Asia Pacific Student Cup - Light and shifty conditions on day 2 +Video

by Yujia Seah on 19 Sep 2014 With another 12 flights to go in the round robin, the race committee was eager to get racing going on day two of the Asia Pacific Student Cup.

The day began in a similar fashion, with a detailed umpires’ brief, giving the young sailors the opportunity to clarify their doubts before heading out to water. On water, light winds made for an even more challenging start to the second batch of Round Robins. Top scoring teams from the previous day, Collin Lim from the Singapore Management University (SMU), Pauline Courtois from Team France, Low Wen Chun of Team YPYP were excited to maintain their strong lead against the other teams.

Teams racing in the earlier flights had to endure extremely shifty and light conditions. Severe lulls, which permeated the starboard entry mark and the top half of the racecourse eventually, forced the race committee to abandon the race just after three flights. Over the course of the day, winds gradually picked up to a gentle but more consistent breeze, gusting at seven knots. The long day of intense racing, which began at 10 in the morning only concluded at six in the evening, with yesterday’s leaders Lim (SMU) and Courtois (FRA) dominating the leaderboard.

Like the unpredictable conditions of the Marina Bay, underdog Will Boulden representing the University of Western Australia (UWA) who only had two wins in his pocket after day one’s flights managed to score three more matches by flight 16 and end the day off with a remarkable eight wins, earning him the third ranking overall. As for national dinghy sailors Natasha Yokoyama and Darren Choy from Singapore, this may have their first foray into match racing but the two young sailors proved to both local and international competitors that they were not to be taken lightly. Both Yokoyama and Choy earned themselves fifth and seventh respectively.



The top eight teams who will face off in the quarterfinals are:

1. Pauline Courtois (France)
2. Collin Lim (Singapore, Singapore Management University)
3. Will Boulden (Australia, University of Western Australia)
4. Megat Ahmad Aslam (Malaysia)
5. Natasha Yokoyama (Singapore)
6. Low Wen Chun (Singapore)
7. Darren Choy (Singapore)
8. James Harayda (Great Britain, United World College- Southeast Asia)

Stay tuned for more action as the top eight teams battle it out over the next two days of the Asia Pacific Student Cup 2014, organized by the Singapore Management University and sanctioned by the Singapore Sailing Event Event Facebook