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Mark Agnew

Hong Kong sailors Molly Highfield and Sandy Choi Wing-chi have finished top of the podium at the junior Asian Championships in the 49erFX division.
The pair, both 22, now turn their attention to the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championships, which start on Monday, and said the next few days were about focusing on the task at hand. They will be sailing in the 49erFX division, which is women’s double-handed Olympic skiff.
“It‘s a great feeling to have that work pay off, but it’s important to stay calm,” Highfield said. “We can enjoy that moment, but the job is not nearly done yet.
“Leading up to the worlds is about bringing the emotion levels back down and focusing. We haven’t put ourselves under any unnecessary stress just because we did well.”
They finished second overall to a Dutch team, who competed in the races but not the Asian Championships.

The Asian and World Championships are both held in Oman. The pair have been sailing 49ersFX, a double-handed dingy. Highfield is an experienced sailor while Choi’s background is in windsurfing.
Double-handed sailing is relatively new to them both. This week’s result is an improvement from one of their first races together, also in Oman, in April when the occasion got the better of them.
Breaking the teenage mould by sailing around Hong Kong
“On any double-hander, communication is such a big factor. If not the most important factor,” Highfield said. “That’s the one thing we’ve really worked on.
“We only started together last year. It’s been a big learning curve the whole time. We couldn’t travel to races for most of last year,” she said. “It’s always been key to get into a realistic race scenario, because all the stress comes into play, making quick decisions, meshing as people, learning how to deal with problems.”
Instead, they were thrown in the deep end without much race experience and the situation got to them. Highfield said that the stress caused her to react slowly or to delay communications. But now, with more time together and more racing experience as a pair they are beginning to relax.

“It all varies on number of boats, each event, and where you want to position at each event. That perspective is starting to build for us and solidify. Certain tactical decisions we have to make are coming more into focus the more we do,” Highfield said.
“We are getting more comfortable in the boat. We are beginning to expand beyond just sailing our own boat, and looking at the course and the bigger picture.”
Their new-found ability to communicate effectively was hard won.
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“We definitely tried to maintain a really open dialogue,” Highfield said. “We had to build that up, it wasn‘t instinctive. We both came out of single handed classes.
“That’s happened more for us as we’ve encountered more scenarios and it’s become more clear how much we need to communicate. It is a case of tackling a challenge in the moment and going over it again later to see how we could have done better.”
“There has been a lot of trial and error for us but we’re building structure into the training too as to how we can simulate the stress factor – there’s a lot of visualisation, a lot of creating scenarios and talking through them.”
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They are now a few days away from the World Championships, and have the momentum of their Asian Championship victory.
“But our focus is performance based, and trying to do each aspect as best we can in this environment rather than focusing on the overall result.
“We will focus on each manoeuvre and the process as it comes, and then the actual the number, the result, will follow but it is not the focus.”


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Water sports

Hong Kong sailors look to  World Championships after victory in Oman

Molly Highfield and Sandy Choi Wing-chi win the junior 2021 Asian Championships 49x class and turn their attention to World Championships. Photos: Oman Sail

Molly Highfield with Sandi Choi win the junior 2021 Asian Championships 49x class and turn their attention to Youth Sailing World Championships. Photo: Oman Sail

Women’s Sailing Festival: mother and daughter team up, Italian architect finds her dream in Hong Kong and two para sailors fuel their passion

Yani Lam Yan-yan and her daughter See-sun, Mirna Zordan, Angel Leung On-ki and Syliva Leung Chuk-yun will be part of the Women’s Sailing Festival in Hong Kong. Photos: Handout

Sylvia Leung.

Yani Lam and her daughter Season Lam.

Yani Lam and daughter See-sun with their dinghy certificates.

Mirna Zordan.

Angel Leung On-ki and Anthony

Yani Lam.

Sylvia Leung

Angel Leung.

Teenager faces fears sailing 100km around Hong Kong to escape summer days of Netflix

Ocean Feng, 16, is sailing around Hong Kong for A Plastic Ocean in an inflatable catamaran. Photos: Handout

Ocean Feng, 16, is sailing around Hong Kong for A Plastic Ocean. Photo: Handout

Around the world sailing – the family doing it for 12 years, and their Covid-19 lockdown aboard a 47-foot yacht

A picture of the briefly reunited Gifford family, posted on Instagram in 2019. Photo: Behan and Jamie Gifford

The Totem. Photo: Behan and Jamie Gifford

Behan and Jamie working in the cockpiton board the yacht Totem. The crew of Totem are smiling from ear to ear in an Instagram picture taken in September, as they ate long-awaited tacos. The family were on land for the first time in six months; docked, for a few days, at the Santa Rosalia marina, in Mexico. It was a rare break from their own version of Covid lockdown, isolating in the Sea of Cortez. In 2008, the Gifford family - mom Behan, dad Jamie and their three children, Niall (then 9), Mairen (6)  and Siobhan (4) - set out from Puget Sound, in the American state of Washington. Twelve years and 48 countries and territories later, They managed to complete a circumnavigation of the world before Niall (now 21 years old) disembarked in 2018, to start college in Portland, Oregon. That year, the Totem sailed into Mexican waters, where it has been ever since, now unable to leave - trapped, like so many people, by the coronavirus pandemic. CREDIT: Behan and Jamie Gifford

Sunset in Indonesia 2013, on board the yacht Totem. The crew of Totem are smiling from ear to ear in an Instagram picture taken in September, as they ate long-awaited tacos. The family were on land for the first time in six months; docked, for a few days, at the Santa Rosalia marina, in Mexico. It was a rare break from their own version of Covid lockdown, isolating in the Sea of Cortez. In 2008, the Gifford family - mom Behan, dad Jamie and their three children, Niall (then 9), Mairen (6)  and Siobhan (4) - set out from Puget Sound, in the American state of Washington. Twelve years and 48 countries and territories later, They managed to complete a circumnavigation of the world before Niall (now 21 years old) disembarked in 2018, to start college in Portland, Oregon. That year, the Totem sailed into Mexican waters, where it has been ever since, now unable to leave - trapped, like so many people, by the coronavirus pandemic. CREDIT: Behan and Jamie Gifford

Postmag December 6, 2020 Travel main Map showing the voyage route of the Totem

Journaling in Mexico 2009, on board the yacht Totem. The crew of Totem are smiling from ear to ear in an Instagram picture taken in September, as they ate long-awaited tacos. The family were on land for the first time in six months; docked, for a few days, at the Santa Rosalia marina, in Mexico. It was a rare break from their own version of Covid lockdown, isolating in the Sea of Cortez. In 2008, the Gifford family - mom Behan, dad Jamie and their three children, Niall (then 9), Mairen (6)  and Siobhan (4) - set out from Puget Sound, in the American state of Washington. Twelve years and 48 countries and territories later, They managed to complete a circumnavigation of the world before Niall (now 21 years old) disembarked in 2018, to start college in Portland, Oregon. That year, the Totem sailed into Mexican waters, where it has been ever since, now unable to leave - trapped, like so many people, by the coronavirus pandemic. CREDIT: Behan and Jamie Gifford

The Totem crew shortly after departure in 2008. The crew of Totem are smiling from ear to ear in an Instagram picture taken in September, as they ate long-awaited tacos. The family were on land for the first time in six months; docked, for a few days, at the Santa Rosalia marina, in Mexico. It was a rare break from their own version of Covid lockdown, isolating in the Sea of Cortez. In 2008, the Gifford family - mom Behan, dad Jamie and their three children, Niall (then 9), Mairen (6)  and Siobhan (4) - set out from Puget Sound, in the American state of Washington. Twelve years and 48 countries and territories later, They managed to complete a circumnavigation of the world before Niall (now 21 years old) disembarked in 2018, to start college in Portland, Oregon. That year, the Totem sailed into Mexican waters, where it has been ever since, now unable to leave - trapped, like so many people, by the coronavirus pandemic. CREDIT: Behan and Jamie Gifford

Jamie repairing the sail in 2018, from the yacht Totem. The crew of Totem are smiling from ear to ear in an Instagram picture taken in September, as they ate long-awaited tacos. The family were on land for the first time in six months; docked, for a few days, at the Santa Rosalia marina, in Mexico. It was a rare break from their own version of Covid lockdown, isolating in the Sea of Cortez. In 2008, the Gifford family - mom Behan, dad Jamie and their three children, Niall (then 9), Mairen (6)  and Siobhan (4) - set out from Puget Sound, in the American state of Washington. Twelve years and 48 countries and territories later, They managed to complete a circumnavigation of the world before Niall (now 21 years old) disembarked in 2018, to start college in Portland, Oregon. That year, the Totem sailed into Mexican waters, where it has been ever since, now unable to leave - trapped, like so many people, by the coronavirus pandemic. CREDIT: Behan and Jamie Gifford

Sport

Hong Kong

Outdoor


Molly Highfield and Sandy Choi Wing-chi win the Asian Championship, just days before the worlds but shrug off pressure
The pair can see a marked improvement in their performances since starting double-handed sailing together around a year ago



Molly Highfield and Sandy Choi Wing-chi win in Oman, just days before the World Championships.


Extreme fitness

Hong Kong sailors look to World Championships after victory in Oman

Molly Highfield and Sandy Choi Wing-chi win the Asian Championship, just days before the worlds but shrug off pressure The pair can see a marked improvement in their performances since starting double-handed sailing together around a year ago

Molly Highfield and Sandy Choi Wing-chi win the Asian Championship, just days before the worlds but shrug off pressure

The pair can see a marked improvement in their performances since starting double-handed sailing together around a year ago