We had a fantastic turnout for our first race of the year, a total of 15 boats were on the start line despite the weather looking a bit windy before setting off. It was great to see newcomer Boris out on his Dart 18, plus we had two new faces with Kyler and Joly crewing very well for their Dads. New race officer Gabriel decided to set a medium size course to the South East of Peng Chau and put an emphasis on safety (partly because everyone was a bit rusty but mainly because he didn't want to have to deal with any collisions on his first day!).

The strong wind that was making some a little nervous on the beach fell
away as we made our way to the race area but the first race went ahead
at 11am. Tom was first to the windward mark and managed to extend his
lead as the others got into a right mess with failed tacks and a mass
of confusion. Nobody was able to catch him after that, although both
Gabriel and Clara put in a good effort, clawing back places after
getting stuck at the back to finish 2nd and 3rd.

By the start of the second race the wind had shifted round and filled
in, making the first beat to the windward mark very port biased. The
wing mark was almost a beat as well which caught quite a few out who
tacked too early. The F18s were back on form in this race after a
virtual 'no-show' in race 1 and TC Fung was first across the line and
first on handicap.

The third race found many struggling to fetch the line on starboard and
everyone tacking to port almost immediately with a straight beat to the
windward mark. Most people had learnt their lesson this time round and
continued some way past the mark before tacking. The wind was up to
force 4 in places on the course which left Tom and Kyler somewhat
overpowered but this didn't seem to slow them down at all. Steve was
also finding his feet on his new boat, moving up the rankings in each
race despite parts of his boat being on upside down after a rush to get
it ready! But first across the line again was TC Fung which puts him in
a good position for the series if he can discard his first race after
Day 2.

Although four races had been planned, Gabriel decided to stop at three
so that everyone could get back to the beach at a reasonable time. He
also didn't want Awah to stay out too long as he was far from his
normal self and seemed in some discomfort.

All in all the day was a great success and with this being a two day
series there's plenty of opportunity for some upsets in the rankings.
The second day of the Ox series will be held on Sunday 8th March, we
really hope to see all the boats out again plus anyone else who'd like
to join in.