Hong Kong to Vietnam Race 2008
Written by Wayne Robinson
The concluding event for this years RHKYC’s China Coast Regatta was the 620 km VinaCapital Hong Kong to Vietnam race and I joined the crew Peter Cemers 55’ Warwick custom designed SHAHTOOSH for this bi-annual race. The crew was a real mix of nationalities; owner/skipper Peter is from Belgium, others from Canada, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Vietnam & Philippines and me the only Englishman aboard.
The 20–30 kt winds during the regatta weekend were testing conditions but competitors soon settled in for 3 days of thrilling sailing in the inshore races, conditions the offshore promised to be just as hard. At the Skippers briefing the night before the race the Hong Kong Observatory forecasted heavy weather all the way with wind from N/E speeds averaging force 5 - 6 up to force 7 (45–60 kts)
The 10 boats in the race set off 12:00 noon, Wednesday 15th Oct, in fair conditions, wind 20–25 kts, for the down hill race to Nah Trang, South Vietnam – well known as a downhill race because yachts will have the wind on the backs all the way as they charge south west toward the finish. Just as soon as the yachts rounded the windward mark, up went the spinnakers and the breath taking, mad sleigh ride ‘down wind’ began.
On SHAHTOOSH we used the Swedish system of watch keeping, the crew were split into two equal teams or watches, one team working the boat, the other resting, alternating shifts every 4 hours during the daylight and 3 hours during the hours of darkness for the duration of the race. Meals would be served during watch changes.
Our course took us close to the southern point of the Lima Islands and the Miaowan Dao lighthouse – its light is just visible from Hong Kong on a clear night. This lighthouse was built by the British in 1884 to mark the most southern end of the Lima chain of islands. It looked spectacular in the afternoon sun. By evening we had put the lighthouse and all land well astern and seas were starting to build to the 2 to 3 meter swells with white foamy crests as predicted by the HKO.
The first evening at sea and the radio positions were broadcast at 1800. Position reports showed that of the boats in our division, Ambush was the leading boat, SHAHTOOSH 2nd and Miss Salona, Thea and Ho Ho Ho were approximately 20 miles behind us in that order.
We sailed on through the night changing crew teams on 3 hour watch changes. The 2–3 meter cross seas making helming the boat challenging as the sea swells and waves try to push the stern sideways off course. Keeping the boat on course in those lumpy seas with running spinnaker requires great concentration and a fast cross arm technique the would put a BSM driving school instructor into apoplectic shock but keeping the boat straight and true maximizes speed and eats away the miles. At night we would change helmsman every 30 minutes before we became too exhausted. Under a full Moon we were averaging 9 kts and reaching speeds flying down waves of 13 + kts.
The first night passed without incident, yachts all well spread out and no fishing boats were to be seen. Dawn brought overcast skies, a welcome relief to the scorching sun of the previous day, winds maintaining 20-25 kts. From the radio reports at 08:00 we heard that Ho Ho Ho had lost her rudder and was being towed by a fishing vessel to Hainan Island.
Thursday’s progress was much the same as the previous day as we ploughed south west toward the Paracel Islands and the first waypoint of the course. The SI’s said the Paracels were to be taken to port so this would necessitate a course change therefore a gybe, so we could the run due west, our Skipper calculated this to happen at the midnight watch change.
Midnight, came on watch to learn the course adjustment would wait until the next watch change at 03:00 am. Took my turn at the helm and enjoyed the next 5 minutes driving SHAHTOOSH through the 2 m seas. The following 25 minutes were not as enjoyable as those first 5 minutes - it was tiring work keeping the boat on course and prevent a catastrophic gybe! Consequences of which could be disastrous for the boat and crew.
We did the controlled gybe at 03:00 am and headed due west, now we were taking the wind on the starboard, also it altered the effect of the seas and our ride got a little less comfortable, fortunately we’d only be on this course for a few hours before we cleared the Paracel’s and were able to gybe back on our s/westerly heading to Nah Trang.
Friday, clearer skies indicated we were in for a scorcher and as the sun rose on went the hats, sun cream, sun glasses etc. We’d gybed back onto our original course after passing the Paracel north rock lighthouse at 06:00 am. The radio schedule informed us that Ambush was passing Triton Island 40 miles ahead, Miss Solona was about 30 behind and Thea was another 5 miles further back. All looking good for a late Saturday afternoon arrival.
We also learnt that there had been some activity with the faster boats in Div A, the leading boat Island Fling had sailed into a wind hole and one of the following boats, Neil Pryde’s ‘Hi Fidelity’ upon seeing this skirted the wind hole to take the lead.
Meanwhile on SHAHTOOSH the wind was dying and by mid afternoon died completely. Our ETA was now looking like Tuesday evening!! Unfortunately as most of the crew were due to fly back to HK on Monday this was not an option. Distance remaining & speed calculations indicated that even motoring at 8 kts our ETA was still around midnight Saturday and so regretfully at 1500 hrs on Friday we started up the iron wind and retired from the race.
With huge disappointment we motored through the night, hard to imagine that right in the middle of the South China Sea and after all the wind of the previous days the sea could now be so flat, just like a mirror hardly a breath of wind. The calm weather did offer some consolations. We were also visited a few times by Dolphins and during the night under full moon we were treated to a full arcing rainbow, albeit in monochrome to the west toward the Vietnamese coast – my first ever night time sighting of this fantastic display of moonlight and water.
Indeed when came on deck just before midnight and first spotted the characteristic arch I did need a second look. When I confirmed to myself that I wasn’t seeing things and exclaimed to the others, with something like ‘hey look a rainbow’, instead of looking in the direction I indicated, they were viewing me with is questioning stare. “What’s he on, he’ll be seeing flying elephants next!” I could see them thinking. Eventually they did look and confirmed I wasn’t seeing things.
A quick look at Wikapidea and other Internet sites when I returned to Hong Kong gave the following; ‘Moon bow’s are most easily viewed when the moon is near to full (when it is brightest) the moon must be low in the sky (less than 42 degrees and preferably lower) and the sky must be dark. And of course there must be rain falling opposite the moon. This combination of requirements makes moonbows much rarer than rainbows produced by the sun. To the unaided eye they usually appear without colour because their light is not bright enough to activate the cone colour receptors in our eyes’ Sunrise on Saturday was spectacular contrasting heavily with the cumulus cloud and lightning dotted thunderheads to the west.
We heard from the morning schedule that Miss Salona and Thea were also becalmed some 50 miles astern but were waiting it out hoping the wind would fill in. It didn’t, and eventually they would also have to retire and motor in. We also heard that Ambush along with the much faster, Division A boats were due to finish later that morning. Their flatter hull profiles having a clear advantage in the lighter winds over the heavy displacement Div B boats.
By 11:00 am Saturday, the wind picked up a little and so we hoisted sail. With SHAHTOOSH’s light cruising genniker ground speed picked up to 10 kts and our ETA now showed an 18:00 arrival.
We made first site of the Vietnamese coast around midday as we sailed s/south west and finally arrived in Nah Trang at around 19:30, Thea arrived at 03:00 the following morning. Miss Salona who stuck it out the longest arrived 20:00 hrs on Sunday evening.
The sponsors in Vietnam really put on a good show with two parties on the Saturday night and the major prize giving at the Nah Trang Sailing Club on the Sunday evening. On Sunday the organizers hold an exhibition race ‘around the cans’ close to shore for the local to watch. On the very first Vietnam race over 50,000 people were lined along Nah Tang’s beach to watch the yachts being put through their paces. On this occasion however the novelty seems to have worn off as the crowds were not as large.
Only 5 boats were out for this year’s inshore race, many boats still to arrive due to the light conditions but a special mention must be made for the Peter Forsythe, Skipper and his crew on yacht ‘THEA’. They’d arrived at around 3:00 am, but all had to remain on board to wait for customs and Immigration officers to arrive at 8:30 to clear them into Vietnam. However just as soon as they were they ‘cleared in’ they weighed anchor headed out again to participate in the exhibition race without anyone setting foot ashore. True sportsman these sailor types !.
The event was great experience but in spite of the lack of wind and not finishing the race I wouldn’t have missed it for the world and my thanks go to the Skipper Peter Cremers and my fellow crew mates for a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The HK – Vietnam race is attracting more and more interest in Vietnam and hopefully will be the first of many other sailing events which may eventually open up this wonderful coast to cruising yachts. Indeed we’re all looking forward to next years China Coast where there is a strong possibility that the offshore race destination will be switched to Da Nang Vietnam instead of Sanya, Hainan.