Koh Samui Regatta - Mother Nature rules the day

by Sawadee.com media on 6 Jun 2010 Although a couple over the start line calls (OCS) were made, all classes sailed away in a brisk 12 to 15 knot south west breeze. This time PRO Ross Chisholm opted for coastal courses to the south of Koh Samui and back. Everything was going fine and crews were enjoying the long spinnaker ride back until the leaders arrived in the vicinity of the finish line and the wind died out. This allowed the trailing boats to sail up to them and in some cases cross the line in front of them. 'Very frustrating' and 'we were robbed' are some of the expletives heard. Strange how Mother Nature deals out her favours.

The duel between Ray Roberts TP52 Evolution Racing and Neil Pryde's Welbourn 52 Hi Fi continued around the course with Evolution Racing taking the advantage on the long beat to windward. Frank Pong's 76ft Jelik II disappeared into the distance and might have had a chance at the daily double until they approached the finish line. The wind completely died out, changed direction a couple of times and left the yachts at the mercy of the northerly flowing current. A couple of gybes to stay in the wind and some quick sail changes had them ghosting towards the finish line and crossed to a huge round of applause from the media boat and race officials. Evolution Racing and Hi Fi made their approach 30 minutes latter as the wind had returned and proceeded directly across the line to pick up first and second places respectively and relegate Jelik II down to fourth place. The Nick Burns/Fred Kinmonth co-owned Mills 51 EFG Mandrake slotted into third place and broke the tie with Jelik II for third overall in their favour. The victory for Evolution Racing has them taking a mere one point lead over Hi Fi in the overall stakes with one day to go. The race committee hope to have two races tomorrow and after today's activities anything can happen and the series is still open for the taking.

A similar set of finish line circumstances affected David Ross' Kerr 32 Kukukerchu as they dropped down to third place today but still hold a healthy lead in the overall pointscore. The biggest winners on the day are the two Farr MRX yachts from the Thai Naval Academy. Lt Weerasit Puangnak's Navy 1 took out the handicap honours and were followed closely by NC Boonyarit Sukmuang's Navy 2 in second place. Commiserations go to the other boats in the class that drifted into the finish boat and another aimlessly at the pin end of the line. As they say in the classics 'What goes around comes around'.

The radio blared out that Jon Wardill's Cassidy 55 Australian Maid and Gary Baguley's Holman & Pye 52 El Coyote were over the start line in the Premier Cruising class and expected to return and start again. Some doubt still exists whether another boat may have also been over early. This allowed Dr Ian Nicholson's Dubois 80 Intrigue and Peter Churchouse's Warwick 64 Moonblue 2 to get a jump on the rest of the fleet and take a commanding lead, that is until they approached the finish line. While they sat becalmed with spinnakers drooping, Peter Forsythe and Jing Lee's X55 Xena made up valuable ground and managed to keep their yacht in favourable wind zephyrs to take out the daily double as the leaders were washed away in the tide. The back markers Coyote and Australian Maid drew their 'Get out of jail free cards' and closed in on the leaders to end up taking second and third places on handicap. This result now has Xena and Australian Maid tied on five points for the overall title with Australian Maid taking the lead as they have recorded two wins to Xena's one win.

Nigel Hopkins Oyster Lightwave 48 Celere had the benefit of leading the Bareboat/Cruising class around the course and avoided the pitfalls at the finish line to take out the daily double and stay on top of the overall pointscore. Scott Finisten's Oceanis 461 Andrew Short - Constanza claimed second place to trail Celere by one point in the overall stakes. Third place again for the Singapore Management University (SMU) Team on the Sunsail 39 Bussakorn, skippered by Shaun Toh has them tied on nine points with John Stall's Atkins 34 Smooth but in fourth place as Smooth recorded an early win. This class is still very open for the taking and the crew on Andrew Short - Constanza are even more determined to defend the title they have won two years in a row.

The biggest boat in the Multihull Class, Kirati Assakul's Crowther 42 Sonic was called up by the smallest boat, Mick Grover's Mia Noi at the startline which resulted in Sonic being deemed to be over the line and told to restart. Kim Thomas' bi-plane rigged catamaran Storm made the most of the situation to take out line honours but as Sonic staged a late comeback they were relegated to third place on handicap. Kirati Assakul's Sonic now has an unbeatable lead of four wins in a row and inevitably will go on and take out this years title. A welcome second place for Kunta's (Samui Ocean Sports} Radical Bay Team Zazen has them holding onto second overall with Kim Thomas' Storm in third. Unfortunately there is nothing they can do about the run away leader Sonic but will have to conduct further refinements on the bi-plane rigged cats and come out fighting next year.

Optimist racing on the lay-day:?As much as this regatta is about the competitive ‘adult’ racing, it is also an opportunity for Samui's most talented youth to take to the waters to contest the ‘Samui Junior Sailing Squadron Challenge'. The third running of the challenge – held yesterday off Chaweng Beach - saw young sailors in Optimist Class boats battling it out on a competitive course. The challenge saw five fiercely contested races - with the youngest contender – Richard Bjork - being only six years old. At the end of the day, at an awards ceremony on the lawns at Tradewinds Cottages, it was Nattapon Panyawan that took the top award. In second place was Thomas Fahey and coming in third was the very talented Stephanie Bjork. In the beginner’s class, Nicolas Eleo was first, followed by Tida Panyawah and Oliver Kerr.