| Hong Kong. Atmosphere takes line honours in VinaCapital Hong Kong to Vietnam Race |
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| Saturday, 28 October 2006 | |
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Lindsay Lyons: With thunder rumbling in the hills of Nha Trang, Benoit Lesaffre’s multihull Atmosphere finished the 2006 VinaCapital Hong Kong to Vietnam Race at around 1200hrs 27-Oct-06 (Hong Kong Time) to take line honours. A mere 36 minutes later, Paul Winkelmann’s TP52 Island Fling showed its pedigree, taking IRC Division A on the water and on corrected time. Both times were considerably outside Skandia’s 2004 record, mainly due to the local wind conditions off Nha Trang, which have been unusually soft for most of the race period. With squally showers passing though all day, Hi Fi finally came into view around Hon Tre Island as the light died, recording a finish which placed the Grand Prix winning boat well down IRC A on corrected time. As if boats travel in pairs, no sooner was Hi Fi over the line, than Mandrake!&s lights were spotted. After a good race, the Kinmonth / Burns owned Farr-Mills 51 finished just 24 minutes after Neil Pryde on the water, beating him on corrected time but not doing enough to catch Island Fling. The surprise of the race was Ant Day’s Siren. Having turned down the opportunity to drop down to Div B the Sayer 13, at 41ft the smallest boat in IRC A, had a scorcher of a race to finish just 2 hours behind 51 ft Mandrake and 52 ft Hi Fi. Arriving to a round of applause from the Mandrake crew, Day was delighted to find that Siren had placed 2nd on corrected time. During the dead of night, Ffree Fire 52 made it to Nha Trang safely, in spite of damage to her new mast. Polar Star III checked into the Hainan port of Sanya with a broken boom, and Quest reached the safety of Hong Kong. In the dawn light, HSBC Strewth finished at around 0645hrs HKT to be followed 25 minutes later by Drumstick and another hour later by Hocux Pocux 2. Only Shahtoosh and Barnstormer are left to finish. With the breeze apparently giving both boats 14 knots boat speed, the former is expected at around 1100hrs HKT and the latter at 1600hrs HKT today, in plenty of time for the welcome parties tonight and prizegiving tomorrow. Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club |
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 28 October 2006 ) |
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