Founder and CEO of Voyager
Risk Solutions, TOMMY HO
manages insurance for many
of Hong Kong’s new luxury
yachts and is starting to expand
across Asia. Yet even now he’s
still discovering details about
his parents’ lives on the water,
like the day his Mum shared a
sampan with a Prime Minister.
WORDS JOHN HIGGINSON PHOTOS AS CREDITEDT
ommy Ho Wai-lok is well known in Hong Kong’s yachting
circles, but plenty still know him as the third son of Ho Sai-lo,
who retired in June 2018 after 35 years managing the boat
yard at Club Marina Cove.
Tommy still frequently attends events at Marina Cove as the Sai
Kung venue regularly hosts private events for many of the world’s
leading luxury yacht brands, including Ferretti Group, Azimut,
Sunseeker, Fairline, Monte Carlo Yachts and Prestige from April
through June.
In June, Voyager co-hosted the Family Days weekend at the end of
the nine-day Ferretti Group Itinerary Show and Tommy found himself
fielding more questions about his father than himself.
“When I go to Marina Cove, lots of friends and familiar faces come
up to me, but they all ask about my Dad, like how’s Sai-lo enjoying
retirement, how’s his health,” laughs Tommy during an interview with
his father and mother, Susie Lei, who’s still involved with the family’s
yacht repair business at Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club.
“When I go to events, a lot of people know me because of my
parents and in fact, we generated business at that event. It’s great I’m
also in boating like my parents, because we can always talk about
boats, whether one’s good or bad, its design, the quality, so on.”
However, what’s surprising is how often Tommy’s surprised when
hearing stories from his parents, who both grew up working on the
water, his father initially crewing on sailing boats and his mother a
leader of one of the famous ‘side party’ groups of sampan women who
cleaned the hulls of military ships.AROUND THE WORLD
In the early 1960s, Ho senior responded to an advert from an
American, Vad Jelton, who was recruiting two crew for a long cruise
with his wife on a 55ft sailing yacht.
Sai-lo recalls: “I saw the advert recruiting for crew, so I went for an
interview. At that time, my salary was HK$160 per month...”
Tommy’s eyes widen in shock – “Wah, so little” – before his father
continues.
“Then the American offered me HK$700 per month, so it was
an easy decision. The boat stopped in a lot of places so it took a
long time, almost two years. We eventually finished working in San
Francisco.”
“He did it for the money,” smirks Susie, who married Sai-lo after
he returned to Hong Kong in late 1965.
Sai-lo said the most alarming episode was when the owner’s wife
started screaming as she thought the boat was going to sink.