Maiora on the bricks. Aftermath of Typhoon Mangkhut, 16 September 2018 - photo © Guy Nowell
Dear Recipient Name
Three days after being walloped by Typhoon Mangkhut – the strongest storm to hit Hong Kong since records began – the city is licking its wounds. No deaths have been reported, so that’s a mercy.
In the city it was flying debris and falling cranes that caused the damage – and flooding, lots of flooding. In the countryside it was airborne trees and other vegetation that did the damage – and flooding, lots of flooding. Along the shorelines, wind and wave action ripped out beaches, battered homes, and tossed boats around like toys. Some of them ended up where they shouldn’t be.
Hong Kong’s yacht and sailing clubs have all been affected. The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club sustained damage at each of it three locations (Kellett Island, Middle Island, Shelter Cove) with the training dinghy fleet being swept off the hard standing at Middle Island. The Aberdeen Boat Club at Middle Island lost a lot of small boats, and the clubhouse was described as “practically destroyed”. Hebe Haven Yacht Club had water clear across the car park and huge numbers of speedboats blown off the three-tier outdoor racking. The Hobie Club in Tai Tam Bay just got swept up to the back of the beach in a repeat performance of typhoon Hato’s visit. You can tie ‘em down to sand anchors as tight as you like, but they are still beach cats on a beach, and when typhoon rollers and a storm surge come powering through…
Now there will be insurance claims, and some claimants are going to be disappointed. My friendly broker (I buy him drinks occasionally) tells me that the very simple rule is this: it you do not take “all reasonable and practicable precautions to prevent loss or damage”, your claim is likely to be void. That includes leaving sails above deck – rolled, parcelled, or otherwise, it is still better to take them off and stow below.
I was in charge of an X-99 whose owner is absent from Hong Kong. I installed new anti-chafe hose on the main mooring lines, added two more pairs of mooring lines, ran additional lines back from the sole foredeck cleat to the primary winches, took the cover and main off the boom, lashed the boom to a runner winch in the cockpit, and moved the spin, gen and main halyards from their usual place on the spinnaker ring to the toe rail. Anything less would not have been “all reasonable and practicable precautions”, but next morning there were any number of boats that had evidently not got the call.
Here’s a very basic message: do take precautions, and don’t mess with typhoons. I have seen lots of them go by, and occasionally visit, over the last 37 years. Sometimes the warnings are over-rated, but they should always be heeded – so much better safe than sorry.
Still in Hong Kong, and the rumblings around the Discovery Bay Marina Club continue. A couple of weeks ago all the residents and liveaboards were given notice to quit; lock, stock, barrels and boats as well. That’s a tough blow when the houseboat is your biggest asset and every other marina in Hong Kong is bursting at the seams. Except – one correspondent advises us that the first notices to quit were issued in January this year, and the vast majority of DBM members have simply been burying their heads in the sand ever since.
To further complicate matters, living aboard is technically illegal in Hong Kong. Govt regulations concerning Class IV Pleasure Vessels say that “no person shall use a vessel as a dwelling place without a licence.” Back in the day when Aberdeen harbour was wall-to-wall fishing boats and sampans, there were tens of thousands of people living on the water, but to do so required a licence, and those have not been issued in many a long year. Marine Dept claims that there are actually only four licences still extant. Furthermore, Class IV vessels shall be used “exclusively for pleasure purposes.” You can just see the sea lawyers reaching for the thesaurus. Good luck to them. When housing is in short supply, and reasonably-priced housing is non-existent, why not allow people to live on a houseboat if they so wish?
DBM says that the eviction is on account of “extensive repair, renovation and maintenance works” but have not so far indicated that anyone will be allowed back in after (whenever). We have also heard that a consultant company has been developing plans to turn DB into a superyacht marine “for a few months now.” What a mess, one way or another. Hong Kong needs berths, and reducing the number available right now is particularly unhelpful. Hong Kong could also do with some superyacht facilities, but not way away over there in Discovery Bay. C’mon fellers, do the basic groundwork.
If you don’t need to be in Hong Kong, we know that Ocean Marina Yacht Club in Pattaya has just added 135 berths, and has the ‘Vacancies’ sign out. They would be happy to welcome newcomers, although the commute to the office in Hong Kong might be a bit stressy.
Lastly, for today: if you can get the President of Russia, Mr Vladimir Putin, and the President of China, Mr Xi Jin Ping, to turn up at your prizegiving – you’ve probably got yourself a major event. You have definitely got some publicity! Check out the story on the Fareast Cup 2018 (Qingdao-Vladivostock–Mokpo-Qingdao).
Standing by on 72.
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