IRC Yearbook 2009

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NEW ZEALAND Martin Hannon, Yachting New Zealand
attention to the IRC and encourage IRC
divisions in our racing calendar.
New Zealand’s IRC ﬂ eet has grown
since its inception with a total of 184 being
fully measured in the past 2-4 years. The
past IRC season has been quite a busy
season with a mixture of the usual race
weeks in the Bay of Islands, Auckland and
Wellington; New Zealand National
Championships held in Auckland by the
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron; and
coastal and offshore racing (Auckland to
Fiji, Coastal Classic, Auckland to Tauranga,
White Island Race, etc). The New Zealand
ﬂ eet has a few imported production boats
(Bénéteaus, Bavarias, etc) within its ﬂ eet
but there is also, due to the extremely
Hong Kong Lindsay Lyons and Gideon Mowser
strong and proud sailing traditions of New
Zealand, particular ﬂ eets and designs of
yacht unique to the yachting psyche.
Located on the southern coast of China, summer months and includes a mixture of
Kiwis, with their beautiful vast coastline
Hong Kong SAR enjoys a thriving sailing buoy and passage racing. Catering to IRC-
and islands love to race hard but also cruise
scene, helped in no small measure by the rated yachts from 25-75ft it provides for
just as much. An issue with rating the
temperatures usually enjoyed in this sub- many interesting situations around the race
current ﬂ eet of yachts here is that they
tropical climate. The season runs from track and also causes many a headache for
tend to be slightly older in design with the
September to May, however, in reality Hong the race management in dealing with some
inﬂ uence of IOR and IMS still evident in
Kong enjoys year-round sailing, albeit very disparate boat speeds. An SBR-rated
their layout and rigs. Though, in saying that,
interrupted by the odd typhoon. division is also included with about 20 boats
the main thrust of racing is in the 40ft
The IRC rating system was introduced currently rated.
division with the Cookson 12’s, Farr 40’s,
to Hong Kong in 2000 as a replacement for The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club hosts
Z39, Farr 1020’s and other cruiser racers.
CHS and the region has seen continued the China Coast Race Week in October
New Zealand is looking forward to a
growth in the number of IRC-rated boats which traditionally sees the onset of the
bright IRC future and thus enabling owners
since then, with 70 Certiﬁ cates issued in Northeast Monsoon with stronger and more
to be more competitive at home and when
2005, 75 in 2006, 90 in 2007 and at the time consistent winds. It again encompasses
they travel to compete overseas with our
of writing 67 in 2008. So the IRC rule does buoy and passage racing spread over three
nearest neighbours in Australia in their
look to have been widely accepted and days and this year culminates in the
strong established IRC ﬂ eet.
adopted in Hong Kong and now includes a following week with a 650-mile downhill
number of IRC-only events. dash to Vietnam. The lure of a spinnaker
An increasing number of boats are run over that distance in temperatures
also seeking endorsed IRC Certiﬁ cates, suited to shorts and T-shirts have seen a
including several Hong Kong-based yachts increasing number of visiting yachts
which participate around the Asian Circuit. participating, boosting its popularity further.
To service that demand we are offering a The largest growth seen is in the 30-45ft
measuring service and maintain a calibrated range with a number of custom-builds
13 tonne load cell. As the level of racing recently arrived as well as a number of
continues upwards we are expecting that production boats. Traditionally this would
to be utilised even more in the future. have been one division but recent events
Hong Kong’s participation in the 2008 have moved to split this in to two divisions
Commodores' Cup was a particular highlight which has provided close racing for a
of the year and their ﬁ nal placing was of number of boats. As each division now
great satisfaction to the team and to those contains boats of similar theoretical speeds
following it in Hong Kong. It is widely hoped the racing has become a lot tighter and
that a team can be ﬁ elded again and provides more boat-on-boat action. That
perhaps even improve on their result. has contributed to more enjoyment for
The two biggest sailing events of the the sailors on the water but has also
season are Hebe Haven Yacht Club's necessitated the brushing up of rule
Typhoon Series which runs through the knowledge – which is no bad thing!
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IRC 09 Snapshot P20-22_bs.indd 21 1/12/08 10:09:54
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