Spring social
Time to get together! Next Wednesday the 24th we will get together at Typhoons in wanchai. Collect your membership cards Sign up for membership Talk to Backe about his Epic Journey Learn more about the Asian Sports Boats Champs. See more information on our Facebook site.

Darjeeling series
The weather is getting warmer and this Saturday looks to be a lot better than last ones. The sun will be out and southerly winds force 2-3. We will sail the darjeeling series race 5 and 6. Since race 3 and 4 was cancelled due to no wind, they will be re-sailed later on this season.

Igor's group deal for SBA
Igor's Group is a fantastic supporter of the Sportsboat fleet and offer all members 15% off on a-la-carte menu (valid all day and includes drinks) at LKF and Wan Chai outlets. The outlets include Stormies, Cavern, Keg, La Bodega, Marlin, Typhoon, Swindlers and Blue Goose. All you need to do is to present your membership card.

I wanted thank all involved in a great Sportsboat Class Championship. Gareth and my recollections follow:

It was a brilliant Class Championships over the two weekends with good weather and steady winds of 9 to 12 knots increasing to 15 late on the first Sunday. The chop and the swell, as well as avoiding ships as we crossed the shipping channel, provided added challenges.

Unfortunately only 9 boats made the start line in the form of Wild at Heart, Monsoon, Fly By Wire, Exocet, Sidewinder, Merlin, Freefire 69, Good Vibrations, and Black Magic. Gaetan sailed single handed around from Shelter Cove on the morning of the first race to pick up his crew off the start boat 10 minutes before the start and gave a brilliant display of single handed spinnaker dousing in a blow.

The schedule of racing was two Sundays of a grueling 4 races each day and the Saturday race was 2 races. All courses were windward / leeward either 2 or 3 rounds with a couple of finishes on the Saturday on a shortened windward leg. The first Sunday proved challenging as it followed the SBR party at Sam's the night before and it sure took its toll on the fleet. Some crew (name protected) were heard to be throwing up during the races. Steve claimed everything was such a blur that it was unfair for anybody to ask him to think about avoiding them in a port and starboard situation. Peter tried every sort of crew/skipper combination to get the best weight-on-the-wire combination from his 3 "man" crew on the first Sunday.

The noticeable thing about the series was the speed that Frank achieved from his Magic. He and Steve dominated the Magic series separated only once when Sidewinder posted a second place in Race 5. Wild at Heart showed good results and boat speed particularly dead downwind when she wasn't getting her spinnaker into artistic shapes. The quick starts after each race were great but occasionally a little startling with some of the fleet sailing a bit too far away after their finish so that they missed the next start! Monsoon came good in the last two races with a second and third on handicap and on each occasion beating a Magic across the line.

The mid fleet boys had some very close racing with some exemplary, if not rather dubious, mark rounding from the Sidewinder team. Black Magic, Vibrator and Sidewinder continually changed positions in virtually every race with the now expected overlapped finishes between them.

Results were as follows:

Overall:
1st: Fly By Wire
2nd Wild at Heart
3rd: Merlin
4th: Exocet
5th: Monsoon
6th: Sidewinder
7th: Black Magic
8th: Good Vibrations
9th: Freefire 69

Magics:
1st: Fly By Wire
2nd: Merlin
3rd: Sidewinder
4th: Black Magic
5th: Good Vibrations
6th: Freefire 69