Strong wind formats
After two days of staying ashore, everyone was very excited to get the racing started today. Early breakfast and off to the club to rig up and learn the plan of the day at the skippers’ meeting.
And the plan was for three back to back races for each of the divisions. Reaching starts that is, a format well known at the RS:X class, but not so common in T293. Yet. Not counting the slalom races of the Techno293 Plus, the T293 is used to starting upwind, so it is good to get the kids shaken up from time to time.
We let the experienced guys from the RS:X go first, with wind just above 20 knots it was a good idea to check how they would handle the conditions. They handled in style. Men, women and youth alike racing and enjoying themselves at it. Picture-perfect conditions and picture-perfect racing led to a quick finish for the Olympic Class with the first candidates for the titles shaping up already.
Wonwoo Cho from Korea came back ashore with two bullets and a second to secure his place on top spot in the RS:X men. He is followed by Chun Leung Michael Cheng
From Hong Kong and local hero Howard Cheng.
The Hong Kong trio Hei Man H V Chan, Wing Chi Sandy Choi and Wai Yan Ngai are dominating the ladies’ division, with their teammates Ling Yeung Au, Kwan Lam Ma and Cyrus Cheuk Hin Lai doing the same in the RS:X Youth.
After that came the time for Glide and the T293. Having the wind steady, as was, and the class being a little faster than the T293 the Race Committee decided to give the Glide an extra lap. The guys enjoyed it with John Harold Madrigal from the Philippines on top so far.
Hats off to Cheuk Wing Mak, top girl and third overall in the T293. She battled it hard in the strong wind, finishing behind the boys Janson Shek and Chun Po Lam. Both boys having at least one race win. Always good to have planing action with the competitors improving on their reaching starts from race to race.
Another promising forecast for tomorrow with racing starting at 10:00 for T293 and Glide and 12:00 for the RS:X. Follow the event website for more - http://asians2019.internationalwindsurfing.com