Alpha+

Fresh to the circuit in Saint Tropez 2023 this will be the third season of racing for Shawn and Tina Kang’s Alpha Plus and they continue to make excellent progress, seeing some very promising days in 2024, especially in Newport RI where they finished an excellent fourth overall at the Rolex TP52 World Championship.  

And so in 2025 their objectives remain the same, challenging themselves, learning, improving and having fun together.

At heart they are an amateur team bolstered by a number of pro sailors. Their boat is the former Luna Rossa which they raced a little at home before refitting in 2023 in Spain. 

The Alpha Plus team started out together in Hong Kong with a Beneteau cruiser racer some ten years or so ago. They graduated to a Ker 46+ and when the opportunity to buy Luna Rossa came up in January 2020 they seized the chance. They started close to the back of the local fleets around Hong Kong and the key Asian regattas but gradually learned and worked their way to become very competitive.
But it was owner Shawn Kang’s long held dream to join the 52 SUPER SERIES and so now, partly inspired by the success and enjoyment of their Thai counterparts on Team Vayu, the Alpha+ team have seized the initiative and aim to just keep making steps up the leaderboard. 

For 2025 it is young Kiwi match racer Nick Egnot Johnson who will steer the boat with the highly experienced Ian Moore joining as navigator and Rod Dawson also joining the squad.