May 31, Hong Kong

The impression of Hong Kong is almost overwhelming.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Hong Kong waterfront

We’d forgotten how awesome it is and how much we loved it until we returned.

Coming into Victoria Harbor on the fast ferry from Discovery Bay last week gave us that same feeling of excitement we had the first day we saw it sailing WINGS into Victoria Harbor with Carol Pearl on board in 2004. The towering skyscrapers, misty peaks, the busy harbor, the jumble of signs and shops, the bustling crowds, and even the smells; there is nothing like it and it excites us still.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Exotic Hong Kong

In the airport there is a sign: “Hong Kong: Asia’s Exotic World City”. It’s true. It is a world city and the most exotic place I’ve even been. I loved going into the city every day when I worked there and just being on the streets of Central or Wan Chai or Kowloon never failed to re-energize me.

Again I walk on the crowded street below colorful overhead neon signs which cross completely to the other side of the street advertising gold shops or sea food restaurants, ducking through people of many ethnic groups, mostly Chinese of course, all seeming to be in a hurry, past hawkers and open front shops with music blaring, past fish markets with tanks of live fish, some of which splash water on my feet if I walk too close.

I know there is an IT Mall somewhere here on Lockhart Street and suddenly it is there on my right, a small opening in a building with steps leading up to an escalator; No. 298. I go in and enter a warren of shops selling all manner of computer goods. It is so crowded you can hardly squeeze through the aisles. There are five floors but I find what I need on the first floor. In Hong Kong you can get anything if you know where to go.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club moorings at Middle Island

We also have many good friends in Hong Kong, mostly expats from the UK, Africa, down-under, everywhere, and most of them are sailors. Sailing is big among the expats of Hong Kong and life is good for an expat sailor here: there are plenty of places to sail, good winds, and races every week. Avoiding the ships hurtling down the Lamma Channel or out of Guangzhou just provides another tactical opportunity. At the finishing line there will be a good anchorage, several fine restaurants, and plenty of free flowing wine. The people here live hard and enjoy life and, frankly, it is a life of both work and privilege.

Hong Kong is all about money; making it and spending it. There is money to be made in Hong Kong, and when you’re making it, no end of fun ways to spend it.

And so we enjoyed our visit, just as we enjoyed living here a few years back, but as much as we like it Hong Kong is not a place to retire on a low income. We’ll have to go elsewhere for that.

Fortunately there is a whole world of new places out there still waiting for us to find the right one.

Click here for more Hong Kong photos

Click here for photos from the race/cruise we did with Winters on Soko

Click here for a look at the amazing livaboard "junks" at Discovery Bay in Hong Kong


Click Here for all the Hong Kong photos

Fred & Judy, Hong Kong

May 30, 2010-Rewind to Hong Kong

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Beijing Airport

We rewound our trip to the USA by going back to Hong Kong

• Seattle to LAX: (flying time) 2:40
• Holding time at LAX
  (spent working on computer by the window): 11:00
• LAX to Beijing: (flying time) 12:30
• Holding time at Beijing:
  (checked into airport hotel and took shower) 3:00
• Beijing to Hong Kong: (flying time) 3:35
Total: 32:00 Hours

Once on the ground in Hong Kong, though, we wasted no time getting onto the water; we stayed with Andy and Nita on their boat and on the weekend we all raced to Stanley with Richard and Isabele on their boat Soko, and won!

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Sailing In Hong Kong

Click here for the photos from sailing in Hong Kong.


Click Here for all the Hong Kong photos

Fred & Judy, Hong Kong

December 23, 2005 Merry Christmas

We send you this greeting just as we are signing off of the internet and setting sail for The Philippines. We'll do more updates as soon as we can.


Click Here for all the Hong Kong photosred & Judy, SV Wings, Hong Kong

December 15, 2005-Visiting Chinese Villages

Tap Mun Village

We've just completed a short shake down cruise, sailing three days north of Hong Kong and back and doing a bit of touring along the way.

We hiked around the hills in the places we visited, and found abandoned villages hidden in the forests, and other villages, still active, but quiet.

This village is on a small island where there are no bridges, no roads, and there is no airfield. If you want to go there you go by boat.

Between stops we had some great coastal sailing.

Cold Morning

Sailing was cold and at times rough. Judy was happy that we only had to sail for a few hours at a time before we could drop anchor again.

For the shakedown we checked everything from A to Z, and fixed quite a few; of course we know that problems will still occur, but maybe we've prevented a few.

The boat fixed, and our need for walks in the woods fulfilled, we came back to Hong Kong and returned to our berth at Discovery Bay.

Now we're waiting for better weather before we depart for the Philippines. The winter NE moonson is howling out there and we're going to wait. It's one thing to encounter 35 knots of wind on a passage, and it's another just to head out when we know it's there.

We've posted a few more images, click here to see them.

Click Here for all the Hong Kong photos

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Hong Kong

December 2, 2005-Sailors Must Wander

Just say they are sailors, and sailors must wander.

Just say that they’re out there, in search of the wind.

Just say they are sailors,

Just say that they’re gone.

 

my apologies to Mary Gautier.

 

Our life at Discovery Bay, like that of countless other ports, is behind us. 

 

We untied the dock lines there on December 2, 2005, and began the next phase of our cruising life.

 

Tonight we are still in China, in Pak Sha Wan, hanging not off an anchor, but on a yacht club mooring. We tried to anchor but Pak Sha Wan is crowded, filled with sailboats of all descriptions, there just isn’t much room. We did find one spot to drop the hook, but the next morning we woke to sound of the keel bumping on some unseen high spot on the ocean’s floor below us. So we signed a temporary membership with the Hebe Haven Yacht Club and moved to one of their moorings in deeper water.

 

We’re glad we are here tonight. On deck the anchor light is dancing in the rigging and we’re listening to the howl of a cold North East monsoon which is blowing down from Beijing. And it is cold. We’re colder here tonight than any time since we visited Korea over a year ago and it’s hard to believe that this bone chilling cold is happening in Hong Kong. We wonder when it will again be warm enough that we’ll feel like braving it and making the next jump, to a spot farther up the coast.

 

We are not on our way to the Philippines, not yet. Even though the weather in PI is bound to be mellower this time of year than here, we need to complete a bit of a shake down before we head off to places where marine stores and boat parts are hard to find. After all, it’s been over a year since we did any cruising. When you are sitting around in port, or doing only harbor races and day sails, like we have been doing, you just don’t know what things have quietly given up the ghost. We’ve found a few already: the outboard motor has been a bit troublesome, and a couple of lights on deck don’t work and we’ve only been out for a couple of days, so there are probably more gremlins waiting to be found. We’ll sail around in Hong Kong waters for a week or so and make a list. Then, after attending to those items, we’ll be ready. Oh, there is a Christmas party on the 15th. Maybe we’ll head south after that.

 

The medical issues we were so focused on last month have just sort of evaporated. After lots of check ups and tests all the sawbones agreed that we’re healthy. We are, however, still talking to the dentist. Don’t want to head off to the Philippines with a toothache.

 

So that’s the life of cruisers when they get to a certain age: boat problems and doctor’s appointments carry equal weight when it comes to keeping you in port, but we’ll make it; we’re sailors and sailors must wander.

 

Technical Note:

Since we are no longer connected to the broadband Internet connection we've had for the last year, and are now operating on a cellular telephone connection, please avoid sending us large attachments and emails with photos inside them. Soon, even this level of connectivity will be gone, as we leave Hong Kong entirely and have to rely on the radio for email. We’ll let you know before then and give you that email address. For now you can still write to us at our regular email address, or use the one shown on the "Email Fred & Judy" link at the top of this page. We'd love to hear from you, as usual just leave out the attachments, photos, and fancy email backgrounds.

 

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Hong Kong

Click Here for all the Hong Kong photos

Passing Through Victoria Harbor, this is a typical sight.

November 25, 2005-Tank Job

We've been out to Mong Kok a few times this week spending Honkers (Hong Kong dollars, 8 to 1 US dollar) buying parts for the new water tanks we've been putting in.

What a job!

In order to replace the water tanks, which, after 18 years, were leaking a bit too much, we had to dissasemble the whole back of the boat. That took a day in itself. Then the old tanks had to come out. That involved a bit of fiberglass grinding, and a lot of pulling and tugging, and I had to remember which way they would fit going out the hatch, but we did it.

A great stainless welder in Aberdeen made some new tanks for us, stainless this time, not aluminum, and Judy and I took the boat over on Monday to pick them up.

They looked nice.

Then, another dissassembly job in the back of the boat, and finally, the new ones went in.




After two and a half days, we had the job finished.


Its really nice to have new water tanks.


Click Here for all the Hong Kong photos

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Hong Kong

October 25, 2005-Take a trip to Sha Tin

Every Day Judy commutes to her job in Sha Tin by riding three buses, from the Discovery Bay Marina Club on Lantau Island to the New Territories Satellite Town of Sha Tin.

You can follow along on her commute, and then take a short tour farther along to the end of the line on one leg of the Kowloon Canton Railway, the town of Mah On Shan, by clicking on the links to the photos, starting here.

Click Here for all the Hong Kong photos

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Hong Kong

October 22, 2005-China Destiny?

China Flash Back

Some of you might remember the wedding party Judy and I had back in 1990.

It was held in the Chinese Room at the top of the Smith Tower.

Now we are in China, and we are confronted with scenes which bring back the memories of that room with its Chinese motif.

Does this mean that our arrival in China has more meaning than just another stopover?

Should we stay to meet our ultimate fate in China?

Maybe we are going against destiny to consider leaving.

I read a book about some foreigners who lived in China.

And they died in China.

But,

I am not inclined to stay here to await any fate like that.

I am not inclined to die in China.

There is more to see of the world than I have seen,

And I wish to see more of it.

This business of The Chinese Room in the Smith Tower in 1990,

And the meaning or our arrival in Hong Kong…

It’s just coincidence.

Fate or destiny be damned,

We’re moving on.


Click Here for all the Hong Kong photos

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Hong Kong

October 14-Dai Pai Dong; A Passing Scene

They are part of the exotic feel of Hong Kong, the cluttered streets thick with smells of boiling noodles and steaming Duck, vegetables, or dried fish. Dai Pai Dongs are the traditional street restaurants, and while we've never got up the courage to sit down and eat, we enjoy the ambiance as we walk along shopping on the sidewalks. Looking like they were just thrown up with folding tables, and a portable cooker, the Dai Pai Dong's actually have been here for decades, often run by the same family in the same location. Licensed by the city and treasured by the locals, sadly, the Dai Pai Dongs will be phased out. Hong Kong's government has decided to cancel the licenses on each as its current license holder, often the family matriarch, dies.



If you want to see one, you'd better come soon.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Hong Kong

Click here to see Alleyway Marketplace


Click Here for all the Hong Kong photos

September 19, 2005, Hong Kong-Mid Autumn Festival

On the 15th Day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, when the moon is fullest and bright, Chinese across China celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival by putting up lanterns, lighting candles outdoors, and eating moon cakes.


This month we experienced our second Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong. We’ve been here over a year now.

Last year we were in Central Hong Kong walking among thousands of families “burning wax”, as the candle lighting ritual is called in China, on the grass at Victoria Park, surrounded by the glass and steel towers and neon lights of the city, and looking at the elaborate lantern displays. That was a surreal scene, one which we will not soon forget.

2004 Festival









This year we stayed away from the city, planning on a quiet night on Wings after a busy holiday. We had cooked a pot of our favorite Chinese Fish and Noodle Soup, (which is better than it sounds, see the recipe), and drank a couple of bottles of Chinese Beer, and even ate a moon cake. Even in Discovery Bay people get excited about this national holiday, and we heard that they would be celebrating on the beach. We couldn’t stay away.


Fish & Noodle Soup Click here for recipe.
Click here to read about moon cake.


We’d been out partying the previous two nights, including a big wedding anniversary shindig for Richard and Isabel at the Hong Kong Club. Nevertheless, we headed out for another night.

Winter's 30th, see below for more party photos

Walking through the darkness along the soft sand of Discovery Bay’s main beach, through the families seated around in small groups, we enjoyed the quiet scene. Oblivious to the crowds around them, clusters of children circled around fathers who were lighting candles stuck in the sand while Mom set up the lanterns. Elsewhere children danced with glow rings on their wrists and in their hair, or shared a moon cake snack brought from home. A parade of people walked along the promenade chatting with friends.

Lanterns

Everyone waited for the moon to make an appearance through the clouds and for the fireworks display at Disney Land, across the bay.





The moon peeked out for a few minutes, and the rain even held off so that everyone could experience a perfect evening.


Fireworks

As we walked home we realized again how much we will miss Hong Kong when we finally leave.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Hong Kong

More Photos, click the links below

Party Crowd
Judy & Friends
Richard
Isabel & Abegail
Soko, in The Philippines


Click Here for all the Hong Kong photos

August 30, 2005-DBYC Man Overboard Race

Epic

Neal & Andrea Nowosad's Vagabond 47, after winning the DBYC MOB Race.






Why Are These People Laughing?

Nita


Well, why wouldn’t we be?

Andy: Yeah, Why?

Judy

When you are on the way home to Discovery Bay after another super day on the water what else can you do but smile?

On Sunday our local yacht club had one of their unique races, an 18 mile team event around several of the local islands; with man-overboard training thrown in for good measure, followed up by one heck of great beach party, and it couldn’t have come off better. We had a sunny day, blue sky, perfect wind, and plenty of beer and BBQ delights.

No, WINGS didn’t win, the boat at the top of the page, EPIC, sailed by Neal and Andrea, her son Drew, and John Barnes, took the top trophy, but we got second, along with our team mate Wizard, the other half of team “W”.

Wizard

Fred, wearing the Toilet Seat

And we had wonderful sailing. There were just four of us, sweet Judy (helm), Kiwi’s Andy (forward hand and main trimmer, now there is a combination of jobs!) and Nita, (jib trim, runners, etc) and Captain Fred, (primary grunt). But it was enough to hold off all comers for most all of the day. And the last beat up and around Kau Yi Chau was one to remember: Wings never pointed higher or sailed faster. (Oops, there goes our rating.) We even hit the lay line perfectly (Judy called it) and tacked when an anchored ship hid us from view so our competition didn’t see us go. Hah! Then there was the max hull speed broad reach under kite to the finish. Perfect, what a way to sail your house!

I’ll be the first to admit I wasn’t keen on the format; all the entries were formed into two boat teams and each team had to return to the starting area twice during the race and complete a man-overboard drill each time before continuing the race. I thought this was going to be a drag, but I couldn’t have been more wrong: it was fun and educational too. In fact every participant thought it was a great event, and the people on the beach had fun watching the sailboats spinning around like America’s Cup yachts as we tried to get back to pick up our MOB dummies as quick as possible so we could race off towards the next mark.

Of course the 15-18 knots of breeze and flat water didn’t hurt.

After Wings led the fleet back to the finish, we anchored off the beach where our dingy was waiting, packed our eskies and beach chairs to shore and got on with some serious beer drinking and sausage eating. Between mouthfuls and swigs we traded sea stories with the other contestants, or cooled off with a little swim.

Sunshine Beach



Prize Giving



Oh, the toilet seat? Well, that was awarded to Captain Fred for the goof up of the day. I left the club’s power dive setup sitting out in Wizard’s cockpit and for a while we thought it had gotten stolen.

Click Here for all the Hong Kong photos

Fred & Judy, SV WINGS, Hong Kong

August 2005-Marina Life, Discovery Bay Marina

This is a picture of our marina in better weather, but tonight, outside of our snug boat, there is the onslaught of Typhoon Sanvu, with thunderstorms, lightning, and pouring rain.

Rainy Day in DBMC

Sanvu did not hit Hong Kong, a near miss, but we got some bad weather anyhow.

The staff at the marina were tense for a day or so as we all watched the track of the Typhoon. They took down the tent where special events like birthday parties are held. They closed the swimming pool. There was even a warning notice on the bulletin board: “Typhoon Warning #1, Check your tie-up lines”. We did.

Although the cyclone missed us, tonight we are snugged down, hearing the sounds outside, seeing the flashes of lighting, and listening to music from an internet website while we eat Chinese food; black pepper stir-fry pork and rice. We feel safe, we can ignore the storm outside.

Other than nights like tonight, when there is a storm brewing, the marina is a bit quieter this time of year, not because it is Typhoon Season, but because school’s out and a lot of the families go “back home” during school holiday to England, Europe, Australia, South Africa, wherever home is. Our home is here, and we’ve stayed.

It is also hotter and really humid this time of year. That is another reason people leave.

Just as life doesn’t stop in Seattle when it rains, life doesn’t stop here because of the heat. I went hiking on one of the hottest days, up the mountain. Fred, enjoying the view. Judy was at work and I was tired of the gym so I went up the hill in the 90’s temp and 100% humidity. It was a good work out. The view was also good so I snapped the picture I’ve included with this newsletter. You can see our marina, Victoria Harbor, and Hong Kong Island in the background.

This is an interesting marina, different from any other we’ve been in. Mostly it is a place where people live, not where people park boats that they use once in a while.

The docks here are full of liveaboard boats known locally as “junks”. Out of 125 boats in this marina there are 105 with people living on them. It sort of shoots down the stance taken by many marina’s around the world (in the US in particular) that you can’t have a whole marina full of liveaboards. We do, and it is fine.

In fact, it makes this marina into a true “community”. There are moms and pops and lots of kids around. The swimming pool and clubhouse lounge are full most of the time.

More kids

Being an “expat” community in the Far East where most of the white people have lots of disposable income, there are also lots of servants (maids, nannys & boat boys) in this marina. This is the fact of life here: the rich white folks have paid help from the Philippines and Bangladesh.

But we don’t; we don’t have any kids and we wash our own boat.

Even though it is a bit quieter now, the marina is still a busy place, even during the holiday season when many people are gone. However, it is not busy from a boating point of view. The few sailboats here are used frequently, but there are less than a dozen of us. The junks rarely move, the people living on them don’t take them out much. Actually they don’t take them out at all. These junks aren’t made for cruising. They don’t do well away from the dock and away from their umbilical cords of power and water. When they do leave for their annual maintenance haul out, there is a Chinese captain hired to drive them because most of the owners are not experienced enough to drive a boat as big and cumbersome as these junks. It is a bit strange I have to admit, but in a way they still are “boating people”. This is because the marina is laid out in such a way that most of the people living here have very long walks just to get to and from their boats. So they all have dingys which they use to get from their houseboat junks to the head of the dock. The dingy traffic here is quite heavy, and everyone who lives here quickly gets good at driving a small boat powered by an outboard motor. I like this aspect of the marina life here. I like seeing teenagers, little kids, adults or housemaids driving the dingy around. Boating is a part of life here.

So is the bilge bar, restaurant, pool, and clubhouse. They are the nice hangouts where we know most of the people. The staff is great, and the company is nice too.

We like it – it’s a nice place to call home for awhile.


Click Here for all the Hong Kong photos

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Hong Kong

July 17, 2005-Club Racing Is Good

Wings' Crew, from left: Judy Kim, Fred, Judy Jensen, Andy Kung (behind), Justine, Nita Kung











Club Racing Is Good

There is a lot written about America's Cup and other big time sailing events, but Judy and I rather like the local yacht club races, regardless of whether we are, like in the old days in Seattle sailing with Corinthian or The Sloop Tavern, in Vanuatu, sailing with the Port Vila Yacht Club, or here in Hong Kong, sailing with the Discovery Bay Yacht Club. In fact, the DBYC races are often sort of mini-cruises, which are really fun.

Sunday we raced to Cheung Chau Island, had a great lunch there, and cruised home. Here is our report:

Race to Cheung Chau:

Contrary to the forecast, we had good sailing conditions for the start of our Cheung Chau race but when we hit the dead spot just past Kau Ki Chau I thought the weather forecast was going to turn out right; “Wind light and variable to Force 2”. We saw the whole fleet of smaller boats that had started ahead of us spread out half way to Lamma Island and sitting motionless in the water. Behind us Wizard and the multihulls were charging up, but I knew they’d stop too in a few seconds.

That’s how it often is sailing in Hong Kong in the summertime, hot and windless. There had been a few good sailing days this month and the weather for the Macau race was super, but now we’d have to pay our dues and sit.

Or would we?

Conditions Improve

You don’t spend most of your sailing life in Puget Sound without learning how to deal with light air. Soon we had the crew lined up on the low side, the Genoa trimmed loosely, and we were moving. Maybe we were only boat that was. Even better, there was wind coming! We could see it on the water coming in from the sea and we knew that whoever got this new breeze first would win the race. We focused our efforts at keeping Wings going towards the closest dark patch and the reward was that we got the wind, if not first, then at least as soon as Wizard, our main rival in the Discovery Bay Yacht Club Races.

From then on it was a race to the finish. All the boats were heeled over, crew lining the rail, and showing a fine “bone in the teeth.” Crossing tacks in flat water under clear blue skies with Hong Kong’s Victoria Peak high above us. Another wonderful sail in Hong Kong. How lucky can we get?

Luckier, it seems. We got a bit of a knock, tacked over and crossed Wizard. From then on we covered tightly and crossed the line just ahead of them. First to finish and first place on correct time too. Super!

By 14:00 all the boats were anchored off the beach at Cheung Chau Island, our lunch destination, and the fleet’s dingys were ferrying crowds of hungry sailors to shore, where they quickly set off through the village to restaurant row on the other side of the island, in time for piles of Chinese seafood and lots of cold Tsingtao beer, plus some story telling from the day’s excitement. Before lunch was finished Commodore Jim had the official results and we were able to collect our prizes of more beer and a bottle of fine wine before stumbling off back to the boats.

Colorful Alley

Rescue at Sea!

Oops! There was one less boat anchored off the beach then there was when we left them. No, it wasn’t Wings that went walkabout but another of the racers. We could see it far out to sea, drifting happily, the anchor hanging straight down.

Time for a rescue. Off we sped in Wings’ inflatable and a little later we came motoring back, errant boat in tow. We decided that his third place bottle of wine would make a fine salvage prize, or…lacking that, more Tsingtao.

Sailing Home

The sail home under just the mainsail, but with a nice following breeze, was fast and even cool in the evening shadow of Lantau’s high hills. Happy crew, fine wine, Willie and Lobo on the stereo, and 17kts of breeze. Who could ask for more?

Andy

The party back at the dock in Discovery Bay lasted well into the night and I’m sure there were some tired, sunburned and hung over bodies that headed off to work the next morning.

But that’s what a great day of club racing will do to you. We love it.


Click Here for all the Hong Kong photos

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Hong Kong

July 6, 2005-Macau Race (revision)

Waking up to the snap and crack of flags and banners on race morning gives one high hopes for a great day of sailing. Sunday morning in Macau was like that and we were excited and optimistic as we cast off our shore lines and headed out to the race course for the return race from Macau to Hong Kong.

We’d arrived in Macau on Friday afternoon after racing down from Hong Kong with the Cruise Owner’s Association. The conditions for that race were good also: we had 16 to 20 knots of wind blowing right towards Macau. The start was a bit of a joke, we hadn't a clue when the gun for our class was going to happen, we just saw some boats with our class flag and lined up with them. I was behind the curve with the jib so we started with the jib flapping, but Judy did win the start on position, and when I looked up, we were leading the fleet up the short leg to the windward mark. Unfortunately we forgot our sailing instructions about which way to round the mark and we had to wait for the next boat for someone to follow. After that fiasco, we got the kite up , a bit slower than the fully crewed boats but pretty fast, and the sail filled nicely and started pulling, and we were off. We debated about how to do the the first jibe, and finally decided that Judy would do the foredeck and I'd steer and do whatever else I could reach. Dropping the pole so she could swing it through the fore triangle was the trickiest bit, but we figured that out too, and then we jibed our way through the islands for almost all of the 31 mile distance to Macau’s buoy #1. The sailing was great, and the wind built all day. By the time it got to the high teens we were getting a bit shy of the jibes, and so we probably didn't sail the best angles, trying to avoid the next jibe, but neither did the boat that eventually won. Anyhow, we had a good leg, and had no major foul ups. Sailing double handed with the spinnaker against fully crewed yachts is satisfying when you pull it off, but it hard work, and we did fine, got third place, and were tired but happy when we tied up the boat at Club de Nautico in Macau.

Pearl River Delta

Bridge to Tiapa

Stunning Macau

Booming Casino Strip

Fishing Fleet

Macau's Busy Port

What sailors do when they arrive in a new port is go exploring, and that’s what we did too. After folding the sails, clearing in with the immigration folks who were dockside, waiting for us, and having a few cold brews at the after-race party, we set off to explore the city. The first order of business was dinner and we joined some other sailors at a good restaurant in the old town for Portuguese food and plenty of fine wine. After that we went to the casino district where Judy won enough on the slot machines to make us feel double lucky: first, for our sailing performance in the race and then for her winnings.

Macau is an exotic mix of China with a Portuguese flavor, in some ways unchanged for 400 years. On Saturday we walked all over the older parts of Portuguese Macau sight seeing and wandering up and down the narrow streets and alleys among the many colonial buildings and small shops. Everywhere we were dodging the motor scooters which seem to be the favorite form of transportation. We hiked to the top of the hill to the old fort with its ramparts and cannons dating from 1700 and took photos of the city. Coming down from that fort we tried to imagine what it must have felt like 400 years ago for Dutch soldiers fighting their way up its slopes against the Portuguese in the tropical heat, facing those cannons. And we thought of those soldiers spilling their blood and dying far from home. We were glad we came as sailboat racers, not soldiers.

Tourists

Cathedral

Narrow Streets

Rock Carving

We finished our day at the awards party for the race with more food and wine and got a trophy for our finish the day before. We also got lots of positive feedback for how well we sailed shorthanded.

So now it was Sunday, and we doubled our crew with two women friends from Hong Kong, Sitske and Claire, who came down by ferry on Saturday night. The day was as good as that early morning wake-up promised with sunshine, blue skies, and steady wind. After clearing the last bridge and motoring into the open water where the start line was set, we felt even more excitement; it was clearly going to be a super day. there was good breeze and plenty of sunshine, and there were boats all around getting sails up and tuning up. Twenty minutes after putting up our own sails and throwing in a few warm-up tacks we crossed the line for the start of another race. Judy won it again and this time I was ready on the winches, in fact I overtrimmed, or she was late in turning up (it seems she was giving the boats barging in above us a break) but our speed was OK. Then she held up high enough to lay the first mark and off we went on starboard tack, leading the fleet. We never looked back and Wings never looked better, pointing high and sailing fast; what a great day!

After passing to leeward of one island, and getting swept up a little by the tide (so that's why those other boats stayed low!) we had a great beat crossing into Hong Kong waters, with the Number 1 sheeted in hard and all of us on the high side, the main flat and the traveller down for speed. We changed gears a few times as the wind went up and down, and we kept close watch on Wizard ahead and Xiphias behind, our main competition. There has never been a better day sailing.

But Hot! It was bloody hot and it seemed like no amount of sunscreen was enough to cut the sun’s blistering rays and no amount of water was enough to quench our thirst. By the time we reached our home port in Disco Bay we were all pretty red and parched. But that’s sailing as good as it gets, and we’re not complaining.

This is the life.

Going Home


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Fred & Judy, SV WINGS, Hong Kong

Sailing in Hong Kong

Beating up the Lantau Channel, with the Boeing Jetfoil to Macau in the background, Judy enjoys the good wind and nice sailing.


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wingssail-Fredrick Roswold

Hong Kong Boating Scene

Boys on the dock, Middle Harbor, Hong Kong
wingssail-Fredrick Roswold


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Judy & Carol get the mainsail down, as we arrive in Hong Kong, June 3, 2004
wingssail-Fredrick Roswold

Lamma Island

WINGS' crew on the quay at Lamma Island
wingssail-Fredrick Roswold

May 16, 2005-On any Sunday

On any Sunday in Hong Kong you will find crowds flocking to the outer islands.

Actually, on any Sunday in Hong Kong you will find crowds flocking everywhere. That is because there are around 7 million people living in Hong Kong, most of them work six days a week, and on Sundays they need to get out. There is an exodus from the city to the countryside. Often the WINGS crew is part of it.

We like to go sailing and in the Hong Kong area there is always an island to visit. If there is a bit of wind blowing we’ll set sail and see which island the wind points us toward. For me, the best part is when the sails first fill and we sheet everything home and the boat heels to the power of the wind. But after I get my sailing fix, then we start to think about where to go. Recently we’ve been to Lamma, Peng Chau, and the Sokos.

Lamma was delightful, but really crowded. On any nice sunny Sunday it is like a country fair on Lamma Island: brimming with visitors, all the tourist shops are jammed, and the beaches and sidewalks are packed. Still, we took several friends and had a great time. We had a nice lunch at a good restaurant, did some shopping, and took a walk, and I shot some photos.

Lamma Island Houses

Anchored Beyond the Sampans

We wrote about Peng Chau not long ago. That is the closest island to our home base at Discovery Bay, but it remains a favorite. Peng Chau Plaza And most recently we sailed to the Soko’s.

The Soko's

We had a great sail to the Soko’s, setting out in a nice ten knot breeze, south past the coast of Lantau, and past some of the outer islands, almost out of Hong Kong waters. The wind freshened as we skirted along the edge of the South China Sea, and on the approach to the Soko’s we eased the sheets and romped along in a nice breeze and a boisterous ocean swell. We found our way into the channel between North and South Soko, poked our bow up into the wind, and dropped our hook in a pretty bay with a nice beach.

It is wonderful to have Wings rolling gently at anchor surrounded by beautiful sights such as these.

For an editorial comment on the future of the Soko's, see Sailor's Rants

Fred & Judy, SV WINGS, Hong Kong

Peng Chau Street Scene

Peng Chau village elder watching me, I was watching the kids and I didn't see him
wingssail-Fredrick Roswold

April 9, 2005-Peng Chau

I'm not saying it's impossible to get lost on Peng Chau Island, but it isn't easy. Peng Chau is a small island, and you can walk the whole place in one day, but there is a town on Peng Chau, and wandering through Peng Chau's alleys ands lanes you might think you are lost, at least lost in time.

Peng Chau is rural China, and it seems to be right out of the 1920's.

Where much of Hong Kong is tall buildings, traffic, and crowds, Peng Chau is small town, low rise, and quiet.

Quiet Peng Chau

Peng Chau is a little shabby, but it has its charm.

House on Wing Hing Street

The buildings are old and dilapidated concrete slabs of apartments with faded and chipped paint, and laundry hanging out everywhere. But in doors often have colorful holiday decorations, and you will find the family's shoes and sandals lined up outside in neat rows. The narrow alleys are filled with open fronted small shops crammed in an unruly jumble of goods and usually in some corner there is a small table with somebody's half eaten lunch and a TV set is going. Maybe past a curtain in the back room you can hear the clatter and shouts of a Mah Jong game. Even if you disturb the shopkeeper's meal, and he arrives before you wiping soy sauce off his face, he will smile and bow and be charming to you; and try to help. With the narrow alleys the shops are close enough to their neighbors across the alley that you can stand in one place and inspect merchandise in two shops at once, if you want to. And when change is needed, well, the neighbor across the street is only a few steps away.

And then there is the junk.

Chinese places like Peng Chau are a virtual chaos of clutter. Junk is everywhere. The Chinese people seem to be pretty comfortable with piles, stacks and crates of old, disused, stuff cluttering every place. Plus they seem to like rusty corrugated steel awnings and falling down fences. There is so much clutter around you as you walk through a small town like Peng Chau, that you can't see everything which is there. You have to stop and look around. I stopped to take a photo of an interesting building and then noticed that an old man was sitting quietly right in front of me, hidden amongst the junk

You have to slow down in Peng Chau…to experience it.

That however is easy on a quiet Sunday morning; the pace is already slow. There aren't many people out and about, and those that are out are walking. Peng Chau, doesn't have cars. People walk and ride bikes, and they don't seem to be in a hurry. That is not to say they don't have a purpose to where they are going, they just go at an easy pace.

While we were standing in front of a restaurant looking at the menu on display, a procession came down the street. Five little children led the way, taking karate poses as they walked, in sort of a halting, parade like fashion. They were followed by Mom walking in her black satin Mao jacket and punk hairdo, and Dad peddling a small wheeled bike with one more kid on the handlebars. We guessed they were on the way to a weekly karate lesson. They paraded by without a word, throwing karate punches as they went.

Sunday Karate Moves
Peng Chau Family

We walked through town and climbed up Finger Hill Road, to the highest point in town and the best neighborhoods, where the walled houses had fresher paint and nice views, and fewer junk piles. We saw flowering bauhinia trees, a sign of spring, everywhere.

Bauhinia
Crash Scene

After conquering Finger Hill we wandered down through the woods to the beach on the back side of the Island and to a local temple where people burn incense for dead relatives. Then we walked on a concrete trail along the shoreline and back to town, where we had a Tsing Tao beer in a sidewalk cafe before boarding the boat for the trip home.

For cruisers in a foreign land, visiting Peng Chau is a nice way to spend a Sunday.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Hong Kong

January 14, 2005 - A Cold Wind Blows

This is the first time in 2005 we've written to you, actually the first time in a few months. Sorry for the lack of news, we just didn't feel like there was much to write about; just a couple of sailors gone to ground in a distant place.

There still isn't much interesting to write about, but maybe just an update on life here in Hong Kong, and a little sailing tale.

Today Judy and I are hunkered down inside WINGS with the diesel heater ticking away finally keeping warm after a week or two of just using the electric heater. A cold blast of NE Monsoon outside has been blowing cold air straight down from Beijing. This bitter wind came like a knife edge a couple of weeks ago, and while it has moderated since, it is back with a vengeance today. A temperature in the low forties doesn't sound that cold, but after the last few years in the tropics, it feels cold. The Hong Kong Metro office issued cold weather health warnings, so I guess they think it's cold.

Well, we're not complaining, we're quite cozy actually, as long as we stay here inside our warm home.

The day the cold wind arrived we'd gone sailing to Lamma Island. Three boats, an impromptu race, and a rendezvous in a quiet cove with good hiking trails nearby. We sailed over in shorts and flew the spinnaker. After the drama of getting 20 people ashore in the surf in one leaky 4 person dingy with no motor (count the trips in your head) we headed off to climb Mt. Stenhouse with packs filled with leftover Christmas Turkey, cheeses, wine, beer, bread, crackers…in short, a great feast..

I need lunch

Hiking in Hong Kong isn't like hiking in some other places. Many of the trails are paved in concrete, with steps, and there are pagodas at the peaks with benches. The trail we took on Lamma was one of these, and the hike to the top was only an hour, but the view was great and the feast was superb.

The trip back from Lamma was when we had the shock. On leaving protection of our cove on Lamma Island we rounded the headland setting the mainsail, and encountered 20+ knots of COLD wind, right on the nose. Birrrr!

Not to waste an opportunity to do what WINGS does best, we sheeted the main in hard, set the #4 jib, and soldiered on. Good sailing, but cold. Judy passed out sweaters from the cold weather locker, and put on her foulies. She still shivered. The other boats were not livaboard, and they didn't have a clothes locker. Their crews suffered a bit going home, but everyone made it. That was the last sail of the year 2004 for WINGS. Now its 2005, and we haven't left the dock.

Since New Years our situation in Hong Kong has changed a little, not much. Judy has a job, I don't. She has been hired to do court transcriptions in English in a town called Sha Tin, off in the New Territories towards the Chinese border. She hasn't started yet, and is only sort of looking forward to it. My contract ran out with Citibank and I'm not going back. If I get another contract somewhere else we'll stay here longer, otherwise we might be sailing again in a few months. Either way it'll be OK. Right now I am planning a bunch of boat projects while I have the time off.

Thinking of that sail back from Lamma made me think of a passage we made in Papua New Guinea a little over a year ago. It was one of those experiences at sea that never leave you; the images are burned into your memory forever. The year we spent cruising from Australia though PNG, The Solomons, Palau and the Philippines were filled with these kinds of life changing experiences. The cruising wasn't the best, in many ways, but perhaps the most memorable in all the years we've been at sea.

On this day we left our anchorage in Abandoned Cove, on Tatau Island in Northern Papua New Guinea, at 10:40 in the morning, after debating whether the wind had moderated enough from the heavy westerly we'd had the previous few days. We wanted to push on toward Kavieng, but not into a storm. Tucked way up in Abandoned Cove we couldn't tell what it was like outside. But we were ready to leave Abandoned Cove. We never saw any people around, but there were actually jungle drums coming from Tabar Island, across the channel, and a thin wisp of smoke was rising from the jungle into the lowering mist, and we'd heard a story about some carvers who went to the Spirit Mountain on Tabar to carve and perform rituals. I gotta say it was spooky there.

Maybe the weather was better, or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Anyway, we decided to go, weighed, and motored for 45 minutes though the narrow Sarawok Passage that separates Tatau Island from its southerly brother Tabar Island. At the West end of the passage we encountered a strong west wind blowing right into the mouth we were trying to leave, with big waves in the offing, and low gray clouds, spitting rain, and coral reefs on both sides.

Should we turn tail and run back to Abandoned Cove? Maybe we should have…but we didn't. Instead we set sail and started to beat off that lee shore into the gale. WINGS can get herself off a lee shore, but this was a test for even her windward ability; the waves rising steeply in the shallow water, the narrow opening between the reefs extending seaward on either side, the gusting wind…

I'll never forget the desolate look of the coastline of Tabar Island off to leeward as we sailed on starboard tack climbing out of that hole, the boat rising and falling and slicing into the swells, and the short chop hitting the bow and blowing back into us. I watched the reef a hundred yards off to the side, and we were drawing closer; we'd have to tack. I looked up at the rugged island and the shoreline of cliffs with dense jungle spilling off them like a green waterfall. The top of the island was lost in the thick cloud, but on the cliffside below the clouds I saw a monument of some kind, a totem, or a cross, or an alter, (I couldn't tell) standing starkly white against the dark green jungle foliage. Rain pelted down. It looked forlorn and lonely, a little like I felt at that moment. I footed WINGS to keep her driving while I tried not to let the not let the leeway sweep us too close to the coral waiting beneath the angry surf. I wondered if there might be some person up there in the jungle watching the small boat with the white sails work it's way off the coast. Maybe our eyes met for a moment. Then I turned away from Tabar Island and looked to weather. The sky was brighter in the West, but the sea was dark, nothing but an endless chain of steep waves coming at us.

We tacked then, and couple of times more, and finally we were in open water, and the dark shape of Tabar Island faded into the mist behind us and we beat westward along the coast of New Ireland.

But that wasn't then end of this story. That evening we had a series of the blackest of black squalls sweep down on us, and we sailed bareheaded in 35 knot winds though most of the night, and hove-to a couple of times. It was a scary night, mostly because of the squalls, each seemingly stronger than the last, but also because of where we were, on the far side of nowhere. No ports, no towns, no other boats, not a light on the shore. Nothing but blackness and heavy wind. It seemed like we had sailed into some part of Hell. Of course there was no going back. To where? That blind alley of Sarawok passage on the reef strewn lee shore of Tabar Island, with jungle drums and mysterious cliffside monuments? No, we just kept going.

The next day the winds dropped and the sun came out, and that afternoon we dropped anchor off the Malagaan Resort at Kavieng, New Ireland. It was nice to put that passage behind us. We saw in the New Year in Kavieng, one year ago.

Fred & Judy, SV WINGS, Hong Kong


(Sorry, the sailing photo is from a different storm, we didn't take any photos leaving Tabar Island)

Lantau's Jungle and Highrises

Lantau, with its jungles and highrises, is our Hong Kong home
wingssail-Fredrick Roswold

September 15, 2004-Scenes From Lantau Island

Our home in Hong Kong is Lantau Island. Lantau is called Hong Kong's lung, since it is mostly green and undeveloped, and its forests produce a lot of oxygen for Hong Kong. Of course the Discovery Bay development, with its high rise aprtments and condos, and on the North side, the airport and town of Tung Chung, and now, the building of Disneyland on Lantau, are exceptions to Lantau's "undeveloped status", still there are many quiet places on Lantau and we love to hike around on its hills and through its villages.
Discovery Bay Luxury
Our Marina is on this point of land
Hiking to the top of the mountain
View from the top
This is Nim Shui Wan village
Patio Furniture on Lantau
Village Laundry
The Last Car on Lantau
The Old and the New
Chinese Home's Doorway
Sandals
Po Lin Monestary
Personal Transportation in Discovery Bay
Dining on the Plaza
Beach
Drangon Boat Racing

Fred & Judy, SV WINGS, Hong Kong

June 3, 2004-Arrival In Hong Kong

Arrival in Hong Kong, June 03, 2004

We arrived in HK on Thursday. Now it is Saturday morning. I am typing, and Judy and Carol are both still asleep. The "Wow!" factor of this place far, far, exceeds anywhere we've been. We've planned this stop for over five years, and have so much riding on it, that now that we are here we are feeling pretty overwhelmed. It seems that we must be junkies for this kind of thing though, because we are always doing it: always landing in this foreign country or that, with barely a clue where we are or what we are doing, knowing little of the language, and instantly getting this feeling that we have really done it this time; we're never going to figure out this place. But then we start to cope. In Hong Kong so far, we have completed our check-in and clearance, have a temporary mooring in the city (will move to suburbs in a week or two), temporary membership in Royal Hong Kong YC, a few hundred HK$ in our pockets, new phone numbers, and have been exploring some of the neighborhood. I found a street I recall from the 60's. It could be a different one but it feels right.





To clear in we stumbled ashore right into the busy streets of central Hong Kong. A rabbit warren of shops and crowded streets with overhanging neon signs, double-decker busses, and 40-story high-rise apartment buildings with bamboo laundry poles sticking out next to soaring, futuristic, office buildings and 5 star hotels. We rubber-necked continuously, just about got run over, and couldn't make heads or tails of the vague directions we had: "Go to the MTR and take a train to..." Then a train station appeared before our eyes and we went underground and got more lost, but we got on a train and by some stroke of luck it was the right one. When we got off four stops later, we really got lost. We wandered around for two and a half hours, with our poor tired feet getting sorer by the minute, following first one and then another set of confusing directions (the office had moved), mostly in Chinese, but somehow we made it to Port Control just as our feet were giving out completely. There some 10-15 busy immigration guys barely gave us a second look, but one nice fellow issued us a clearance and stamped our passports. Cost: Zero. Education: Just started.

On the way back, a harried tourist ran by towing a suitcase on wheels, and asked us for directions to the Macao ferry, and we knew the answer! Like a local expert, Judy pointed the way and as the lady thankfully hurried off we cracked up. Somebody asked us for directions in HK, what a hoot.

There is a collection of sampans tied to the guest pontoon here in Causeway Bay, where the yacht club is, and where WINGS is moored, with a look right out of "The Sand Pebbles": Each one is twenty five feet of fat, low, cluttered, overhanging, canvas covered, swaybacked teak, bumping side by side with more like it and with a few dozen battered punts, (fiberglass dingys) floating nearby. There are dogs barking and filth in the water, and a toothless old Chinese lady is organizing some buckets and cleaning supplies on the dock. She, and the other people living in these sampans do boat maintenance for the moored yachts. To clean the yachts they fill their punts to the gunnels with fresh water, a kind of floating tub, and they drive out to the yacht and use a pump to run a hose. Very quaint...or is it? When we first arrived we walked by the sampans and their maintenance punts. Glancing inside one sampan I saw a lady watching a flat screen TV and typing on a notebook computer. Three sampans down a small generator purred and some extension cords looped between boats. On a post I saw a Wi-Fi antenna. Things aren't what they seem.

The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club is nice. It is an up-scale joint a bit like Seattle Yacht Club with efficient staff, mahogany paneling, soft carpets, and about 200 Lexus and Mercedes sedans in the parking lot. They welcomed us, gave us a shower key, and imprinted our credit card.

So, we're getting settled bit by bit, and we know we are in for the adventure of our lives. Stay tuned.

Fred & Judy, SV WINGS, Hong Kong