Hong Kong Sportsboat Association

𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝘆 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝟱 & 𝟲, 𝗩𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿

A ridiculous course to start the day - 308 which is a start at DB, then SKW, KB, DB, SKW, DB, GB, KB, DB with a finish at GB. In other words, big triangle, long sausage, small triangle, beat to finish or big samosa, spring roll, small samosa, bean sprout as we used to call it. The Class Sec pointed out to the Flying Fifteen RO that Sportsboats with asymmetric kites do not race triangles as this is how we sail and all it does is mandate where we gybe rather than let each boat dictate their own downwind tactics, but he didn’t seem to care. 🤷🏻‍♂️

We got away on time at 1350hrs with Serendipity almost pulling off a port tack start to get out to the ebbing tide first. F.A.B. lead round SKW but was passed soon after by a flying Pawley and then Serendipity just before KB. For reasons only known to them, Serendipity gybed just inside KB instead of rounding the mark… F.A.B. was once again fast uphill and passed Serendipity half way up the beat whilst closing in on Pawley, but a cunning move by Serendipity to round TKS instead of SKW saw them speeding off downhill towards DB in first! To further confuse matters, Serendipity rounded DB but carried on under kite towards KI and that was the last we saw of her all day. 🤣

Pawley rounded in "second" and FAB "third", however given it was a two day race F.A.B. took their time dropping the kite assuming the race had been shortened at Dock Buoy as would be the normal course of action for the RO to facilitate an easy restart on a two race day. Catch 22 rounded next closely followed by Toobogan and it was then that F.A.B. realised the race was still on! Toobogan must have thought the ebb was weakening and tacked into Kowloon Bay, Catch 22 decided a loose cover was best whilst F.A.B. pushed out into the harbour looking for the tidal gain. It came and she passed Toobogan about two-thirds of the way up to GB, rounding closely behind Catch 22.

A small gybing duel saw F.A.B. and Catch 22 rounding KB together, literally! Meanwhile Pawley serenely extended and took the first win of the day, one step closer to securing a first series win for the season. F.A.B. took Catch 22’s transom and powered over the top to claim second place on the water and handicap. By now it was all but half past three in the afternoon so Pawley, cruising round with a furled jib, and F.A.B. enquired of the RO if there was actually going to be a second race, "yes" was the response. A further enquiry as to why the first race was therefore so long (with the last boat finishing close on 2 hours later), and the RO glibly replied “because I wanted it to be". An interesting approach to race management…. 🤔

The RO then signalled course 328 (start at DB, TKS, E1, TKS, DB, finish at GB) which perhaps would have been more suitable for the first race. For those new to race management, the logic is to get at least one race in and done. After waiting for the Etchells to slowly finish, the RO opted to change the course to 322 (start at DB, TKS, finish at DB), so one up and down. F1 in reverse, a marathon followed by a sprint!

F.A.B. crossed the fleet on port and found room to duck in at the boat before the gun and headed out into the still strong running ebb first. Unfortunately she overstood TKS allowing Pawley and Catch 22 to round in front of her. A blasting run saw Pawley clean up the day with a brace of bullets to take the series by a good margin, counting five firsts and discarding a second. F.A.B. came home second and Catch 22 took two third places for the day to secure second in the series. We all carried on under kite eager to get back for the Class AGM scheduled to held at 1730hrs, likely hitting our best speeds of the day once the beers had been cracked!

📸: Enrico Kwong / Sidewinder

Happy International Women’s Day to all of our incredible female sailors. If you’re thinking about getting involved, the VX One levels the playing field. Great community, smart ergonomics, and racing that welcomes everyone. #IWD #internationalwomensday #sailing #vxone #mackayboats

Sportsboats Class Champs for the 2025/2026 season: Russ, Mark and Peter on VX One F.A.B. on scratch and handicap, with the top speed of 15.3 knots.

🙏 Musto for sponsoring overall prizes, North Sails for top speed prize and Yardley Brothers Beer for keeping everyone hydrated.

Drone photography: Anton Aleshin

Merry Christmas dear sailors!

Around the Island Race 2025

13 December was a rather somber day for the class. We received word the day before that Darren Catterall, Class Measurer and stalwart of the Sportsboats Class both on and off the water, had passed away unexpectedly having just messaged the fleet that morning looking for crew for Carter the Unstoppable S*x Machine (yes, that’s what USM stands for). The sportsboats flew black pennants in Darren’s memory and we would like to thank Sean from Ironman for taking time on a Friday evening to sew them.

It was the usual challenge getting out of the harbour behind the majority of the class boats who started earlier, even more so this year with very inconsistent breeze. Then the typical park up at Lei Yue Mun, with huge gains to those who got through first. Magic Hotwired retired with a broken halyard, or so they said, and got a head start on the race to the bar, before Russ and Amanda (who had loaned VX One F.A.B to Steph Norton) even started in the TP52 class. LYM was followed by a very short downwind run from Cape D’Aguilar to Stanley and then another park up south side.

VX One Pawley was the next to suffer gear failure when their forestay popped off the mast. They didn’t realise it until they finished the race and dropped their jib which was rather unfortunate for Liz who had to bear Eliot’s complaints about the jib trim for much of the race.

Lady Godiva contender Steph Norton did an F.A.B. job to catch up to and pick her way past the majority of the fleet. The VX One came in 9th on the water behind a Reichel-Pugh 75, three TP52s, three Cape 31s and a MAT 1245 to win 1st dayboat and sportsboat. In the Magic division, Phoenix’s golden bullet continued to shine and shot them to 1st place.

Post race, sportsboats members, alums and friends gathered on the dock at Carter USM to honour Darren. Thank you to everyone who came and shared your stories and a toast to the inimitable Jack of All Trades.

Still a little lost for words. SBA ATIR Race Report will be published, eventually. In the meantime, here’s something from the RHKYC with the usual pertinent information regarding entries, breeze, course, race officer and line honours.

We would, however, like to supplement the race report to note that Steph and Nick were joined by former Hong Kong team sailor Molly Highfield, who was an integral part of the team on Saturday.

Winner of the Fireball Trophy at Around the Island Race 2026

LIPTON TROPHY - VX One Pawley takes 2nd overall to kick off the Top Dog Pursuit Series. The VXes started with the Etchells 38 minutes after the Pandora class who set off first.

Pawley hit the pin end of the line at pace and finished 7 places ahead of the first Etchell despite the ridiculous number of beats to the TKS mark and the upwind finish, proving that she’s not just a downwind machine. Or perhaps it was the intel from the Etchells Class Secretary crew on Pawley. 😉

Magic 25 Phoenix has been MIA from Port Shelter racing and it turns out they’ve been working on Mission Golden Bullet. It worked, and the hotshots came in 8th overall and 1st day boat. [For the curious, even though Pawley was 1st boat without a fence, a boat can’t win two prizes in this series so Phoenix took the accolade.]

📷 credits: someone in the Etchells class | Eliot

VX One International Class! 🙌

Philipp Buhl sums the VX up best - easy and super fun downwind. But if you don’t believe an Olympic sailor, come try it out for yourself. Or ask our local Olympic sailors at the upcoming Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC) Around the Island Race next weekend.

For more than a decade, the VX One has been setting the benchmark for high-performance, one-design recreational sailing. Today, the VX One International Class Association is proud to share that World Sailing has officially recognised the VX One as an International Class, following a vote by the World Sailing Council at its recent Annual Conference 🌍⛵️ Hear from Sailor Girl HQ - Nic Douglass (AUS), Grace Howie (USA), Sophie Callander (CAN), Phillip Buhl (GER), and John Clinton (NZL) – on what to expect from the VX One as we head toward the class’s first World Championship 🏆 and an exciting new phase of global growth. The class is currently active across the United States of America, Canada, Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Chile, the US Virgin Islands, Ireland, and Hong Kong. To find out more information, head to vxsailing.com. Video: Skylla Filmworks / Sailor Girl HQ - Nic Douglass #vxone #sailing #community #sport #fun #OneDesign #WorldSailing, World Sailing , Mackay Boats , Ovington Boats , VX One Australia , North American VX One Class Association VX ONE Klassenvereinigung Deutschland ,

PASSAGE RACE TO KI

About half the fleet has migrated from Shelter Cove to Kellett Island this past weekend. VX One Pawley was the designated rabbit for the self-started passage race and Energizer Bunnies Eliot and James sailed it like they stole it. Word is they finished the delivery in a record 1 hour, 53 minutes and 40 seconds, before Race Officer Russ could even step off the pontoon to get races going for the Kellett fleet.

The Vi****or also charged their batteries and were hot on Pawley’s wake but a ripped kite and a MOB (or is it POB now?) put several Magic 25s ahead of them, Ironman officially coming in second behind Pawley. Patrick has been banging on about needing a new A2 and it seems he was right as Serendipity also blew their kite out.

All 10 sportsboats made it eventually. Merlin was momentarily held up by the Shelter Island reef but is now safely with the rest of the fleet and a few more will join in the coming weeks.

📸: The Vi****or crew, all smiles on a beautiful winter day, before a couple of hiccups cost them the Magic 25 win.