong Kong every weekend for months every year, and their kids who run with tiny chests beating in their hearts on the same pitch where the legends strut their stuff, dreaming big. To the fans and especially... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/sevens/article/1935014/sevens-seen-robby-nimmo-day-3?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/sevens/article/1935014/sevens-seen-robby-nimmo-day-3?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Apr 2016 08:34:46 +0000 Going Green Whereas people think Scots, Kiwis and Aussies make the biggest globetrotters, according to Forbes magazine research, the Irish top the list of people living overseas at 17.5 per cent, followed by New Zealand at 14.1 per cent. The Chinese are on the bottom of the table with 0.3 per cent. Australia only rate at 2 per cent, well below the UK, who rate 6.8 per cent.  The Irish diaspora has always wandered the seven seas and celebrated events like St Patrick’s Day wherever they are. In... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/sevens/article/1934700/sevens-seen-robby-nimmo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/sevens/article/1934700/sevens-seen-robby-nimmo?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Apr 2016 11:00:45 +0000 Australia’s Nick “Honey Badger” Cummins is coming to Hong Kong after all, with rugby fans in the city ready for a feast of zany one-liners and larrikin-like fun from the 28-year-old back. The colourful Cummins was originally left off the Australian squad for the Hong Kong Sevens because of fitness concerns following a lay-off. However, after 19-year-old Henry Hutchison was ruled out on Saturday because of a minor foot injury, the Badger was called up to travel to Hong Kong. “Nick has come into... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/sevens/article/1933038/honey-badger-nick-cummins-gets-call-hong-kong-sevens?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/sevens/article/1933038/honey-badger-nick-cummins-gets-call-hong-kong-sevens?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Apr 2016 11:45:00 +0000 They are the tribute band to end all tribute bands. In 1988, Björn Again started off in a pub in Collingwood, Melbourne, morphing music and stand-up comedy. This was before the movie soundtracks for Muriel’s Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert helped make legendary Swedish group ABBA famous again, and way before Mamma Mia. Now they will hit the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, starting with the HKSevens Kick Off Concert across from the stadium on Wednesday night... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/sevens/article/1933014/bjorn-again-ready-give-hong-kongs-dancing-queens-and-kings-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/sevens/article/1933014/bjorn-again-ready-give-hong-kongs-dancing-queens-and-kings-time?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Apr 2016 10:45:00 +0000 “You’ve got to be body ready for the Sevens, you’ve got to be in the best possible shape or you’ll blow a gasket or twang a hamburgler,” says Nick Cummins, aka the “Honey Badger”. He’s been pushing the boat out with a punishing training regime in the past few weeks that has included running through deep snow in Norway and living like a Scandinavian Tarzan: “You gotta drill through the ice and wheel out dinner. It’s minus 33 degrees, you’re dressed up like a pet lizard. You can only wrestle so... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/sevens/article/1932857/life-sweet-honey-badger-there-will-be-no-meat-pies-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/sevens/article/1932857/life-sweet-honey-badger-there-will-be-no-meat-pies-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Apr 2016 07:15:30 +0000 Tributes have flowed in from around the world for Hong Kong bar and restaurant owner Paul Buxton, who died after suffering a heart attack in his Kennedy Town home on October 7. He was 49. Buxton – who was best known for his various Bulldogs and Doghouse outlets – arrived in Hong Kong in the early 1990s. For a time he worked for restaurant owners the Parfitt brothers, the men behind Jaspas, Oolaa and Wagyu. Wayne Parfitt said: “We went to school with Paul in Queensland, Australia, and arrived in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1869454/tributes-paid-hong-kong-bar-owner-paul-buxton-larger-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1869454/tributes-paid-hong-kong-bar-owner-paul-buxton-larger-life?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Oct 2015 10:00:15 +0000 As Ocean Park disappears in the distance, the roller-coaster does not stop on board 100-foot super maxi Ragamuffin as she cuts though the water. She's a weapon, a machine - an entire theme park. At around 20 knots, she was flying, but she is also capable of a top speed of nearly 40 knots (70km/h). The cockpit alone is bigger than most Hong Kong apartments at 15 metres long and 5.8 metres wide. The sail inventory costs US$2 million, and the machine of Ragamuffin requires a full-time staff of... https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/1868997/life-aboard-ragamuffin-not-just-about-rockin-riggin?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/1868997/life-aboard-ragamuffin-not-just-about-rockin-riggin?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Oct 2015 15:23:05 +0000 I'll never forget lining up at 3am at the gates, running to get halfway seats at 6am. Mum heading to St Margaret's for church while we kids caught up on sleep in the stand. She said a couple of prayers for the New Zealand team. When I became a mum, I remember taking a pram and three-week-old baby. That year, we had our photo taken with Eric Rush. It was his last HK Sevens and my boys' first. - Tania Maree Mansfield Mae West said "I've known many places, and I've been many people". I suppose... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/sevens/article/1744028/memories-are-made?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/sevens/article/1744028/memories-are-made?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Mar 2015 17:30:15 +0000 British singer Kate Bush forbids her audiences to use their mobile phones to take photos or make recordings at her concerts. So we can probably guess where the Wuthering Heights chanteuse stands on the selfie stick. While selfie sticks can be handy for the odd group photo, where a spare body to take the pic isn't available, they are really just selfie-esteem sticks: an instrument of vanity for those using them, and of torture for those watching them being used. Perhaps selfie sticks are a crutch... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1729948/selfie-sticks-nouveau-narcissist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1729948/selfie-sticks-nouveau-narcissist?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Mar 2015 12:16:10 +0000 Restaurant service in Hong Kong can be somewhat … schizophrenic. Some days the waiter is clinging to you like a bad crimplene suit. On others, when you want the bill, a dessert or a coffee, you are persona non grata. And then there's the premature type. I recently dined with a Antipodean male, who was tucking happily into a T-bone steak. He was nowhere near finished. His fork and menacing-looking steak knife were mid-air. Still, the waitress was swooping in to clear away the plate. Didn't she... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1688991/how-catch-waiters-eye-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1688991/how-catch-waiters-eye-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:19:43 +0000 HALF PLUS HALF My mother was Aboriginal and my father was of Irish Catholic descent. Once my mother got married and moved away from her Yamatji people, she was expected to shun her culture. I went to a Catholic school in Albany, Western Australia, at a time when life was pretty brutal if you were half-white, half-Aboriginal. People would say things like, "You're a half-caste so you've only got half a chance." My aunty and grandfather used to try to teach me some of the traditions of their... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1664634/didgeridoo-master-mark-atkins-talks-jamming-and-playing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1664634/didgeridoo-master-mark-atkins-talks-jamming-and-playing?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 Dec 2014 15:51:05 +0000 It's nearly Christmas and that means one thing: a snowstorm of smug social-media statuses is about to hit. Whether it's a wunderkind's end-of-year report, a school concert performance or Instagram photos of the big meal being shovelled down, it's all going to be bragged about. Come December 25, modesty will take a back seat: Facebook pics of designer Chrimbo gifts will be posted, accompanied by cries of #I'm-rich! or #designerbagforme! Do we really need to see people flaunting their overpriced... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1664651/christmas-step-out-your-virtual-world-and-keep-it-real?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1664651/christmas-step-out-your-virtual-world-and-keep-it-real?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 Dec 2014 15:51:05 +0000 BLOOMING BUDS I grew up in Grafton, a town on the northern rivers of New South Wales (in Australia). It's best known for hosting a jacaranda festival. These verdant, lilac-coloured trees are related to the African flame tree and they create a canopy over many of Grafton's main streets in summer time - it's postcard stuff. As the highway bypassed it, in many ways it became the land that time forgot. But, when I was growing up, it was considered a prosperous town. My father was one of the town's... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1568216/my-life-john-weiley?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1568216/my-life-john-weiley?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Aug 2014 15:12:34 +0000 BACKWARDS PASS I recently visited Paarl (in Western Cape province, South Africa), where I grew up, to see my No1 fan; my father. I was sitting in a field where I played my first senior game of rugby. It made me think how different my life was then. I idolised my father because he was playing for the national black team. I wanted to be as good as him. When I was 10, I decided I wanted to be a Springbok (a member of the national team) while watching rugby with him on television. South Africa was... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1563332/my-life-chester-williams?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1563332/my-life-chester-williams?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Aug 2014 15:31:18 +0000