Top of the Gulf Regatta 2019 – day 2
by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia 2 May 2019 19:31 PDT
Top of the Gulf Regatta 2019. Easy Tiger © Guy Nowell / Top of the Gulf Regatta
This is a short report because it was a short day on the water. Moderate breeze at the appointed start time, but it faded fast, and left the racing fleets gasping for air.
IRC 1, the match race division of Team Hollywood (Ray Roberts) and THA72 (Kevin Whitcraft) with former Optimist World Champion Noppakao Poonpat at the helm, raced one windward/leeward in light breeze, resulting in a decisive victory to Team Hollywood. Last year we asked the diminutive Poonpat to describe the difference between driving an Optimist and a TP52… she said, “actually it’s pretty much the same, but in an Optimist you don’t have lots of people in front of you, getting in the way and blocking the view.” Big boats are just overgrown small boats, right? The second race for IRC 1 ended after just the first beat when the wind dribbled away to nothing and the race was abandoned.
It took Fujin 1h53m to complete two sausages for a win in IRC 2. Team Spray (JPN) was a little quicker around the short version of the same course for a win in IRC 3. Maybe having the Deputy Editor of the esteemed Kazi magazine (and ‘kazi’ means wind in case you missed that) on board helped in some way.
The Multihulls tackled a coastal course which did not go too well in the light stuff: Sonic was DNF, and Edenko collected a DSQ, leaving the door wide open for Bladerunner IX to win after a painful 3h08m of extra-hot sunshine.
The only keelboat class to finish two races was the Platu division, and eben then the second race was shortened after one sausage. Easy Tiger (Chris Way) was on form with two bullets, and Team Viewpoint (Rolf Heemskerk) kept the leaders honest, snapping at their heels with two second places. At 1430h, and with no breeze in sight, the Race Officer called it a day.
Today the regatta was joined by the small boats: Lasers, 420s, 470s, Optimists, the all-new parasailing division racing in all-new S\V14 dinghies, and one solitary Finn. Full results can be found at www.topofthegulfregatta.com It was especially good to see the S\V14s out on the water: just three years from a good idea to seven boats competing is a very short time to inaugurate a new class. The S\V14 is already in full production at Far East Boats – expect to see a lot more parasailing, soon, and not just in Asia. Peter Jacops (Mr Good Idea), Simonis Voogd Design and Far East are to be congratulated on a truly great initiative.
Racing resumes tomorrow, so keep the fingers crossed for some good breeze. Ocean Marina is a great venue for a regatta, and after a rather disappointing racing day like today there’s nothing better than a few cold ones on the lawn in front of the hotel. Thank you, I’ll have another, please.
Short Results (full results at www.topofthegulfregatta.com)
IRC 1
1. Team Hollywood 1, 1, 1 (3)
2. THA72 3 (DNC), 2, 2 (7)
IRC 2
1. Tenacious 1, 1, 2 (4)
2. Fujin 2, 2, 1 (5)
3. Lewana 4, 3, 3 (10)
IRC 3
1. Moonshadow 1, 1 (2)
2. Team Spray 3, 2 (5)
3. HiJinks 2, 3 (5)
Platu
1. Easy Tiger 1, 2, 1, 1, 1 (6)
2. Team Viewpoint 4, 1, 6, 2, 2 (15)
3. YRAT 3, 5, 2, 3, 5 (18)
Multihulls
1. Bladerunner IX 2, 1 (3)
2. Sonic 1, 4/DNF (5)
3. Edenko 3, 4/DSQ (7)