2019 Noel Croucher Award

On behalf of the Club, the Commodore congratulated Mr Hans Joachim Isler who had been nominated to receive the Noel Croucher Award in 2019 for his truly exceptional contribution to sailing.

In the twenty five years since Mr Isler became a member of this club he has shown an outstanding commitment to both the Club and to the sport of sailing in Hong Kong. The list of committees that Mr Isler had sat on over the years was too long for the Commodore to read out, but the Commodore picked out some facts to demonstrate the breadth of his commitment: over a period of 19 years Mr Isler has served in three of the Club’s four elected committees and 16 appointed committees, he has been involved in the two largest development projects in the last twenty years – the reclamation at Middle Island and the Kellett Island development; he has organised several international events, notably the Magic Asia Pacific Championships in 2001 and the Hong Kong to Vietnam race; the latter as chairman five times; and finally, he served as our Commodore between 2012 and 2014.

Outside the Club Mr Isler continued with his commitment to sailing as a council member of the Hong Kong Sailing Federation and the Water Sports Council, the latter being the entity which represents all of the water sports national authorities in Hong Kong. This is important work as these are the bodies which interact with the government advocating for facilities for our sport; and indeed, there are a number of proposals which have been submitted for future sailing centres in Hong Kong. Mr Isler has also served on the Harbourfront Commission since July 2015.

In addition to his work on councils and committees Mr Isler remained a staunch supporter of club run events and is a regular competitor in all of our major regattas. He has raced Sportsboats, Etchells and in recent years predominantly ‘Ambush’, the Custom Mills 41 that he co-owned with Mr Andrew Taylor. The list of wins on Ambush is impressive and includes significant inshore regattas such as the Spring Regatta, the Autumn Regatta as well as three Top Dog victories. Ambush has also competed in multiple offshore campaigns in the Rolex China Sea Race, the Hong Kong to Vietnam Race and the Hong Kong to Hainan Race, winning the latter in 2018.

The Commodore invited Mr Isler to receive the Noel Croucher Award for his outstanding contribution to sailing.