by Gabriel Kicks, LBC Race Officer

The second and final day of the Ox Series looked in danger of being cancelled as everyone stood on the beach at 9am. The complete lack of wind and the thick sea mist made it unlikely that any of the 11 boats were going to get out. But, ever the optimists, members rigged boats and kept an expectant eye on the weather. Fortunately, a slight breeze started to develop and a dark line on the water out towards Disney started to shift the mist. Then, looking suspiciously like the god of wind, the silhouette of Awah standing upright in his boat came into view travelling at the leading edge of the wind on the water. He was blissfully unaware of the image of course but it caused much amusement on the beach.

A quick race briefing was held with the emphasis this time on doing penalty turns if a rule is broken, rather than just saying 'sorry!' (good training for our upcoming event with the HKHC). A medium course to the north of Peng Chau was set with each race consisting of just one triangle and one sausage, the idea was to keep the races shorter to make for closer racing. As the race briefing finished the wind really picked up and race harnesses that had looked pointless a few minutes before were grabbed.

All the boats were off the beach quickly and had no problem getting out to the race area with hulls flying in the Bay. Testing the course was almost too much fun for some, with Richard (sailing single helm) so busy trapezing up at the A mark that he only just noticed the 4 minute signal. Fortunately he made it back just in time!

The first race got off well with a couple of sailors recognising the port bias and shooting off to the pin end at the last minute. The left hand side also paid as boats out on the right were headed badly due to the wind bend along Peng Chau. TC and Joe easily pulled ahead on the Tiger and seemed to be really enjoying the strong breeze but were beaten on corrected time by Jimmy and Cathy sailing an impressive first race of the year. Tom and Kyler managed to climb up from mid fleet and secure third place going past Gabriel (sailing single helm) who thought that just for once he'd managed to beat the Commodore!

Race two started with slightly less wind but TC and Joe on the Tiger shot off again. Behind them Gabriel had a good start and was ahead of the fleet making the windward mark first. Meanwhile, Tom and Jimmy got caught up in a port starboard incident but managed to avoid contact. Although this allowed a few other boats to get past them. Tom managed to pull back places again though and was second behind TC with Gabriel third. Richard was a true sportsman taking his penalty turn after hitting one of the buoys even though nobody was witness to this.

The start of the third and final race saw the wind drop off to almost nothing just after the gun, with boats inching their way forwards. The wind started to shift slightly and it became possible to sail straight to the windward mark on port tack. It was a slow crawl with Tom getting there just behind TC. The majority of the fleet tacked too early and pinching to get round most were pushed back by the tide and had to put in two more tacks. Coming up from the back, Gabriel was able to sail past and move up neck and neck with Richard as the remainder of the fleet snapped at their heels. Both TC and Tom got around the wing mark just as the wind shifted through 180 degrees and took off on a close reach to the 'downwind' buoy. The rest of the fleet slowly edged around as the wind headed those approaching it. Richard and Gabriel battled it out for third, hulls flying on the way down to the C mark, with Gabriel just managing to get past before the turn. The rest of the fleet followed closely with a downwind run to the A mark, all passing TC and Tom who were already coming the other way. The windshift was bad news for the Tiger with TC coming in third behind Gabriel, and Tom bagging first.

So, congratulations go to TC Fung and Joe who are the overall winners of the Ox series with a net score of 7.25! Tom and Kyler came in a very close second with 8.50 followed by Gabriel and Keiko with 14.00.

A special mention goes to first time racer Steve and his crew Neil, who, after a very brief introduction to racing on the beach, managed to get round the course with no incidents. So we're hoping to see them out again in the near future.

The first series of the year has been a great success with so many sailors turning out to support the club. We hope to keep up this momentum through the year to improve the clubs sailing skills and also to have fun!