2018 NEWS

The Arrival of a new Hansa 303 Hull - Toby J-J

‘XiWang’ a Hansa 303 originally donated to Sailability by the RHKYC Charity Foundation in 2014 became a casualty of Typhoon Mangkhut when it was crushed by a falling tree. Although the spars & sails were stored in a container, the hull was beyond repair. Kay Patterson, a member at HHYC generously agreed to fund the purchase of a new hull from the proceeds of a Memorial Service held for Toby Jenkyn-Jones, her partner. The new boat was launched in December at a quiet ceremony.

Team LoTech S.E. Asian Para Sailing Championships

6th – 9th December 2018

Whilst 10 countries had been due to take part in this first ever event, just prior to it taking place 3 teams pulled out at short notice, leaving 7 to actually participate. Notwithstanding, it soon became clear that Hong Kong faced stiff competition from within the remaining teams particularly Japan, Singapore, Macau & Taiwan.

The results of the Championships were as follows:

2.4mR Class

Champion: FOO Yuen Wai representing Hong Kong

Silver: LIONG Wun Wah representing Macau

Bronze: LIM Kok Liang, Deserie representing Singapore

Hansa 303 Class Single-handed

Champion: Takumi NIWA representing Japan

Silver: WU Chi Chian representing Taiwan

Bronze: NG Xie Zhen representing Singapore

Hansa 303 Double-handed

Champion: PUK Chi Yeung & LEUNG Yuk Chun Sylvia representing Hong Kong

Silver: XIA Lisa & WANG Philip representing China

Bronze: SUI Kan Sing, Tom & LAU Wai Man, Raymond representing Macau

Hansa 303 Class Overall Winner (PY Calculated)

Champion: Takumi NIWA representing Japan

Our grateful thanks go to our Title Sponsor ‘Team LoTech’ for sponsoring the event and for presenting the prize to the overall winner of the Hansa 303 Class.

Our sincere thanks also go to Karl C Kwok, Vice President of the HK Olympics organisation; Dr James Lam, President of the HK Paralympics Organisation & Martin Lam, General Secretary of the HK Paralympics for presenting cups and prizes to all the other medal winners.

Lastly, we must acknowledge the tremendous support given to the event by the Race Organising Committee, the Race Officials, Mark Layers, Safety Manager, Safety boat drivers, Volunteers and everyone behind the scenes at HHYC for making this first ever such event a resounding success.

HHYC 24 Charity Dinghy Race – Cheque Presentation = November 30th 2018

The organising committee of the 24 Hour Race invited the 7 beneficiary charities to a cheque presentation evening on 30th November.

Sailability was presented with a cheque for HK$128,000, the largest donation made to our charity from this annual event. Kay Rawbone received our cheque expressing her thanks to all those who were involved in the event arrangements; particularly following the significant damage and disruption at HHYC created by Typhoon Mangkhut, 2 weeks prior to the event taking place.

Note: It was subsequently agreed that this substantial donation would be used to replace our damaged storage unit & shelving; buy 2 new Hansa 303 launching trolleys and 6 new sets of sails for the 303’s. We are also intending to order racks for our buoyancy-aids, covers for same and then obtain new life jackets. We will also be carrying out essential repairs to our fleet. Including the 2 Typhoon damaged 2.4mR’s..

Many of those taking part in the Team LoTech Championships

Champion - 2.4mR Class. Cup & medal presented to FOO Yuen Wai of Hong Kong by Mr Karl C Kwok, Vice President, HK Olympics Oganisation

Takumi NIWA of Japan. Presented with the Cup for the Hansa 303 Overall Class Winner by Bridget Chan on behalf of the Title Sponsor 'Team LoTech'

Champions - Hansa 303 Doubles Class. Cups & medals presented to PUK Chi Yeung & LEUNG Yuk Chun, Sylvia by Martin Lam, General Secretary of the HK Paralympics Organisation

Cheque presented by Peter Lau (left) on behalf of the 24 Hour Charity Dinghy Race Organising Committee to: Mike & Kay Rawbone (Charity Founders) and 2 para sailors: FOO Yuen Wai & PUK Chi Yeung

A New Record is Established - November 2018

A total of 303 different sailors with a disability attended a sailing session this month. Congratulations Mark, Paul & Ed (our instructors)

Hansa Open International & World Championships - Hiroshima, Japan: 12th - 18th October 2018

Sailability Hong Kong continues to make it's mark internationally with a 5th place finish in the Hansa 303 Class (PUK Chi Yeung) and a 9th place finish in the Liberty Class (FOO Yuen Wai), Huge congratulations to both sailors who fought it out on the water for 5 days against stiff competition from the competing countries which included able bodied sailors from some of the strongest sailing nations in the world.

Attended by 180 sailors and 300 volunteers from 24 countries, our two sailors excelled and achieved their highest ever international / world class rankings. Although not medal winners this time around, they are to be congratulated.

Hong Kong was represented by teams made up of both physical and intellectual disabilities. Caritas Lok Yi School attended with 2 very young ID sailors and 4 teachers who took it in turn to sail with them & TREATS charity with another young sailor plus carer. The balance were made up from Sailability, a mix of physical and ID's. All sailors achieved their best ever results, notably Leo Purdie & Joel Saurez Felipe who managed a magnificent 7th place in one of the Hansa 303 races.

The event itself was held at the Kannon Marina, Seto Inland Sea. This enjoys a wonderful spectator area overlooking the race course so the large crowds of supporters had a virtual

ringside seat for all the races.

The organisation of the Championships was excellent and all involved in staging this wonderful event are also to be congratulated. Last but not least, Chris Mitchell from Hansa worked tirelessly as did Jackie Kay & Linda behind the scenes to make it all happen.

Thank you everyone for inviting us. For those who do not yet know, Sailability Hong Kong has since made a play to run the Hansa World Championships at Hebe Haven Yacht Club in 2022. In the Interim we will be running a Regional & International Hansa event December 2019 which will serve as a practice run!

World Championship single handed top 10 finishers: L - R: PUK Chi Yeung - 5th Hansa 303 Class & FOO Yuen Wai - 9th Liberty Class - relaxing at the prize giving ceremony

Edit team photoPHOTO-2018-10-15-11-58-52

The Hong Kong sailors, volunteers, teachers, carers, supporters and volunteers

Hansa 303 competitors getting ready for a start

16th Year of the Hebe Haven Yacht Club's 24 Hour Charity Dinghy Race - 29th & 30th September

Sailability entered 3 teams this year with the 'Para Warriors' winning the event for the 3rd time. The other Para team of 'Para Friends' finished in an amazing 2nd place with the Saturday sailors coming in 15th.

Also sailing in our boats were 3 teams from TREATS, 1 from Caritas Lok Yi School & another from the Amputee Association - all of whom sail with us regularly, bringing the Hansa fleet entries to 8 in all.

Bob Schahinger, President of the International Hansa Class Association flew into Hong Kong and joined us for the event. Taking part in the sailing on both days as crew for the Saturday Sailors team, his comment afterwards "We really should do something like this in Australia - it's an excellent event".

We were also honoured to have Hannah Stodel attend the event. Hannah, from the UK and a Paralympic champion, started the race as part of the 'Para Warriors' team. She, together with CHO PIng, were in the lead (of course) at the first crew changeover and the team never looked threatened after that! Well done you two for the good start you gave the team!

As the first charity team to finish the race, the 'Charities Cup' was also won by the 'Para Warriors'. Although a bit of a clean sweep on the sailing front for Sailability Hong Kong, perhaps the icing on the cake was that Ed TANG (Para Coach) was presented with the 'Volunteer Spirit of the Event' award.

Thank you to everyone who attended / supported the event, particularly those who stayed during the night and helped clear up !

NOTE: Hannah is currently training to take part in the Vende Globe single handed round the world race in 2020. Everyone at Sailability will be watching her progress and wish her every success!

The 2018 Winning Team (Para Warriors) with the 'Para Friends' Team who finished in 2nd place.

Hannah Stodel setting the pace

Para World Championships - Sheboygan, USA

16th - 22nd Spetember

Our two sailors finished 23rd (FOO Yuen Wai) & 24th (PUK Chi Yeung) overall. They, together with their Coach, TANG Bing Fai, Edison, were only able to take part due to the generosity of the RYA (Royal Yachting Association) in the UK and World Sailing, who effectively funded their trip and the provided the boats so that our 2 Hong Kong sailors could take part.

Well done guys, you gain places each time you take part in these championships. Thank you again World Sailing and the RYA !

Hong Kong Paralympic Team Send-off to Para Asian Games in Jakarta - 8th July 2018

We were pleased to be invited to take part in the send- off for the Hong Kong athletes team. Our Para Coach and a number of dedicated sailors and volunteers attended the afternoon exhibition at the Shatin Sports Institute Complex showing off 2 of our boats to the general public and dealing with many enquiries and interested onlookers.

Editors Note: Much to our disappointment, Para sailing is not included in the sports action in Jakarta. On the bright side, however, we do at least maintain our Para Asian Games Sailing Bronze Medalist status for another 4 years !!!

Good luck Hong Kong..............

The Homestylist Hebe Haven Open Dinghy Regatta - 26th & 27th May 2018

The event itself represented another first for Sailability with 18 boats and 23 sailors on the water. Of the 23 participants, Para sailors from Taiwan, Macau, China & Philippines were ‘Sailability’ guests for the event. Results after 6 races and 1 discard were:

2.4mR (9 boats taking part):

1st Virgile Bertrand – RHKYC 8 points

2nd PUK Chi Yeung – Sailability 9 points

3rd FOO Yuen Wai – Sailability 13 points

Hansa 303 & Hansa HHYC Liberty’s (9 boats

taking part with calculated PY results)

1st Chi Chian Wu – Taiwan 5 points

(single-handed in a Hansa 303))

2nd Richard Hartas – Sailability 17 points

(single-handed in a Hansa Liberty)

3rd Lydia Lui & John – Sailability 17 points

(double-handed in a Hansa 303)

Background: 2.4mR - HKG 7 'Inspiration' & Hansa 303 HKG 2919 'Hebe Heaven'

Thank you to Ed Tang, NG Tsz Paul, Lydia, Eric, Jacqueline, Tsun Ming, Leung Wun Wa, Lung, Puk Chi Yeung, FOO Yuen Wai, Grandma & Summer Ng for supporting the event.

Some of our 2.4mR's in action during the Regatta

Hansa 3rd Place: Lydia Lui & John

Hansa 1st Place - Chu Chien WU - Taiwan

Mini PDP (Paralympic Development Program) Clinic - 24th & 25th May 2018.

Supported by Para World Sailing, we held a mini PDP during May. This is the second such PDP hosted by Sailability at HHYC. As with the first (March 2017), the objectives were to further enhance Para sailing skills within Asia.

Originally attracting Para sailors from Taiwan, Macau, China in addition to Hong Kong, we were delighted to also welcome Cherrie Pinpin again from the Philippines.

Theory and sailing combined to ensure another great 2 day learning experience carefully timed to coincide with the Homestylist Hebe Haven Open Regatta that weekend.

Some of the sailors - theory and class work at the PDP

HHYC Open Day - 28th April

Well over 1,500 members of the public attended the HHYC Open Day and had the opportunity to sail, paddle-board, kayak, have a trip on 'Hebe One', buy something at the Car Boot Sale or to just have fun.

Sailability attracted 189 people to sail in our Hansa fleet during the day. Thank you Cho Ping for keeping the score and a huge thank you to all the sailors, instructors, volunteers and sailors from the Jockey Club Ti-1 College who made this possible.

We were also delighted to sign up some new volunteers during the day and we look forward to them supporting us in the future.

Our slipway and launch area -

somewhat congested!

Hong Kong Society for the Blind pay a visit on Open Day and go sailing............

HKSF Festival of Sport Open Dinghy Regatta - 21st / 22nd April

Hosted by Hebe Haven Yacht Club (HHYC) the event attracted well over 100 sailors, the highest number of entries coming from HK based Optimists at RHKYC, ABC & HHYC. Sailability entered 6 of their 2.4mR's into the Open Division.

The weather was unkind on the second day with light winds deteriorating and only one race taking place during the morning.

Overall winner in the 2.4mR class was

PUK Chi Yeung (with 4 x first place finishes and 4 points) with FOO Yuen Wai second with 9 points and Leung Wun Wa third with 13.

Well done to all our sailors, especially Cheung Chi Lic, Eric who took part in this class for the first time, finishing 5th overall.

L - R

Puk Chi Yeung - 1st

Foo Yuen Wai - 2nd

Leung Wun Wa - 3rd

New Boat Launch - 24th March 2018

A huge thank you to all at Victoria Lodge 1026 for the generous donation of our beautiful yellow Hansa Liberty - named 'Victoria 11'. This is our third boat in this single-handed class.

The ribbon cutting and launch ceremony took place at 11.00am with some 50+ spectators present. Our thanks to Chas Doyle (and wife Linda) plus Jeremy Stowe for representing the Lodge on this very special day for all at Sailability Hong Kong.

Volunteer Training Day - 24th March

Sailability welcomed 22 new volunteers to their training day at HHYC.

Class room activities including several videos followed by practical learning skills and the chance to try our Hansa boats. All seem to have enjoyed the day and we look forward to their support over coming months and years.

The day ended with each participant being presented with a Certificate and a group photo session.

Sailor Awards Night - 9th March 2018

A magnificent turnout and great support was given by members, guests, visitors, sponsors, sailors and families attending the HHYC & Sailability Sailor Awards Night event.......too many to count

Sailability Award winners for 2017 were:

Para Sailor of the Year - FOO Yuen Wai
ID Sailor of the Year - Alexandra Jones
Most Improved Sailor of the the Year - PUK Chi Yeung
Volunteer of the Year - NG Tsz Chung, Paul

Also presented during the evening were the RYA Certificates for our Para Team and Volunteer (see 17th February News).

HHYC Certificates were presented to NG Tsz Chung, Paul and Richard Hartas for their contribution, as Volunteers, to the 24 Hour Charity Dinghy Race 2017.

Out of the many awards which took place during the evening, perhaps the largest applause was given to the HHYC Sailor of the Year - Toby Jenkyn-Jones. Many congratulations Toby - this award was very well deserved!

Charity Cheque Presentations: 9th March 2018

Sailability were one of 5 charities presented with a cheque by the organisers of the 24 hour Charity Dinghy Race in 2017 (in case you have forgotten - won by our Para sailors!).

Thank you to the sailors, HHYC and all who contributed their time to make it another successful event. We look forward to the next 24 Hour and the opportunity to defend our title!

Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club Race Week - 20th to 25th February

5 of our 2.4mR's took part part in the Open event this week. The final results were:

Puk Chi Yueng = 9; Foo Yuen Wai = 10; Leung Wun Wa = 23; Chan Tsun Ming = 28; Doughie Waterston = 37

Congratulations PUK Chi Yeung and to everyone who took part as well as to our Coach (Ed Tang) and our Sailability Volunteers Paul NG; Summer NG; Yat Shing & Christina; Hong Kei; Emily HA; Fanny WONG; Eric CHENG; Lydia LUI & Jeanette SO who all turned up to help and support our sailors.

Our thanks also go to ABC & VRC for the support given to our team whilst travelling to Middle Island.

HHYC Sailor of the year

2017 Toby Jenkyn-Jones (above)

Trophies presented by the Hong Kong Commissioner of Sport; Mr Yeung Tak Keung

RYA Sailability Awards - 17th February 2018

The Awards ceremony took place at Wyboston Lakes Executive Centre in Bedfordshire, UK yesterday.

Unfortunately we did not win but this only goes to confirm the high level of competition within the Sailability community internationally. Being short-listed is a fantastic achievement.

Our Para Team and Volunteer were represented at the awards ceremony by Caroline & Peter Redhead; volunteers and supporters of Sailability Hong Kong whilst previously living here. New 'T' Shirts on the way!

Both the Para Team and NG Tsz Chung, Paul were presented with beautiful certificates. These will be sent to us in due course and will be presented locally.

Paul NG, RYA Instructor and Volunteer with a new group of Para Sailors - January 2018

Volvo Ocean Race - 28th January 2018

We are most grateful to the Hong Kong Chief Executive, Carrie Lam for her visit to our stall at the VOR. Mrs Lam took time to meet many of our Para sailors and volunteers and was introduced to the boats sailed by our sailors which are exhibited at the event (2.4mR and Hansa 303).

The Chief Executive congratulated Hong Kong's Para medal winner, FOO Yuen Wai, on his achievement and at the end of her visit she was presented with a Sailability Hong Kong t-shirt and pennant by Kay Rawbone, one of the charity founders.

27th January - New Hansa 303 Launch

We were very pleased to welcome the CEO of the Matilda International Hospital, Linda Burgoyne and many other staff to the launch of a new Hansa 303 which they have named 'Matilda'. The boat has very generously been donated to Sailability Hong Kong as part of our growth and boat replacement strategy.

This donation formed part of the Matilda Hospital 110th Anniversary Celebrations. The boat was launched at Hebe Haven Yacht Club with many sailors present in addition to our guests. The inspiration for their generous donation was inspired by 8 year old Jack Farmer, one of their patients and who also sails with Sailability Hong Kong.

20th January 2017 - Volvo Ocean Race - 'Scallywag' welcomed to Hong Kong in First Place

Sailability Hong Kong Para Sailors welcome the skipper (Witty), his family and the team of 'Scallywag' to Hong Kong during the early hours. Not only were our sailors there, CHO Ping and LEUNG Wun Wa seem to have got their hands on the trophy! Also present were Ed TANG (Para team Coach), Lydia LUI, CHAN Tsun Ming and Eric CHEUNG. Nice 'T' Shirts team!

Editors Note: I think they had to give the trophy back.........