All good things come to those who wait

by Guy Nowell, Sail World Asia on 21 Jul 2007 At 1000 hrs this morning it looked as if the breeze had permanently abandoned ‘Asia’s Windiest Regatta’. The combined fleet took off on a coastal course from a start line in front of the Evason Phuket Resort, heading north (slowly) past Koh Lon towards the port channel marker off Ao Chalong and then back towards the Evason. It was light and shifty off the start line, but when the leading boats passed Koh Lon a modicum of breeze kicked in and the spinnakers came down for a white sail fetch to the ‘top’ mark.

From the buoy across to the channel marker was a minefield of holes, potholes, wind shifts and funky stuff. Rain squalls lined up along the Ao Chalong shoreline, promising breeze – but from which direction? Watching the boats rounding the mark made any observer feel very sorry for the tacticians – it was only half a mile to the next pin, but there were boats heading up, heading down, spinnakers up, white sails, inshore, standing out… it was a course with more bunkers (and water hazards) than the links at St Andrews. And all under grey and threatening skies that held the promise of real breeze to come.

In IRC 1 it was Peter Ahern’s Yo! 2 that led the way round the track, with the two Phuket 8s behind – Vino leading Somtam Express. After an extra ‘sausage’ in the narrows between the shore and Koh Lon, Scott Duncanson (Somtam Express) got the better of Jim Poulsen (Vino), with John Vause’s Ruby Tuesday coming home 4th to remind the leaders that they are always a boat to be reckoned with.

Stuart Crowe’s Cinders sailed a classy race in IRC 2 to come in 2nd and give Madame Butterfly (Peter Dyer) a scare, with Mick Kealy’s Minx finishing 3rd.

If there had been enough wind to fan the flames then Roger Kingdon’s Moto Inzi would have been on fire, scoring their third bullet in a row in the Firefly 850 class in front of Bill Phelps’ Twin Sharks and Mamba (Henry Kaye). Tim Milner’s Seekronghuk also scored a third win from three races to lead the Multihull class, while Kerida (Gunther Nutt) took honours in the Classic division on a separate race course.

There were still plenty of dark clouds around as PRO Simon James set about starting another race, but not a lot of wind. The course set for the second race of the day went round three islands (Koh Bon, Koh Hae, Koh Aeo) to the south of the Evason, and the new race started in a mere 2 knots of breeze. It seemed like a gutsy call from the RO as the boats crawled away towards Rawai Bay with a warning to ‘mind the obstructions near Koh Bon’, but there was new breeze from west of south – and plenty of it – as the fleet rounded the south end of the island. It was a real wake-up call, with the faster boats took off in style under spinnakers for a kite reach across to Koh Hae and along the seaward side of the island. Some of the boats found they had their hands full in a 15-knot blow, with planing and surfing conditions all the way along to Koh Aeo. A powered-up two sail reach back to the finish was great way to round out the afternoon.

Having already hit 20 kts of boatspeed along the back of the islands, Roger Kingdon immediately became ‘Roger the Rabbit’ as Moto Inzi tore across the bay towards the line at the front of the fleet, scoring their fourth straight win to lead the Firefly 850 division by a handy 5 points after only four races and put themselves in an unassailable lead for the regatta.

John Vause’s Young 11 Ruby Tuesday demonstrated that strong breeze is what she really likes by scoring 1st in IRC 1, pushing Somtam Express and Vino (both Phuket 8s) in to 2nd and 3rd respectively, and Yo! 2 (Peter Ahern, Farr 40 OD) into 4th. Mike Downard’s Platu, Evason Phuket Tua Lek, showed that light boats can race in real wind and topped the IRC 2 division.

With four races from a seven-race programme completed, it is going to be hard to knock Somtam Express (Scott Duncanson) off the top spot in IRC 1, but there is a good fight shaping up for the next three positions in the division. And IRC 2 has the top four boats separated by only two points. Tomorrow’s forecast is promising more wind (promise!) so stay tuned to ‘Asia’s Windiest Regatta’. More tomorrow.

Full results at www.phuketraceweek.com