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Subic Centennial IRC Overall Winner of Rolex China Sea Race
Last night the land-sea breeze off the Philippine coast made and lost fortunes for the potential handicap winners in this 565-nautical mile offshore Asian classic.

At the Philippines finish of the Rolex China Sea Race, the local enthusiasm and passion for sailing is evident, so it seemed fitting that the overall handicap winner was the Philippines entry, Subic Centennial, co-skippered by Judes Echauz and Vince Perez and their crew of young Filipino sailors.

Echauz and Perez won the China Sea Race in 1998 with the same boat, and ten years later decided it was time to try again. Echauz is President of the Philippines Sailing Association and head of the Philippines sailing team and was involved in the ASEAN Games in Manila. Subic Centennial, a Sydney 46 from the Manila Yacht Club, is mostly composed of young kids who are part of the Philippines Team, with Australian Jamie Wilmot as the senior coach.

Paul Bankowski’s Ker 11.3 Jaywalker, won IRC Racing B division and was 2nd overall on corrected time after Subic Centennial. Jaywalker persevered where others were stymied, coming in on the northwesterly which shut off, filled in from the southeast and shut down again, before finally filling in from the northwest again to get them across the finish line at 2204 hrs.

They also persevered in that this was only the second time the boat has finished this race, after starting in four editions, having had to retire twice due to mechanical problems.

In IRC Premier Cruising Division, it was Mark Thornburrow, from Hong Kong, on his Taswell 49 Dream who finished first.

The official prize giving ceremony will take place on April 16th 2008 at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. Among the trophies, Rolex timepieces will be awarded to Hi Fi’s for the Line Honours win and to Subic Centennial for winning IRC Overall.

www.rhkyc.org.hk/rolexchinasearace.htm
www.regattanews.com

* A very wet and weary Strewth crew appeared out of the murk at Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, accompanied by the faithful guard ship Cloud, the RHKYC’s Kellett VI, and RIB M69.

Photo of Strewth, sans keel, by Guy Nowell, Sail-World.com

It was easy to tell which of the two yachts motoring up the harbour was Strewth - the one with the pronounced roll. Just 36 hours earlier she had lost her keel approx 170 nm south east of Hong Kong, en route to Subic Bay in the Rolex China Sea Race 2008.

As she came in to the RHKYC Eastern Pontoon we saw another effect of being keel-less - sideways movement! M69 was needed as tugboat to gently push her into position. And then, safely tied up, it was time for a handshakes all round, thanks from the Strewth crew to Cloud, and kettles of rum and coke on the hardstanding. Said Geoff Hill, owner of Strewth: ‘a typical Hong Kong rescue - DRC and smiles all round!’

‘At 0300 watch-change yesterday (21 March), we were fine reaching at about 12 kts in 18 kts of breeze, and there was a loud crack. Several crew checked everything we could think of, but couldn’t see anything wrong. 20 m ins later there was another loud crack, and 30 sec after that, she went…’

‘The bow went down maybe 30 deg, and the boat rolled 45 or 50 eg - just enough to get the gunwhale wet - the main trimmer dumped everything, and we came upright again with a bit of a kick on the stern from the seaway. It was all very weird, we actually started to trim up and sail again, and were hitting 8-9 kts of boat speed, but the boat was way too tender and had serious leeway…. Richard Grimes went over the side to see what was happening down there, and came back and said, ‘Nada. There’s nothing, there, it’s all gone.’

‘It’s all a bit worrying,’ said Geoff at the end. ‘Those were new keel bolts, and it’s a simple, not very hi-tech, sort of design. The boat wasn’t being pressed. I have no doubt at all that if we had gone straight over, there would have been loss of life. We wouldn’t all be standing here looking having a drink now.’

‘Olivier and the crew of Cloud were absolutely magnificent, and we are very grateful to them. Thank you, one and all.

‘Small boats look after small boats, you know!’ — Guy Nowell, Sail-World.com: www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=42859

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 10:09 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.