Welcome
to the AsianYachting December
2002
NEWS and VIEWS
Stella's recent success on the China Coast Series and Raja Muda Int Regatta firmly places the Sydney 38 amongst the favorites on the Asian Yachting Circuit 2002/03.
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CONTENTS
1.
Editorial
2. "Unluckiest sailor of the month" Award
3. Asian News
4. International
5. Speed Records
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January February March April May June July August September
October November December
1. Editorial
Sailors and boat owners in the region are facing a dilemma as they choose which off the ever increasing number of Asian regattas they can possibly attend.The next big event this month on the Asian Yachting Circuit 02/03 kicks off on Jan 15th with the 9th Singapore Straits Regatta. Held under the authority of the Singapore Sailing Federation and the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club with Changi Sailing Club, Riau Yacht Club and Raffles Marina all playing host to a series of Keelboat triangle and passage races in the straits between Singapore and Indonesia. The crewing list is available at: http://www.straitsregatta.com and has attracted quite a few entries, so skippers short on crew are asked to visit the website.
Then
its either back up the Malacca Straits over Chinese New Year to Thailand
for the Phang Nga Bay Regatta
starting in Krabi on Feb 1 and ending in Phuket on Feb 4. See details
@ www.bayregatta.com or sail over to the Philippines for the
200nm Manila to Boracay Race starting
on the 12 Feb. More info at: www.standardinsurancecom.com/sailing then
up to Hong Kong and returning to the Philippines for the San
Fernando Race (April 17 - 19th). See:
www.sanfernandorace.com and the Presidents
Cup (April 23 - 26th) which are normally held over the Christian Easter
long weekend.
Those
choosing to stay around in Malaysia and Thailand can choose
to join the new additions to the Asian Yachting
Circuit this year (making it 12 in all) on the Andaman Sea Rally Check it out at www.andamansearally.com Which
is open to ocean racers and motor yachts to
be held in three stages leaving Phuket, Thailand on the 9th
Feb for Port Blair in the neighboring Indian Andaman
Islands archipelago, returning to Phuket on Feb 26th and in time to
contest the inaugural Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad Challenge Trophy hosted by
the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club from
Mar 11 - 15. A feeder race or dash from Phuket to Langkawi is being planned
before hand and the details are at www.langkawiregatta.com
This
then leaves enough time for sailors in search of further action after
a short break onto the last official regatta for 2002/03 and make
their way around the Kra Peninsula or across from the Philippines to the
Gulf of Thailand for the Koh Samui Regatta from May 25 - 31st. See www.samuiregatta.com
which is testimony that the increased number of regatta’s are both appealing
to the local business and international sailing community on and off the
water.
AsianYachting is proud to be associated
with developing pleasure yachting in Asia (See
Asian Section) and has voluntarily publicized these activities on
the internet for the last four years. As I look forward to the ongoing
regional sailing coverage, in a effort to recover costs we are inviting
present operators in the Asian pleasure yachting industry a unique
advertising opportunity and share in a mutually beneficial web-based
marketing opportunity. Check out the rotating banner on the http://asianyachting website and
the latest News and Views and Race Reports then
get back to me if anything is of interest to you or if we
can help with any yachting action in SE Asia.
Happy sailing were ever you are!
Capt Marty
2. "Unluckiest sailor of the month" Award
Several boat owners that have in the past competed on the Asian Circuit have suffered similar fates as their dreams of competing in the SAP Cape to Rio 2003 yacht race hung in the balance after what can only be described as freak accidents.
The German entry Bank von Bremen snapped her mast a couple of hours after leaving Brazil for her crossing to Cape Town, while Bill Rawson's Australian entry Helsal II was damaged and broke her mast in two when she slipped off a crane in Table Bay a couple of weeks before the start.
Rawson
involved himself in a different kind of race to get his yacht ready. "The
damage was assessed and a gallant rally led by the local sailing
community has been tremendous including recalling Sparcraft workers over
the Christmas and New Year holidays to get us to the starting line on
Jan 11" said Rawson. View the lineup for the two SAP
Cape to Rio starts held on the 4th and 11th January 2003
or follow their progress and the latest race information,
visit www.capetorio.org
Collisions knocked two yachts out of the fleet within the first hour of the 2002 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race start from Sydney Harbour with a crew member being knocked over the side from each boat. The Tasmanian yacht Valheru, skippered by Tony Lyall, suffered extensive hull damage after a resounding collision with the French Australian entry, Peugeot Racing, (which was subsequently disqualified) as they crossed tacks just outside the Heads. The hull of Valheru was sliced open on the port side and a gaping hole opened up the entire cabin below deck. The collision apparently happened as Peugeot Racing attempted to bear away astern of Valheru and the mainsheet jammed. Great photos and race reports of the Sydney Hobart Race 2002 can be found on the Rolex site.
About
2:00pm on Dec 19th Frank Pong's almighty 77ft yacht Jelik was sailing on delivery from Port Dickson,
Malaysia to the Philippines when she lost her keel and capsized about
400 nm from Manila. One Brit and all 6 regular Philippino crew members
had only moments to get out/off the boat and climb up on the upturned
hull.
Fortunately it happened during the day and a Malaysian tanker the SS Tenaga Lima was passing by on her way back from Japan and at about 4:18pm spotted the sailors sitting atop the stricken yacht. The tankers captain used a rescue boat to save the seven crew from the upturned yacht who where mostly clad in the clothing they stood in since the capsize then continued on to Bintulu, East Malaysia where she berthed and handed over the crew to authorities on Dec 20 at the LNG jetty. All 7 crew members are safe and although Frank was not onboard arranged for them to fly on to their respective homes and reports that Jelik was last seen upside down somewhere near Palawan. More here
Asian News
1. The New Year's resolution at AsianYachting is to take the Learn to Sail with Asian Yachtmaster's sail training scheme on to the next level this year and establish a commercial Yachting Center in Port Dickson. This report has been drafted in conjunction with earlier studies made of what is needed to establish a Sailing Academy in Malaysia.
Approaches are presently being made to local Marine companies to consider
sponsoring one of the following sports yacht and use the Asian
Yachtmaster's syllabus to train
sailors in Asia up to International racing standards and in return carry
the companies logo and sponsorship for a few years.
Check out the range of Sports Yachts NOW! on the market to choose from: Beneteau Farr Platu 25 Phuket 8 Runnels 8 Elliott 7 meter as used in the Aussie Youth Academies. These pages will be updated with prices and further info as it becomes available.
It is the intention of the Yachting Centers to build up a fleet of 6 or 7 sports boats and 2 or 3 X 36 to 40ft offshore racing and passage making yachts so sailors can accumulate sea time and successfully compete on the ever increasing number of regatta's (12 in all) on the annual Asian Yachting Circuit.
2.
BYTE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Jeremy Koo Win Ken from Malaysia is the new
Byte World Champion and becomes
the first sailor to win a world championship title in 2003. With
no result outside the top 10, Jeremy remained consistent in the 11 race
series, including taking two bullets. His sister Tiffany Koo Yee Chin
took 2nd place from 57 competitors representing 7 countries at
the Byte World Championships held at the National
Sailing Center in Singapore.
Final results:
1. Jeremy Koo Wui Ken, MAS, 27; 2. Tiffany Koo Yee Chin,
MAS, 41; 3. Thanakorn Khajitsri, THA, 47; 11. Robert Dale, CAN, 95; 21.
Jeffrey D N Sloan, USA, 178. 29. Blake Warner, USA, 214.
3. MISTRAL WORLDS - Thailand
Pattaya, Thailand: After what has been described
as a tricky week due to the light conditions competition at the 2002
Mistral World Championships concluded with Gal
Fridman of Israel receiving his first world championship
gold medal, finishing twelve points in front of Brazilian Ricardo Santos.
Previous world champion Nikolas Kaklamanakis of Greece, could not defend
his title and on the final day dropped out of the medals, leaving Julien
Bontemps of France to collect the bronze.
In the women's fleet, the boardsailing world is in shock with another
world title for the remarkable triple Olympic champion Barbara
Kendall with three first places led the regatta from
start to finish, to win by eight points from Alessandra Sensini of Italy
and comprehensively beat the world's best in Thailand to add another world
title to her remarkable list of achievements.
The New Zealander, whose daughter Samantha was born 15 months ago established
a unbeatable lead over the others and needed to sail only one of
the final two races.
4. LONDON, England Two yachtsmen whose boat sunk off the coast of Malaysia had their emergency call answered by the English coastguard thousands of miles away. Briton Thomas Jordan and David Rauch from France quickly managed to get their things into the life raft after Jordan's 38 ft yacht Blue sank within 10 minutes after hitting an object while sailing from Lumut to Lankawi on the west coast of Malaysia, the UK Press Association reported.
Distress flares and a mayday call to local authorities went unanswered, so Jordan phoned Falmouth coastguard, in Cornwall, Britain, using his satellite telephone and was able to give the English coastguard his exact location so they could contact the Malaysian authorities. The pair were picked up by a passing fishing boat and latter transferred to a Malaysian marine police craft.
AsianYachting would like to take this opportunity to remind visitors to the region to come prepared and maintain a degree of self-sufficiency as there are very few rescue services available outside the major ports and any assistance may take some time to organize and arrive at your location. VHF radio contact with local Port authorities enroute is advisable and the emergency channels are monitored by the passing shipping traffic that frequent the Malacca Straits.
Help by the coastal fishing folk that dot the horizon (Some only in dugout logs) around this huge Asian archipelago could initially be your only help and as most only speak the local dialect they should be treated kindly and respect their livelihood as other waterway users.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1.
Wild Oats smashes Strathfield Coffs record by 2 ½ hours
Bob Oatley's canting keel 60ft Wild Oats 2003
Strathfield Pittwater to Coffs line honours record now
stands at 18 hours 29 min and 14 secs, almost a 2-½ hour reduction from
Arthur Bloore's The Office 1984 time averaging 12:22knots for
the 226 miler.
Ludde Ingvall's re-sponsored 83 footer Travelex (formerly Nicorette)
finished second and has also broken the race record with their celebrity
guests onboard, lead by actor Russell Crowe, worn from a tough night on
the grinders and helm finished at 08:24:13 only 92 minutes ahead of the
old number.
2. Volvo Event Management UK was given an unusually large Christmas Gift - the female mould used to build the Assa Abloy V60 boats. One of the fastest monohull yachts in the world last year. The gift is intended to facilitate the development of the platform for the next Volvo Ocean Race presently under scrutiny by race organizers. The female mould is made of 8 mm solid carbon fiber by Green Marine Ltd in Lymington, UK. It took 5000 man hours to construct it and the building cost was around 300,000 USD. "The mould is a solid construction and can be used to build lots of more boats in a cost efficient way," comments Geoff Stock, Managing Director at Green Marine Ltd.
3.
America's Cup - THE HULA DANCE
Larry Ellison's Oracle BMW Racing, representing San Francisco's
Golden Gate Yacht Club will meet Ernesto Bertarelli's
Alinghi Challenge from Switzerland's Société Nautique
de Genève in the best-of-nine Louis Vuitton
Cup finals. On Jan 6th the teams declared which boat they
will use during the finals and on Jan 7th on unveiling
day, there was the TNZ secret weapon and rule-buster appendages
for all to see which Team New Zealand have invested so much time and money.
The 20-foot long second skin, which attaches to the main hull between
the keel and the rudder, has been named the Hula
by the Kiwis.
Alinghi
showed the boat in which they have won so many races so far, SUI64,
which looked the more powerful upwind of the two. Oracle, slimmer and
flatter, seem to be pinning their hopes on settling the affair on the
downwind legs. Race One has been postponed till Jan 13th. Um'm unlucky
for some?
There was also much talk about the fat sausage keel bulb on Oracle, the longer sausage on Alinghi, and the torpedo-like stretched version on NZL82 and NZL81
4. Crowned 'King of Bass Strait' and earning himself a tidy $10,000 Grant Wharington's Maxi yacht Australian Skandia Wild Thing powered across Bass Strait, taking a third off the existing Devonport to Melbourne record time of 19 hrs, 32 mins, 58 secs set in 1998. The new time of 13 hrs, 7 min and 21 secs puts their average speed at 15 knots, breaking yet another record as the fastest average speed maintained by a yacht racing in Australian waters.
'We left Devonport at 2.40 this morning and have gone hard at it the whole way' he said 'Of course Will Oxley our meteorologist has chosen the most extreme weather he could pick to achieve optimum speed sailing conditions so it was pretty tough out there. Winds averaged between 25 and 30 knots most of the way, with gusts of over 40 knots and after our champagne sailing ride to Hobart it was reassuring to find that Bass Strait is back to her treacherous best'.
World Speed Records
1. Go! Geronimo Go! 
The giant Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and
Schneider Electric sponsored trimaran Geronimo crossed the imaginary Jules
Verne Trophy start line between Ushant and Lizard Point
at 03:00:39 GMT on Sat 11 Jan 2003. Olivier
de Kersauson and his crew must return to cross the
line again by 11:36:33 GMT on 16 March if they are to beat the record
of 64 days, 8 hours, 37 minutes and 24 seconds set by Bruno Peyron and
the crew of the maxi catamaran Orange.
The Brest-based trimaran crossed the line doing over 25 knots running before a north-north-easterly blowing at between 20 and 25 knots. The WSSRC (World Sailing Speed Record Council) officials started their stopwatches from the Créac’h lighthouse, specially opened for the occasion by the French Navy.
This is Olivier de Kersauson's seventh attempt at the Round the World Record and crewmembers have been waiting impatiently since Dec 8 for the right weather window they need to set off in pursuit of the Jules Verne Trophy. Setting off at the beginning of winter gives Geronimo the option of returning to Brest for another attempt if weather conditions become unsuitable.
2.
Kingfisher 2 is next?
John Reed - Secretary to the WSSR Council reports
that Ellen MacArthur's Kingfisher
2 has registered for a Jules
Verne Trophy "Round the
World" record attempt, starting mid January from
the Ushant/Lizard start line and the crew are presently undergoing
sea trials and completing preparations for their attempt.
3. Yves Parlier has debuted a new catamaran design at the Paris boat show that featured planning hulls. Expanding a concept by inventor Jean François Morice, his team has worked on the design for nearly 4 years. The first boat, 60 feet in length, is built at Larros.
4.
VAN DEN HEEDE DISMASTED
After 64 days at sea on the 6th Jan solo sailor Jean-Luc
Van den Heede's aluminum monohull "Adrienne"
dismasted. The skipper is well, but it took him nearly 6 hours to clear
the mast from his boat to prevent further damage.
Van den Heede was 16 days ahead of Philippe Monnet's record for a "wrong
way 'round" solo nonstop circumnavigation and currently
1500 kilometers from Tasmania, and will head towards Australia under a
jury rig. Just as he was speculating that 2003 was
shaping up to be a good one on his third attempt to capture
the record. "I wasn't over canvassed - far from it" commented van den
Heede. "It was the start of a depression, the wind was blowing at 40/45
knots. I was under staysail and third reef. Since the start of my voyage
I have been very careful and have never put Adrien under unnecessary strain.
The seas were very big - as ever in this area. Nothing could stop it.
It was building very quickly. It was around 1400 GMT, but the middle of
the night for me, when I felt the shrouds became limp.
5.
NEW FORMAT
Clipper Ventures plc, chaired by Sir
Robin Knox-Johnston, announced new proposals for the 2005 Round the World Yacht Race at The Schroders
49th London Boat Show. Clipper 2005 will break with the established format
of the company's four races run so far. New, faster yachts are being built,
a new route has been planned and there will be a new boat sponsorship
formula.
The 68 ft boats from Ed Dubois drawing board are 8 ft longer than the
Clipper 60s in use since 1996. Despite their larger size, thanks to their
epoxy/foam sandwich construction they weigh two tons less than the yachts
they are replacing. They have a taller rig and larger sail area that will
provide their amateur crews with the fastest round the world ocean racers
in the non-professional field..
The increased capabilities of the new boats sees the introduction
of a new, challenging and ambitious route for the 2005 race which starts
in the UK by following the traditional tea clipper route to Australia
via Southern Africa, providing a sleigh ride through the Roaring Forties across
the infamous Southern Ocean.
After Perth WA the boats will then head for Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China and Japan before taking the passage across the northern Pacific to the west coast of Canada and the United States. The Panama Canal follows, then the Caribbean and New York, before the final dash across the northern Atlantic to Europe and home. This route is the longest of all the round the world races and crews that were novices at the start will have become seasoned veterans by the end of the challenge. More at - www.clipper-ventures.com
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Once again, if you
have found this issue of AsianYachting News &
Views useful and interesting please forward it onto your
sailing friends.
Kindest Regards
Capt Marty Rijkuris
AsianYachting
HQ
A308 PD Perdana Condo Resort
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Port Dickson 71050
Negri Sembilan
Malaysia
HQ Phone:
+6-06-6477701
Capt Marty Rijkuris
Handphone: +6-016-2714134
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