Camping and Soaring Trip to Tapmun (Grass Is.)

Camping and Soaring Trip to Tapmun (Grass Is.)
26-27 January 2008

The Hong Kong Radio Control Soaring Society organized a camping and soaring trip to Tapmun (Grass Island) on 26 to 27 of January 2008. The weather a day before the trip was not promising at all - rainy with temperature as low as 6 degree Celsius! Only a few diehard fellow pilots and their guests decided to take the challenge and make the trip finally. On Saturday morning, they gathered in the Sai Kung market to fill up with the necessary supplies. The journey started from Pak Tam Chung on a taxi ride to Wong Shek pier, then a short boat trip to Tapmun. However, there was a minor incident that almost delayed the trip. Ah So left his r/c transmitter and other valuable stuff in the boot of the taxi after getting off at Wong Shek pier. He was panic after the taxi has gone away just a few seconds after disembark. A car chase was imminent when a phone call to the taxi radio station to locate that taxi was failure! Just a bit over 15 minutes chase on Stephen's over speeding car, they located that taxi in Sai Kung town and got back his stuff finally. A return trip to the pier took also just a bit more than 15 minutes, just in time for the boat ride to the island. They finally arrived at the beautiful camp site on the east coast of the island at about 3:15pm. Quickly they located the best spot for the base for setting up their camps. The weather was cold but nothing stop them to have a wonderful time on the island. The wind was blowing from the north, so they decided not to fly their model gliders until the next day after taking a hike to the other side of the island. At night they set up a bon-fire to keep warn and had wonderful BBQ food with hot pre-cooked lamb chop. What's a wonderful experience to have such hot tasty food out in the wild at temperature as low as 4 degree Celsius! They went down to the pier to have night fishing after the BBQ dinner. The gusty cold wind could not stop them to have a nice time for the waiting game, however, the fishes responded otherwise. There were no fish at all after an hour of wait. Possibly the temperature was really cold, so most fishes would like to hibernate rather than to eat. A bit disappointed, so they came back to the camp to have some hot coffee, then went to sleep in their warm tents at midnight. There were some midnight rain and the temperature was further dropped to about 2 to 3 degree Celsius. They emerged from their tents in the early morning hopping to watch sun rise, but the sky was just too cloudy. After having a fresh hot breakfast, they have regained their energy so they decided to explore the north side of this tranquil island to see whether they can fly model gliders there. The trip took about 20 minutes of easy hike to the north slope. The spot for north wind slope is small but lift it can generate is amazing. One, two, three, they launched their 60" moldies in turn. It was so beautiful to see the gliders soaring in this remote part of the Hong Kong coast. After having some fun with their model gliders, they then explored the jaggy shoreline on the way back to the camp site. The ladies have cooked a hot lunch for the returned pilots. At about 3:30pm, they started packing up their stuff and took the journey back home. The trip ended at Pak Tam Chung at about 5:30pm. What's a wonderful camping and soaring trip! Be there again definitely!