bc magazine

AkzoNobel Win Hong Kong In-Port Race

Team AkzoNobel took the win in the Hong Kong In-Port Race on a dull grey afternoon on the waters of Victoria Harbour.

It was a typical harbour race. The wind was a 6 to 10 knot Easterly, quite shifty and puffy, and with a strong tide running crews needed to keep concentration levels high.

For spectators while the grey backdrop was dull, the puffy nature of the breeze allowed all those watching to fully appreciate what a beautiful boat the Volvo 65 is. Graceful on the water, picks up speed on the slightest puff and nimble on the tack. A much stronger breeze and the fleet would have had to be more circumspect on their tacks and crossings, as it was boats were tight to the transom – just as you would race in a dinghy.

“We had a fantastic race, pretty exciting. We planned to sail our own race today. It was tricky enough with the tide and the windshifts,” said team AkzoNobel skipper Simeon Tienpont. “The team sailed an unbelievable race and the guys in the back of the boat played the tactics very well… It’s good when things come together. It’s a nice reward for all the effort the team has put in.”

Dongfeng Race Team finished in second place, with Team Brunel third. The two swapped places on the third lap of the course after a solid upwind leg by Brunel gave them the lead, but the Dongfeng crew fought back on the run to secure second place.

A fourth place finish on Saturday by the series leader MAPFRE means Dongfeng vaults to the top of the table. But it’s a tight leaderboard and it could compress further following Sunday’s Around Hong Kong Island Race, when results of the weekend of racing will be combined to assign the points from this stopover.

Hong Kong’s hometown heroes Scallywag had a fantastic start, but fell back and battled to a fifth place finish over Turn the Tide on Plastic on Saturday. Both teams will be determined to move up with a better result on Sunday.

Watch a full reply of the Hong Kong In-Port race here

The Around Hong Kong Island Race is scheduled to start at 11:30am on 28 January. There will be live coverage of the start and finish of Sunday’s race on www.volvooceanrace.com

Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Race Leaderboard

Dongfeng Race Team – 24 points
MAPFRE – 23 points
team AkzoNobel – 18 points
Team Brunel – 18 points
Vestas 11th Hour Racing – 12 points
Scallywag – 9 points
Turn the Tide on Plastic – 7 points

Additional reporting and images: Volvo Ocean Race, Ainhoa Sanchez, Pedro Martinez

T20 Blitz Squads Announced

A record 27 overseas players will compete with the best of Hong Kong’s domestic talent as the final squads were confirmed ahead of the 2018 Hong Kong T20 Blitz on 6-11 February.

Ten overseas players return for a second time, including headline stars Kumar Sangakkara (Galaxy Gladiators), Daren Sammy (Jaguars) and Dwayne Smith (Cantons).

“I loved the previous season of the Blitz, and cannot wait to represent Gladiators for the second time running. I’m super excited to get back with the team,” said Sangakkara. “I loved the Hong Kong experience and vibe and to come again and play with the home-grown talent in front of such enthusiastic supporters is something I am looking forward to.”

Defending champions Kowloon Cantons have gone to pace in their bid for a three-peat with Pakistan’s Wahab Riaz set to play in the Blitz for the first time. They won’t be the only side with pace to burn, with Hong Kong Island United securing 216cm quick Mohammad Irfan. Meanwhile the Galaxy will have young gun Jofra Archer in their armoury, who has been bowling in excess of 150km/h in the Big Bash League.

City Kaitak boast a wealth of international experience with West Indies’ Rayad Emrit returning to the franchise and supported by Sohail Tavir, Ravi Bopara, Samuel Badree and Kyle Coetzer, who was the second leading run-scorer in the tournament last year.

“The depth of talent in this year’s overseas draft is incredible,” Tournament Director Matt Stiller said. “The franchise owners have done fantastically well to assemble these squads, which are sure to provide a great spectacle for cricket fans in Hong Kong.”

To encourage the continued development of emerging cricket nations and Chinese cricket, each squad is required to field one overseas Associate player and one Cricket Hong Kong Dragons player.

The franchises have embraced this vision wholeheartedly according to Stiller. “It’s great to see franchises promoting the Associate member nations, not only by raising the profile of the tournament in Hong Kong, but by including players like Paul Van Meekeren and Scotland captain Coetzer, who will make up integral parts of the playing XI’s. We’re expecting a great show with sold out crowds on the weekend,” he said.

Over 120 sixes were hit over five days of the tournament last year and that number is expected to increase with some power hitters signed on.

HKI United’s Kamran Akmal is one of the most notable with 145 sixes in his T20 career alone, while Galaxy’s Cameron Delport smashed 109 off 59 balls for Leicestershire in England’s T20 Blast last season.

And not to be forgotten is the hitting power of the locals, with Hong Kong captain Babar Hayat, the leading run scorer in Nepal’s Everest T20 League, and Nizakat Khan looking to repeat the his whirlwind century against City Kaitak in last year’s Blitz.

City Kaitak

Overseas: Samuel Badree (WI), Rayad Emrit (WI), Sohail Tanvir (Pak), Ravi Bopara (Eng), Kyle Coetzer (Sco)
Domestic Players: Anshuman Rath, Aizaz Khan (c), Waqas Barkat, Jamie Atkinson, Manjinder Singh, Ishtiaq Muhammad, Umar Mohammad, Raag Kapur, Mudassar Hussain, Siegfried Wai, Kalhan Marc Challu

Galaxy Gladiators Lantau

Overseas Players: Kumar Sangakkara (SL), Seekkuge Prasanna (SL), James Franklin (NZ), Cameron Delport (RSA), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Chetan Suryawanshi (SGP)
Domestic Players: Karandeep Singh, Haroon Arshad, Imran Arif, Shahid Wasif, Amandeep Singh, Li Kai-ming, Moner Dar, Muhammad Balal, Mohammed Osama, Awais Mohammad

Hong Kong Island United

Overseas players: Kamran Akmal (Pak), Mohammad Irfan (Pak), David Wiese (RSA), Luke Ronchi (NZ), Hussain Talat (Pak), Ryan Ten Doeschate (NED)
Domestic Players: Tanwir Afzaal, Ehsan Khan, Yasim Murtaza, Zeeshan Ali, Daniyal Bukhari, Ahsan Abbsai, Suhaib Ahmad, Jason Lui, Chris Carter, Hamed Khan

Hung Hom JD Jaguars

Overseas players: Darren Sammy (WI), Ben Laughlin (Aus), Riki Wessels (Eng), Johan Botha (RSA/Sydney Sixers), Roelof van der Merwe (Ned)
Domestic Players: Kinchit Shah (Capt), Nizakat Khan, Tanveer Ahmed, Adil Mehmood, Kyle Christie, Ninad Deveng Shah, Nadeem Ahmed, Scott Mckechnie, Damien Yee, Aarush Bhagwat, Rana Nasrulla

Kowloon Cantons

Overseas Players: Dwayne Smith (WI), Wahab Riaz (Pak), Samit Patel (Eng), Ashar Zaidi (Eng), Paul van Meekeren (Ned)
Domestic Players: Babar Hayat, Ehsan Nawaz, Waqas Khan, Ryan Buckley, Adeel Shafrique, Hussain Butt, Hassan Khan, Simandeep Singh, Sunny Bhimsaria, Saad Mahmood, Bobby Chan

T20 Blitz

Date: 6-11 February, 2018
Veune: Tin Kwong Road
Tickets: $1,300, $600, $350, $200, $20 from Ticketflap

Victoria Harbour Race

Six Volvo Ocean Race teams will be on the start line for the In-Port Race in Victoria Harbour this afternoon.

MAPFRE, the overall race leader, is also at the top of the In-Port Race Series leaderboard, with Dongfeng Race Team just one point behind, and Team Brunel completing the current podium.

The In-Port Race is one of two events scheduled for the Hong Kong Stopover this weekend. On Sunday, the teams will compete in the Around Hong Kong Island Race, a near-shore race around the island of Hong Kong.

Results from the two races will be combined and scored as one event for the purposes of the In-Port Race leaderboard.

Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag will be a team to watch over the weekend. The hometown favourite won Leg 4 from Melbourne into Hong Kong and will be keen to continue its winning ways in front of its enthusiastic home supporters.

Meanwhile, Vestas 11th Hour Racing has announced it will not be participating in the inshore racing in Hong Kong this weekend nor in Leg 5 from Hong Kong to Guangzhou as the team arranging repairs to the boat caused by the collision with a fishing boat and the death of a Chinese man on Saturday 20th January.

Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Race Series Leaderboard

1. MAPFRE – 19 points
2. Dongfeng Race Team – 18 points
3. Team Brunel – 13 points
4. Vestas 11th Hour Racing – 12 points
5. team AkzoNobel – 11 points
6. Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag – 6 points
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic – 5 points

Additional reporting and images: Volvo Ocean Race, Rich Edwards, Pedro Martinez

Dongfeng Grabs Second Place Into Hong Kong

Leg 4, Melbourne to Hong Kong, arrivals. 19 January, 2018.

Dongfeng was the second Volvo boat to arrive in Hong Kong to a pontoon full of the crew’s young children and the ‘Horace’ fan club down from Shenzhen for the evening.
bc was there to see all the joy, click on any photo to see the full gallery.

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Home Town Heroes – Historic Win For Scallywag

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Scallywag-Wins-Volvo-Ocean-Race-Leg-to-Hong-Kong/i-XvJ99P3

An historic first race win for Scallywag and Hong Kong in the Volvo Ocean Race. bc was the there to capture the action, click on any photo to see more images of the victory celebrations.
Click on any photo for more images of the celebration.

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Volvo Ocean Race, Scallywag Wins Hong Kong Leg

Scallywag sails up Victoria Harbour to win Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race, and lead the fleet into their home port. It’s an historic win for team that grabbed the lead with a bold tactical call out of the Doldrums last weekend.

“We had a bit of a plan and we stuck to it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t and this time it worked for us.”

In an extended Doldrums crossing Scallywag came from behind to what appeared to be a strong position, only to fall behind the fleet again late in the crossing. Witt and navigator Libby Greenhalgh made the decision to cut the corner, and turn to the west earlier than the rest of the fleet who kept pressing north in search of stronger winds.

The move paid dividends nearly immediately on the leaderboard as Scallywag had less miles to sail to the finish line, but the armchair pundits cautioned that the teams in the north would almost certainly overhaul them as the tradewinds filled in from the northeast…

It never happened.

Even when the team dropped miles recovering a man overboard after Alex Gough was swept off the boat by a wave, after executing a flawless recovery, Scallywag returned to racing and extended to nearly a 100-mile lead.

But then, the chasing boats began chipping away at the lead. Two days out from the finish, the margin had been cut significantly and the pressure mounted.

“I was really impressed by the way we operated over the past couple of days,” Witt said. “We had a pretty big lead and then through no fault of our own, about two-thirds of it got taken away. But we stuck to our guns, did what we thought was right and it’s worked out.”

With the Leg 4 win, Scallywag picks up 8 points (7 points for first place plus a one point win bonus). It will vault the team up to mid-fleet on the overall leaderboard, in a very respectable fourth place.

“It was always going to take us longer than the others to get up to speed as we were the last to enter,” Witt said. “All teams need a bit of confidence and I think one thing that is underrated in sport is momentum and this will certainly give the Scallywags plenty of that… We’re all still learning and we’re going to keep getting better as we go on.”

Witt has acknowledged the significance of the win as the local team leading the fleet into the first ever Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Hong Kong. For the team owner, Seng Huang Lee, who has supported Scallywag sailing over the years, it’s a big moment.

“We’re a privately owned team and our owner Mr. Lee has poured his passion and enthusiasm and vision into this project and this win will be very special for him… Winning this leg will be a massive platform for Scallywag going forward.”

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Scallywag-Wins-Volvo-Ocean-Race-Leg-to-Hong-Kong/i-KnNcbRD

Additional reporting and images: Volvo Ocean Race, bc magazine

Late Night Wait, Nerves A Jangle…

Family, friends, support crew and sailing fans are gathered at the Kai Tak Race Village waiting hopefully, expectantly for the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet for their first ever visit to Hong Kong. Amazingly Hong Kong’s debutante Scallywag is leading the way home.

Glances at phones and the large digital tracker screen show the hometown boat’s lead is shrinking. Unlike a watched pot the tracker also shows the distance to the finish dropping rapidly as the 65 foot boat powers home at over 20 knots (23mp/h or 37km/h). There’s a steady breeze to the finish in Victoria Harbour and the tension ebbs as the excitement rises.
Click on any photo for the full gallery of images.

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Volvo Ocean Race Hong Kong

After a tense 24 hours Scallywag looks set to lead the Volvo Ocean Race fleet home as Hong Kong’s entry is estimated to sail up Victoria Harbour to the finish line off Kai Tak around midnight today as the Volvo Ocean Race makes it’s first ever stopover in Hong Kong.

The fleet is sailing in from the East, so the breakwater at Chai Wan typhoon shelter or any of the headland vantage points will provide a superb viewing spot to watch the boats arrival. The leading three boats will arrive in the early hours of the 20th Jan, the rest throughout the day.

Leg 4, Melbourne to Hong Kong, day 17 Annemieke Bes on board Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag. Photo by Konrad Frost/Volvo Ocean Race. 16 January, 2018.

The ‘Race Village’ is situated at Kai Tak and there’s a wide range of activities going on during the two week stopover. Entry is Free!

17 Jan – Race Village opens (opens daily 0900-2200)
25 Jan – Practice Race – 14:00-15:00
26 Jan – Concert – 20:00
27 Jan – In-Port Race Victoria Harbour – 14:00-15:00
27 Jan – Music showcase – 17:00
28 Jan – Around Hong Kong Island Race – 11:30
28 Jan – E-sports – 18:00
29 Jan – Pro-Am Races x 4 / start times 14:00, 1455, 1550, 1645
31 Jan – Leg 5 start Hong Kong to Guangzhou (tbc pm)
31 Jan – Race Village closes to public
31 Jan – Guangzhou Race Village opens
3 Feb – Guangzhou In-Port race
5 Feb – Leg 5: Guangzhou to Hong Kong start
7 Feb – Leg 6: Hong Kong to Auckland start Victoria Harbour – 14:00

For more details of the Hong Kong stopover click here