Hong Kong San Fernando Race 2011
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Image courtesy Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
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The biennial San Fernando Race from Hong Kong to San Fernando City, La Union starts on 20th April at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club in Victoria Harbour. Now in its 34th year, the 480 nautical mile race is a Category One (safety) Asian Classic yacht race.
Weather during the San Fernando Race is very unpredictable – sometimes strong winds, sometimes very light winds, sometimes a mixture of both – but almost always from the East. When the wind is strong crew on deck can expect a salt-water shower every 12 seconds – a shower that starts off very cold, leaving Hong Kong waters, but warms up somewhat by the second day as the yachts come into the lee of Luzon Island.
This year, 20 competing yachts will leave Hong Kong waters and head South with armfuls of wind on the port bow, so this could be a year to break the race record (held by Benoit Lesaffre and his 50′ catamaran Atmosphere: two days, one hour & fifty two minutes), set in 2001. Yachts that have not arrived in San Fernando within 48 hours will find the breeze is forecast to go soft and the final few miles may be very slow.
All the competitors in the San Fernando Race 2011 are fitted with a Yellowbrick GPS-based tracking device, so you can keep track of the yachts as they cross from Hong Kong to the Philippines online at http://live.adventuretracking.com/hksf2011
The first time I competed in the San Fernando Race was 1993. In that year, the breeze was also strong leaving Hong Kong and our 47-foot ferro-cement yacht powered out past the Lemma Islands and into the South China Sea with high hopes of victory. Indeed, by dawn on the second day we were in second place on handicap with much of the 62-yacht fleet behind us. However, about 70 miles short of the objective (the Bali Hai Resort on Bauang Beach, San Fernando, La Union) the breeze evaporated to nothing and we sat for 22 hours alternately watching our reflection in the mirror-like sea and swimming around the yacht to keep cool. By the time the breeze filled in again and we could finally cross the finish line, our handicap advantage had also evaporated and we finally placed about half-way down the fleet.
One of the almost thankless tasks of the race committee for long races, such as the San Fernando Race (and its companion race on alternate years – the China Sea Race), is the job of manning the finish-line-boat. The racing yachts may arrive over a period of three days and someone has to be there to record the official finish time of every yacht as it crosses the line, whatever time of day or night the yacht arrives. The finish-line is usually a yacht, anchored about a mile off-shore, rolling with the waves, swinging on the breeze, going nowhere, very slowly. This is a job for a volunteer seeking a few days of peace, tranquility & escape from an otherwise stressful career. For the past four San Fernando Races, the position of finish-line-boat has been taken by the “sausage sizzle king”, Rod Hegerty. Rod is better known for his selfless donation of bar-B-cued Australian sausages at every event that his yacht chandlery company, Broadwater Marine, participates in; counting twenty boat across the finish-line over three days beats taking stock of hundreds of shackles and miles of rope, I guess.
The San Fernando Race takes place every two years – during the odd-numbered years – during Easter week, and was originally designed to achieve two objectives: to encourage more Philippine yachts to participate in long-distance racing; and, to undertake charitable donation & community work, in and around San Fernando City, under the auspices of the San Fernando Foundation.
This year the San Fernando Foundation has already raised more than HK$500,000 in donations and contributions. The funds will be used to pay for the livelihood and education of 32 children from San Fernando City who would otherwise have been living on the streets.
Yachts competing in the San Fernando race arrive off Bauaung Beach to relax and take stock of bruises and scrapes acquired along the way. Some yachts return to Hong Kong but many of the serious racers come South to Subic Bay to take part in the Commodore’s Cup Regatta, while some others simply go cruising the beauty of the Philippines.
The Commodore’s Cup is scheduled for the week after Easter and attracts most of the seriously-competitive racing yachts from around the Philippines, as they have the chance to pit local knowledge against foreign money in an effort to raise the trophy for the fastest yacht on the bay.
If you want to see some of the fastest yachts in Asia compete for the Commodore’s Cup, and perfect your water sports photography, then Subic Bay is the place to be. The best viewing is on the water but if you can’t hire a boat to get out there then check out the Lighthouse Marina Resort Hotel, at Moonbay Marina, for the best venue for your tripod.
Links:
Race updates at Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club website
Nearest webcam to the finish at Lighthouse Marine Resort Hotel in Subic Bay