THE BOAT

Beneteau First 405

Ichiban is a Beneteau First 405 French-designed racer-cruiser, built in 1986. First licensed in Hong Kong under sail number 6135 in 1987, she was modified by previous owners for offshore adventures and sailed as far as the Philippines. Under the current ownership of Robert Cook, with initial partner Simon Jones and, latterly, Russell Lang, Ichiban has been a regular competitor in races at the Hebe Haven Yacht Club since 2012. A dedicated core crew and countless guest sailors have enjoyed and contributed to the ‘Ichibanter’ that comes with sail racing. Some 35 years after her ‘birth’, Ichiban is still our NUMBER ONE, next to none!

The Crew

The Ichiban Crew is very Ichiban. Always thirsty, always happy to make friends. Come and meet us at the bar!

HEBE RACE COURSE SELECTOR

HHYC SSI 2025

Name:
Description:
Notes:

Disclaimer

The data will contain mistakes. It's your responsibility to check. Don't blame us if you don't.
The latest SSIs issued by HHYC always take precedent.

RACE COURSE CHART PLOTS

eSeaGo

eSeaGo is a free App provided by the Marine Department with a detailed, up-to-date map of Hong Kong waters and basic GPS functionality. You can use eSeaGo to see the race courses on a map.

Step1: Download eSeaGo

Step 2: Points Of Interest

Download these marks of the course and import them into eSeaGo: POI download

Step 3: Route Navigation

Download all race courses and import them into eSeaGo: Race Courses download

Disclaimer

The data will contain mistakes. It's your responsibility to check. Don't blame us if you don't.
The latest SSIs issued by HHYC always take precedent.

LINKS & FURTHER READING

Essentials

• Hebe Haven Yacht Racing Events - HHYC SSI

In Case of Emergency

• Emergency Services: 999
• Race Office: Mobile +852-2719-0926, VHF 72 (156.625 MHz)
• VHF Emergency Call: VHF 16 (156.800 MHz)

Weather

• Windguru

Others

• Sports & Events Photography: Takumi Images by Panda Man (Hong Kong's #1 Sports Photographer)

MERCHANDISE

Coming soon...

ICHIBAN IN ACTION

See more pictures here....

SUPPORT

Like what we are doing?

VOTE ICHIBAN!
HHYC Keelboat of the Year!

Buy us a beer!

Sponsor new sails!

PAYME

FPS ID 121201719

ABOUT

Who and Why

This website is a PRIVATE project by the Ichiban Crew. We thought it would be useful to have the race courses available as eSeaGo routes. We had already put in the work for ourselves, so we decided to share it. Both hoping for praise and fearing the blame. The eSeaGo charts came first, then we built this website around it, just for fun really (and yes, to show off some nice pictures of our beautiful boat:-)

Disclaimer

This website and the information contained within are NOT ENDORSED by HHYC. It has not been verified by the club and it will certainly contain mistakes and/or may not be updated at the same frequency as the HHYC SSIs. (If you find a mistake let us know in a friendly way and we will fix it.)
The full responsibility for a boats safety and the course steered always lies with the skipper. We want to make it very clear that the work presented here (including all downloads and links) are not of a professional, verified nature and should never be used as the basis for planning or steering a course. Especially note:

• Waypoints may not be suitable for your boats draft or prevailing sea conditions
• A course may be sailed in many different ways. Our routes only show one example (which could be wrong)

How

Here is how the Ichiban Crew is using this website:

1. Course look-up: Use the race course selector to get a quick overview when the course is being announced
2. Pre-start preparation:
• Use the HHYC SSI to double check our data for mistakes and discuss different course options with skipper, tactician and crew: "Shall we go between Bluff and Basalt or round both? Which waypoints may be useful to program? ..."
• Open the eSeaGo route, amend it as needed
3. During the race: Use eSeaGo to get bearings for important waypoints (distance & direction, depth)
4. Caveat: Don't get distracted by your devices. Keep your eyes on the course ahead. Be mindful that our data could be wrong.

Credits

Many thanks to the staff, officers and volunteers of Hebe Haven Yacht Club for making the club one of the best places to be in Hong Kong! Kudos to Panda Man from Takumi Images and the unforgotten Chris Howarth from Fragrant Harbour for having taken so many amazing race pictures throughout the years! Love and thanks to everyone who has made sailing on Ichiban memorable and fun!

Cheers to everyone racing with us into the future on course#108!