Thailand’s Platu Champions crowned

by Kipsan Beck on 4 Nov 2008 After five gruelling events, The Lofts Southshore helmed by Scott Duncanson are the winners of Thailand’s inaugural Platu Championship. Starting in March with the Platu Open, and finishing in October at the Finals, 20 teams competing in the one design Platus have highlighted the strength of one of Asia’s largest OD fleets.

Sailors saw conditions ranging from sub 5 knots all the way up to consistent 20+ knots, and team work plus experience played a huge role in determining winners.

‘We were pushed hard by Ray Waldron and Morten Jakobsen,’ explained winning helm Scott Duncanson. ‘It was luck that the Thai team Naiad and Malaysian-based Rolf Heemskerk weren’t able to race enough to use discards, otherwise, it would have been a nail biter.’

Winning 4 out of 5 of the regattas, the winners of the Raimon Land One Design Platu Championship Series have been invited to represent Thailand in the inaugural Platu yacht regatta in New Zealand this November.

Thailand has a special connection to New Zealand, with Kiwi John Weston being part of the original Platu design team commissioning the Bruce Farr design for Thai waters. Since then, the class has spread worldwide with almost 1,000 boats, including a brand new fleet of 14 Platus for team training and racing in Auckland, New Zealand. Platu means ‘small mackerel’ in Thai, which is a fitting name for the boats as they sometimes appear to have a mind of their own in stronger wind conditions.

The first competition in these Auckland boats will include leading sailors such as Dean Barker, Bruce Kendall and members of ETNZ, a tough test for the top Thailand team. ‘It is a good chance to rate ourselves against the very best in the world, and I am sure we will learn a lot,’ said Duncanson. ‘It is an honour to represent Thailand because all the team live and work in Thailand.’

The Lofts Southshore team consists of Scott Duncanson (Australia), Jeremy Chase (Australia), Trent Pedersen (New Zealand) and Kev Scott (England).

Listed Property Developer Raimon Land are strong supporters of yachting, including title sponsorship of several Thai regattas, and for the Platus Raimon Land worked with fleet captain Kev Scott to create a five-regatta championship series. Part of the sponsor money was used to help bring top sailors to events in Pattaya, and also to encourage and help youth teams develop their skills against more experienced crews. To date, leading teams from Malaysia , Singapore, the Philippines, Japan and Russia have all received benefit from the sponsorship program of Raimon Land.

In 2009, Thailand hopes to see some of the New Zealand teams making the trip up to compete in the 2009 Raimon Land Platu Championship. Racing in Auckland will be held 12- 16 November 2008 as part of the Royal Akarana Yacht Club NZ Keelboat Championships.

For further information, contact Kipsan Beck, Publicity, OMYC
kipsanbeck@hotmail.com