World Maritime Merchants Forum YMC Alma Mater Race 2024 concludes in Victoria Harbour
by Vivian Ngan 18 Dec 09:09 UTC
15 December 2024
On the coldest day of winter so far, the YMC Alma Mater Race sponsored by the World Maritime Merchants Forum, took place on 15 December in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour.
The Alma Mater Race is an annual fun racing event for alumni from the same academic institute to race together and show off their sailing ability. Teams were formed based on their affiliated schools - be it a local university, international school or secondary school, as long as at least half the team has the same affiliation.
Amongst the 54 entries, the largest participating academic association was University of Hong Kong with a total of ten boats, including four teams from Hornell Hall, one team from the Faculties of Dentistry and Ricci Hall. The race also attracted a wide range of secondary schools, including teams from Wah Yan College, St. Joseph's College, St. Paul's Co-educational College, Pui Ching Middle School, Diocesan Boys' School, Queen's College and King's College.
The event also attracted some alumni from academic institutions further afield including Cambridge University, Oxford University, Imperial College, University of Manchester and University of Newcastle, Australia. Many sailors turned up fully decked out in team uniforms (and some in Christmas costume), waving college flags ready to do battle on the water to claim victory for their Alma Mater.
Racing on RHKATI and PHS rating, the boats were given staggered starts in 10-minute intervals, with the slowest ATI group starting first, followed by the PHS division and the fastest RHATI boats starting last.
Due to the northerly monsoon, the breeze was blanketed by Kowloon Peninsula, and the race started at the Club start line in a varied light breeze of 1 to 4 kts. Race Officer Mark Dowding elected to choose a course that took the fleet from a Club start line, through Lei Yue Mun Gap and round Junk Bay Mark. The wind dropped significantly after the start resulting in a huge park up at Lei Yue Mun, with the RO opting to shorten the course near Kowloon Bay.
The Race Officer Mark Dowding said " I think it was another great Alma Mater event. The wind was a little bit patchy, but it seemed to fill in towards the end and everyone got home and everyone seemed really happy crossing the finishing line."
When the final results were in, J/70 Jovial (skipped by Walder Ip) representing University of Newcastle, Australia took the win under RHKATI division, followed by Etchells Diva Deux (Oxford University) skippered by Mark Yeadon and then Magic 25 Phoenix (Chinese University of Hong Kong) skippered by David Ho.
In the PHS division, Zoe representing Imperial College, London skipped by Johnson Yuen took 1st place with Voyage 56 representing Hong Kong Sea School helmed by Lam Chak Sum in 2nd place and XT from Pui Ching Middle School (skippered by Gary Leung) in 3rd Place.