Just perfect! Evason Phuket Race Week 2005

by Guy Nowell on 30 Jul 2005 What a difference a day makes! The sun shone in a picture-postcard blue sky, and Aeolus loosed the string on his bag of winds and selected something close to perfect sailing breeze.

Principal Race Officer Simon James set a windward-leeward course for all classes. ‘There was only 8-10 knots on the water as we set the course,’ said James, ‘but that was plenty enough for a start. Also, it was swinging 30 to 45 degrees, so I was very pleased when it settled down stronger and steadier.’

Local geography and the west south westerly wind direction meant that the beat had to be a little shorter than intended, but there were no complaints heard later for a course with shorter legs and more laps.

The day began with three sausages on a plate for Club, and four for everyone else . Nobody was going to be hanging about today, not even the no-spinnaker boats in Club, but for the really quick machines the steady breeze over just slightly choppy water was just what the doctor ordered.

In IRC 1 David Lindhal’s La Samudra got off to a blistering start in the first race of the day and led the fleet to the top mark and back again, an impressive achievement for a Swan 42 racing against sportsboats. Lindhal was justifiably happy with their performance: ‘We go well with a bit of breeze. If there’s some more tomorrow we’ll do even better,’ he said.

Only on the second beat did the slippery Phuket 8 Securicor Somtam Express (Scott Duncanson and his Cowboys) take the lead on the water. After that the Cowboys led all the way home in a display of quality sailing good enough for a Line Honours finish but still third behind La Samudra and John Vause’s Ruby Tuesday. ‘That was really Ruby’s weather’, said John. ‘New Zealand boats love a good blow – and so do their crews!’

The second race of the day – a coastal course – started as soon as possible after everyone had finished the first race.

‘Just like the brochure’ and ‘champagne sailing’ were two of the time-honoured phrases that immediately sprang to mind as first of all Club class, then the two IRC divisions, followed by the Racing and Premier Multihull fleets, ripped into the race.

It was a trip round-the-bricks-and-home with the same 1-2-3 result.

Mick Kealy’s X-342 Minx began the day by consolidated her position at the top of the IRC 2 table with another first place in front of Cinders (Stuart Crow) and Lee Marine Suk San (Mike Bean). One of the Cinders crew admitted later, ‘that was quite enough breeze – we really don’t need any more – it just gets to be too much like hard work!’ In the afternoon race Cinders took the honours, with Simba (Paul Kendall) second and Minx relegated to third place.

In the Club division Maddalena (Mark Trupp) took line and handicap honours in front of Gator (Matt McGrath) and Blue Moon (Al Boone) in the windward-leeward race, and ‘around the islands’ in the afternoon Christine Corfield’s Rastagaissa IV rearranged the finishing order with a first place in front of Trupp and McGrath.

Multihull Racing had a new competitor in the fleet today, with the Mark Pescott-designed catamaran Voodoo Child joining in. ‘We’ve been burning a lot of midnight oil over the last couple of weeks,’ admitted Pescott, ‘trying to get the boat finished for this regatta. We launched her yesterday and took her for a spin, and went racing today. That’s a bit of a steep learning curve.’

Bullets in both of today’s races could not be a better way of introducing this quick little cat to the Asian racing scenario, even if one of the wins was by mere seconds. ‘Can’t complain… that just means we are sailing to our handicap,’ said Pescott.

Another Pescott catamaran, Charro, helmed by Henry Kaye took second place in both of today’s races, and Sue and Michel Arnulphy’s Cyrene was third… twice. ‘There’s a new kid on the block,’ said Kaye with substantial understatement. ‘It goes very fast, and beat us twice today. Never mind, it was a great day’s sailing anyway.’

Last start for each race was the Multihull Premier division, and the sight of four 45’-odd aluminium catamarans arguing over the line was impressive to say the least. Bob Mott’s Chameleon took line honours in both races, winning the second race but having to settle for second on the windward-leeward course.

Tomorrow’s forecast is promising even more breeze. You can’t have too much of a good thing, can you? Welcome to the Evason Phuket Race Week 2005, Phuket’s ‘green season’ regatta, in the ‘off’ season, when the wind blows.

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