Singapore Open Asian Windsurfing Championship - Flying start on day 2

by Chua Hsin Ee on 25 Jan 2014 On day two of the SIM 33rd Singapore Open Asian Windsurfing Championship, the prevailing north-east wind continued to blow with constant winds of 15 knots gusting up to 18 knots as early as 10.30am. The race officials wasted no time in getting the races going.

Race 4 of in Techno Youth Boys division started just past 11am in a steady breeze. The winds then picked up steadily, averaging at 17 knots and gusting up to 25 knots with competitors getting off to a flying start in Race 5 and 6.

There were hardly any changes to the Techno Boy’s divisions with the third and fourth placed competitors swopping places. Singapore’s Wallace Gan put in a commendable performance and is currently lying in 10th position out of a fleet of 26 after claiming a third spot in Race 4.

In the Techno Girl’s division, it is a close fight between Thailand’s Phongern Duangkamon and Hong Kong’s Choi Wing Chi who are both tied at seven points with each taking three bullets after six races.

In the RS:X Men’s division, Thailand’s Ek Boonsawad sits comfortably at the top of the leaderboard with three straight wins today. Ek is currently six points ahead of Taipei’s Chang Hao who has moved up to second position after six races while Singapore’s Leonard Ong fell to third position. However, the fight between Leonard and Hao will be one to watch out for in the coming days with just one point separating the two.

Over in the RS:X Women’s division, Hong Kong proved to be a tough fight with the top three positions firmly occupied by the Hong Kong women windsurfers.

Hong Kong is also currently dominating the leaderboard in the Mistral One Design Open division but Thailand’s Natthaphong Phonoppharat is putting up a good fight with two second-placed finishes and is proving to be third-placed Ma Yik Kau’s closest threat.

Racing continues on day three of the event with the first possible race at 11am and the start of races in the Formula and Raceboard classes. The fifth edition of the SIM Windsurfing Championship which sees novice windsurfers from the local tertiary institutions, National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), Singapore Management University (SMU) compete for top honours will also kick off tomorrow.