The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC) is one of the oldest sports clubs in Hong Kong and is committed to promoting sailing and rowing in the community.

The Club’s mission, however, is not limited to their sport.  It is a caring organisation and plays a vital role in the upliftment of the broader community.  Club members and staff are keen and regularly take part in community and charity activities, such as the Oxfam Trialwalker, McDonald’s House, Hebe Heaven Yacht Club 24-hour Charity Dinghy Race, Operation Santa Claus, etc.

This year, members and staff of the Club were delighted to be able to share the festive joy with several disadvantaged groups. 

The RHKYC’s Charity Fund(comprising money raised from members and staff) donated $20,000 each to the Fresh Fish Traders’ School, and the Worldwide Fund Hong Kong’s Marine Detective Programme. 

In addition to the monetary donation to the Fresh Fish Traders’ School, RHKYC invited 43 of their students to the Club for a memorable Christmas experience where they had the chance to create their own chocolate Yule Log as well as hearing a brief introduction to dinghy sailing. The Club hopes that this can help to enhance the students’ scope and self-confidence.

Continuing with the Club’s tradition of sharing during the festive season, RHKYC’s annual collection of new toys from members and staff resulted in two groups of children receiving gift; the first were children of the Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service’s ‘Standby U Programme’ and the second group were students from Lok Sin Tong Leung Kau Kui Primary School (Branch). 

Well done Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club! May you continue your good work in the new year.

There is no doubt that Hong Kong (SAR) has become a premier destination for major international sporting events. 

Early in the year, rugby (and party) fans enjoyed world-class Rugby Sevens action at the Hong Kong Stadium.  The Hong Kong leg of the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) Sevens World Series is arguably the most exciting on the 8-leg World Series.

At the beginning of November, the Kowloon Cricket Club hosted yet another very successful Hong Kong Cricket Sixeswhich was won for the third time, in a dramatic Cup Final by South Africa.  The Sixes was launched in 1992 and has quickly evolved into a world-class event.  The tournament was afforded the prestigious “M-Mark” by the Hong Kong government, which denotes it’s status as one of the territory’s very important Major Events. 

This was closely followed by the Hong Kong Golf Open, held at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Fan Ling a week ago.  Frenchman Gregory Bourdy sealed his invitation to the season-ending Dubai World Championship with a well-deserved victory in front of a packed gallery on the infamous Composite Course 18th hole.

The F1 of international sailing

As one of two exciting finales to a year of fantastic sporting events (Hong Kong also hosts the East Asian Games in December), the SAR will play host to the first round of the Extreme Sailing Series Asia which starts in Victoria Harbour tomorrow.

 Six teams will race in the heart of Victoria Harbour just metres from the shoreline, bringing a vast array of sailing talent to the city including four Olympic gold medallists and numerous world champions. 

Supported by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, the five day event will run from 20-24 November 2009 and include a media day, youth sailing programme and four days of high-octane racing on these 40-ft catamarans. The event is scheduled to coincide with the Yacht Club’s annual ‘Around the Island Race’ on the 22 November when the six Extreme 40s will compete alongside hundreds of other sailboats in the prestigious annual regatta.

The Extreme Sailing Series Asia is being brought to the region by organisers OC Events for the first time to demonstrate to VIPs and the media the potential of what a full scale public event could bring in future years. This comes after the spectacular success of its European counterpart that has changed the way sailing is seen, quickly gaining a reputation as the Formula 1 of sailing – it’s fast and exciting with high-tech catamarans driven by some of the world’s best sailors. 

2009 Formula One Grand Prix winners led by Brawn F1 boss, Nick Fry, commented:

“This is very similar to Formula 1, in that it combines high technology, great team work and accessible entertainment for the fans. This type of sailing also provides a great commercial platform for companies who like to participate in high quality sport and want to encourage people from all backgrounds to see the benefit that sport provides.”

Mark Turner , CEO of OC Group, the parent company of event organisers OC Events said,

“The European Circuit has been running very successfully for three years now and the Extreme Sailing Series Asia is the next step in the evolution of this exciting sailing format – a format which has become a benchmark in terms of changing the way sailing is seen. 

“Our aim is to build this series each year on the same foundations on which the European iShares Cup has been built – a comprehensive sailing entertainment event that packages the sport to appeal to the public, media and provide experiential VIP client hospitality. 

“For this inaugural series in Asia we won’t be focused on the public side directly, instead we will work hard on the VIP and media aspects, as we did in the early iShares Cup years. But, of course, our aspiration is to build this circuit up over the coming years to match the award-winning iShares Cup format including a strong public element.” 

Double Olympic Gold Medallist Shirley Robertson, who finished fifth overall in the European series, will skipper one of the Extreme 40s in Hong Kong:

“Every time I go to Asia I stop off in HongKong and love sailing there. These boats are amazing and it will be awesome to race them against such a spectacular backdrop – right up there with the European tour opener in Venice . Hong Kong has such a strong sporting heritage and the racecourse will create an incredible amphitheatre, I’m looking forward to it already. It’s a lot of fun racing these boats but we are all really competitive when on the water so watch out for some pretty close-quarter racing!” 

The Extreme catamarans can race at over 40mph and “fly” a hull in just 8 knots of wind. They are also totally unique in the sport of sailing in that every boat races witha fifth man onboard – a VIP guest or member of the media, who sits in the heart of the action. Shirley Robertson describes it as “like racing shotgun with Lewis Hamilton”! 

Recent Extreme Sailing action from Europe (Pic: ExtremeSailingSeriesEurope.com)

 Warwick Downes, Commodore of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, declared:

“We’re delighted to welcome the Extreme Sailing Series Asia to Hong Kong and the Yacht Club is thrilled to be supporting OC Events as together we open a new chapter in yacht racing in Hong Kong. The event will deliver spectacular racing and promote Grand Prix sailing to a whole new audience. The Extreme Sailing Series Asia is set to become a fixture on the Asian sailing calendar.” 

After the spectacular finale of the six-stage European circuit just three weeks ago in Almería, Andalucía ( Spain ), six of the boats were packed up and shipped directly to Hong Kong .

Soon after the Hong Kong event, the boats will be shipped straight down to Singapore (11-15 December) with the Extreme Sailing Series Asia Champions being decided in Muscat , Oman (1-5 February).