Beautiful yet somewhat gusty Force 5 winds looked promising early in the day. As we headed out to the start, just outside Peng Chau, the winds became a slightly more forgiving but solid Force 4. The gusty nature of the weather left a couple of potential racers on the beach looking for a more comfortable and safe environment.

Awah setup a very short triangle course that let us work on our starts and boat handling skills. We all knew we needed practice, but this was really a test. Despite a relatively small start line and 7 boats on the water, the start line was surprisingly uncrowded as the gun went off for Race 1. Tom & Michele decided to take some chance on their start and hit the line at full speed within 1 second of the gun! Risky, but it paid off, as they sped away from the field. Richard had a solid start but was working harder than anyone, trying to single-hand his Dart and trapeze on the small course. Choi and Ting came flying through the fleet, but for some reason only known to them, stopped after the second lap! After the entire fleet passed, they suddenly decided to race again, and came charging through again to catch one or two boats. Pietro and his paddling buddy Julian raced well to pick up second.

Andy and Jimmy Leung on the well-worn Dart 16 were truly impressive. I have never seen a Dart 16 go so fast! Well done guys! Race 2 was interesting as Choi and Tom jockeyed for position on the line. Choi managed to pass Tom from underneath and hit the line with speed. Tom & Michele responded with a flurry of activity on the boat that caused Tom to break his sunglasses and race the rest of the day with none. Choi and Ting reached the top mark first but suffered a very unfortunate tack and got stuck in irons. 3 boats passed them instantly in the big winds and small course. By this time, we realised that one of the Hobies sailed by (Tsui Yee and Keung) had capsized...again! They were having a tough time, and seemded not to be able to finish a couple of races. Pietro raced well again. Too bad he had to get back to the beach after this race.

Race 3 was more variable. The gusts were coming stronger now, and some of the boats had difficulty handling them. Clara and Joe managed to capsize during the race...twice! Everyone was sailing on the edge with boats regularly flying up in the air, on the verge of capsize. For the casual observer, Tom & Michele made it look easy, cruising to uncontested wins on all races. Onboard, however, it was chaos! Michele fell off the boat at least 3 times boat each time was saved by her trapeze line which kept her from getting swept away. Andy on the Dart 16 had his hands full sailing with Jimmy L. Their combined weight was probably less than Pietro's crew. And Richard probably wished he had not lost quite so much weight recently. Ting and Choi sailed the fastest...at least for a while, but seemed to make more mistakes than anyone else too.

The last race was a long distance race around the top mark then rounding Peng Chau to starboard. Tom & Michele led start to finish but were pushed by a fast closing Choi & Ting. Both Clara and Richard finished just in front of th Dart 16, but were beaten on handicap.

Well done to everyone for braving the wind and chilly temperatures.