"Well, I have to say that it feels rather good to have the Cheung Chau Challenge Trophy back doesn’t it?? I don’t know about you, but in my shortie wet suit I found it more than a little chilly – quite a contrast to the weather the weekend before.
An excellent turnout from Lantau Boat Club – and I wanted to make a special mention of Rory and Raquel who pressed on through the cold and an equipment failure on the water. A sterling effort for the Club. Thank you!
Sailing revelation of the Challenge was Hamish who, as a Hurricane and ‘anything-but-Darts’ sailor had to swallow his pride and content himself with just the one trapeze wire. With ace crew and talisman, Michele Felder they put in the sort of consistent performance during the 2 days that held our end up and enabled us to cruise (Hobie Club would say “sneak”) through to victory.
Meanwhile, Iain was at his tactical best taking out boats all over the place. Some notable instances of holding up the opposition on the line. Great team sailing.
As usual, Erica was on hand to marshal the troops and take care of the administration and other behind the scenes activity that most of us take for granted – from accommodation coordination and dinner booking to transport and rum ‘n cokes on the beach.
Dinner at Fat Larry’s was well up to standard and drinks in the bar afterwards were only temporarily disturbed by a raid from the Vice Squad looking for a gambling den – they obviously heard of a strange bunch of off-islanders laying odds on a certain Scotsman being on the Start Line on Sunday (….and he was!).
In truth, after a pretty abysmal first day, the Hobies did bite back on Sunday when the conditions were more favourable and who knows where it might have ended had there been a few more races. Congratulations to Peter Davies (Hobie) who was top sailor over the weekend.
Well, our turn to keep the cup polished…and more importantly put somewhere where we can find it for next year. Which reminds me….who brought it back??
