Hong Kong-Macau windsurfer hopes more take up water sports

At the age of eight, Australian sailor Nick Moloney used to help the owner of a small sail shop on the Barwon River in Victoria state pack away the sails every day in exchange for time in a boat.

Moloney grew up about 500 metres from the waters of the Bass Strait and it would be from the Barwon River that, as a grown-up, he would set off to windsurf from the Australian mainland to Tasmania. Twenty-two hours and 230 kilometres later he had set a record for the crossing; he is still the only person to have done it unassisted.

Moloney has achieved more in a boat that most: he was part of the team that won the Jules Verne Trophy in 2002, breaking the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by over a week; he’s also the current holder of the Cariad Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation of Hong Kong Island, which he set in 2013. His latest adventure? A reprise of his Bass Strait exploit, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.

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Moloney set off from the southeast corner of Lamma Island on a windsurfing board and landed five hours later at a waypoint off Macau’s southeast coast, launching the St Regis Macao Cup and setting the time to beat in the process. Given his former exploits, a five-hour jaunt to Macau seems almost leisurely.

“Aside from the time, the Bass Strait was very different to Macau. When the wind is at 90 degrees to the board it is actually quite easy,” he says. “Of course, 22 hours of doing that takes its toll. But the Macau record was very technical because it was downwind and so I had to zigzag my whole way there, which meant I ended up sailing double the distance, plus there are also a lot of boats to dodge.”

Sailing downwind presents specific challenges. “Your body is contorted all the time and your legs are continually acting as shock absorbers. I knew about two and a half hours in I was in trouble with the physical aspect of it,” he says.

World champion windsurfer and Olympian Allison Shreeve attempted to beat Moloney’s Bass Strait record by sailing downwind in 2009 but retired after nine hours with severe cramp. Just as Moloney was beginning to suffer, the weather changed and he got a bit of a breather. It was that psychological boost that helped him finish, he says.