They're off to sunny Spain...

by AsianYachting.com on 15 Feb 2006 The light North Easterly hung on throughout the morning for the Racing class to complete two windward/leeward courses and the cruisers, multihulls, sportsboats a lengthy passage race before eventually fading away to nothing.

After completing a consensus amongst the skippers it was jointly agreed to include another short windward/leeward course to the program. Ulumulu - Quantum Racing having won four races on the trot and facing the possibility of putting the series in doubt skipper Ray Roberts agreed with the others in a act of good sportsmanship to have another race.

After sweating it out for the last few days the Swedes on the V60 Ericsson rebounded with a first and fastest in the extra race. The Royal Malaysian Navy on Zuhrah have been improving with every outing and secured second place in front of Ray Roberts which spoiled his almost perfect score line.

As far as the points tally goes Ulumulu - Quantum Racing have all but virtually won the racing class and will be off to sunny Spain at BMW's expense, but second place is still up for grabs. Ericsson and Zuhrah are tied on 14 points and Mahligai only one point adrift on 15 after jumping up into second place in race four.

Premier Cruising
As David Lindahl's Swan 40 La Samudra has won every race in this class they can now be crowned the winner. Keith Garry's Beaux Esprits is the only other entrant and as the class was created to avoid a mismatch of the yachts it would seem that that decision has turned this class into a bit of a sham.

Sportsboats
Mohd Masyuri Rahmat recovered from yesterday's defeat with a commanding victory today for the RM Navy on KDP II to take back the overall lead in the class. Japan's Kenichi Takahashi on Motomet stayed in the hunt with a well-earned second place and is now tied with Matthew Rickard's Sail in Asia UK Team who finished 3rd in today's race for second place overall on six points apiece. Tomorrow's deciding race will determine the eventual podium placings.

IRC
No change at the top of the leaderboard with Kevin Gillow's Minx scoring their fourth win in a row. After scoring three thirds so far the Selangor Youth Team on Gapurna Mas Ayu II managed to leapfrog Stuart Crow's Cinders into second place and relegate them into third place this time around.

Multihull
Under the two handicap systems being used Roger Kingdon's Moto Inzi won the Ocean Multihull Rating system and Kazuo Kobayashi's chartered Chameleon won the Performance Handicap system. Larry Pollock's Running Cloud stays in the running under both systems and has performed very well for a older boat amongst the newer breed of racers. This methord of scoring has confused the competitors and media here, but we are told it is purely an experiment to establish a precedent.

Club Cruising
Grenville Fordham's line and handicap win today on Image Asia Jemini Jo has broken the tie which existed coming into today's race. Philip Giles on Nom de Plume managed a second place and E A Y Heuvel's big Swan 58 Bolero dropped back to third in the dying breeze. As only one point separates the top places it is up to tomorrow's final race to determine the overall positions.

Ocean Rover
After a tactically demanding performance Kevin Perrins Rusalka rebounded to score his second win of the series and take back the overall lead coming into tomorrow's final race. Des Kearns' Harlander 45 Isobar Lee Marine scored second place and is only one point behind the leader. After yesterday's win Eric Kading's Fat Cat jumped into contention but today's third place puts them into third overall and they will have to put in a big performance on the last race to get back up again.