Singapore National 420, Byte and Laser champs - Day 5

by Dawn Liu, SingaporeSailing on 6 Jun 2009 The wind finally ran out of steam on the last day of racing, with the final race being held in the light airs Singapore tends to be famous for. Some excellent sailing was seen especially by most of the race leaders on all courses; all but one of yesterday’s leaders managed to keep their positions.

Our international friends will certainly go home happy, as Thailand, Malaysia, and Australia have performed superbly in the invitational Byte CII, Byte standard, and Laser standard fleets respectively.

Supakon Pongwichean won the invitational Byte CII class with races to spare, but nevertheless pulled off yet another bullet in the final race, bringing his total score to eleven points for his ten best races. A sixth to Jittiwa Thanawitwilat, also of Thailand, was enough to secure her second place, while Malaysia’s Khairunneeta took third ahead of her compatriot Muhamad Amirul Shafiq.

A modest second for Matthew Wearn sealed his position at the top of the Byte standard fleet, and so the Australian will take the prize home with him. Jordan Ng and Ernest Tan both maintained their podium positions, with the former able to claim the crown as Singaporean national Byte champion.

Among the girls, Pamela Goh takes top prize, with Jazlene Ong in second and Victoria Koh third.

The deciding race for Mohd Romzi on the Laser course let him down, with Nik Ashraf Qaedi moving up to take the crown with his last-race win. This brought both sailors’ points to a tie; however Nik Asraf Qaedi won on countback. Harrithammry Nasution managed to pull ahead of national Laser champion Colin Cheng, claiming third place by a point. It’s certainly been a good regatta for the Malaysians on this course!

Also winning on countback are Griselda Khng and Cecilia Low on the 420 course. Despite a last-place finish in the final race, the ability to discard it kept them at tied points with second-placed Justin Liu and Sherman Cheng, who gamely decided to end the regatta with a bang even though they knew they would be unable to overtake their team-mate. Perhaps it’s a pity for the duo that the medal race format is not applicable here!

Thailand’s Benjamas Poonpat and Narisawa Yu-sawat claimed the third spot over Navee Thamsoontorn and Atiwat Chomtongdee; they also took the silver medal in the women’s division. Third in the women’s division went to Kahirunnisa and Norashikin of Malaysia.

Second-placed Laser Radial sailor Khairulnizam of Malaysia valiantly tried for a first in the last race, but his final race win was not enough to put him over Victoria Chan, who already had the regatta well in hand yesterday and finished with a third today. A sixth place for Keerati Bualong kept him ahead of Elizabeth Yin, and so he will take home the bronze in his fleet.

A protest hearing between Muhammed Audi Afiq and Chai Xun in the Byte CII class delayed the release of the final results; however the prize presentation ceremony was able to go ahead since the top three positions in the fleet had already been confirmed. Darren Choy kept his cool and finished close behind Terence Choo, all he needed to maintain his position at the top of the chart with Terence in second. Germaine Teo’s seventh-position finish, two boats ahead of Nathan Tang, secured her the third position, an enormous lead in the girls’ division over the next female, Asian Youth Games representative Najwa Jumali. With a fifth in the final race, Airiel Ho takes the bronze medal for the girls, a mere three points from Najwa.

This brings us to the end of the championship. Congratulations to the winners and all other sailors for a regatta well-sailed! Mustn’t forget the race management team and protest committee either for their hard work to get in twelve good, clean races. We’re grateful to everyone who made this regatta such a success!