Six Senses Phuket Raceweek 2008
AY Race Report 1

Off to a wet and windy start...
The concerns about having wind for the regatta where put to rest around eight this morning the SW Monsoon arrived with an a vengence. Over three inches of rain bucketed down at Phuket airport before the sailors braved their way onto the water dressed in wet weather outfits instead of the usual t-shirt and shorts. Undeterred by the remaining drizzle PRO Simon James got the fleet away on a inshore race down into Ao Chalong and back. Unfortunately almost half the fleet misinterpreted the sailing instructions and after enduring the difficulties of race one, seemed to be following the leader and failed to finish on the correct side of the finish boat. Although the wind lightened off during race one, as the boats returned to finish the breeze freshened which allowed race two to follow on straight after.

After six months of extensive refurbishing YO!2, Peter Ahern was rewarded with two first and fastest's for the day. With no time to waste Ben Copely's Swan CS 42 Katsu was hot on their tail to finish second in race one but dropped down to third place in race two. Scott Duncanson's re branded Phuket 8 Raimon Land seemed a little of the pace and had to settle on third place in race one but bounced back with second in race two as the fresher conditions better suited them.

In IRC 2 Peter Dyer's defending champion Madam Butterfly finished off where they left off last year scoring first and fastest in race one and second place in race two. The three boat battle seems to be have been re-ignited with Niels Dgenkolf's Phoenix taking third in race one and catapulting to first place in race two. Mick Kealy's Evason Phuket Minx took second place in race one but was forced to retire with mainsail damage from race two. This left the door open for Sodka Vongtim's Platu 25 Laguna Tua Lek to slip into third place after being called OCS during race one and did not return to restart.

It was also a big day for Andrew de Bruin's Ron Swanson Sloop Awatea by scoring the daily double on both Club Charter Class races held today. The rest of the places where shared around by Benjamin Dupal / Charles Pfauwadel's Alissa (2nd Race one), Horst Lakits Big A (3rd race one), Stewart Crowe's Cinders (2nd race two) and Somov Viatceslav's Russian entry Thalassa (3rd in race two). Eight boats failed to finish race one which throws a spanner in the overall standings.

No one finished correctly in race one of the Ocean Multihull Class. Bob Mott's Chameleon made amends by winning race two and Aussie Bill Webb's Out of the Bag scored second place. No other boats recorded a finish.

A mixed bag of results came from the Racing Multihull Class. Neil Ayre's brand new Corsair 28 Shanghai Baby on its maiden outing took first in race one and third in race two. Bob Brindley X-Catriot was the most consistent scoring two second places for the day. Mark Horwood's Summerhaven 10.6 Charro rebounded from the DNF in race one to record the daily double in race two. Richard Simpson's Corsair 28 Dingo seemed a little slow of the mark and slotted into third and fourth places respectively.

The hotly contested Firefly 850 One Design Class saw Henry Kaye as ever the Master of the starts - speed away upwind and hold onto a clear lead at the windward mark only to be caught downwind by the hungry chasing pack. Bill Phelps's Twin Sharks, skippered by the Firefly designer Mark Pescott recorded a first and fourth place today which shows just how fast one can go from the front of the fleet to almost the back. The speed of Henry Kaye's Mamba was very impressive and they managed to hold onto second place and score third in race two despite being recalled at the start. Peter Dyer's SEA Living improved from third place in race one to jump onto the top of the podium for race two. Only a minute or two separated all five competitors.

The four grand old ladies in the Classic Class where sent on a four island passage race and well out of the way of the racing yachts. After almost two hours of racing Mark Myking's Idiom edged out Gunter Nutt’s perpetual winner Kerida that finished only a minute in front of them. Tom Howard's 100 year old Seraph crossed the finish line thirteen seconds latter which secured them third spot.

PRW 08 - AY Race Reports with photos can be accessed from: http://asianyachting.com/news/PRW08.htm
AY Race Report 2 - Day 2 produces Champagne sailing conditions... at: http://asianyachting.com/news/PRW08report2.htm
AY Race Report 3 - Strong wind taking its toll on competitors... http://asianyachting.com/news/PRW08report3.htm
AY Race Report 4- Grand final day brings a magnificent end to windy regatta... http://asianyachting.com/news/PRW08report4.htm

AY Photo Library - 2008 Raceweek Gallery goto: http://asianyachting.com/photos/photo.htm?PRW08

More PRW 08 information and results can be found at: http://www.phuketraceweek.com/