9th Sawadee.com Regatta 2010, Samui
Final 2009-10 AYGP Championship Event

AY Race Report 1

Slow and difficult start to proceedings
By AY Event Media
May 31st: After a short delay while the start boat headed for a wind line that looked promising all classes got away in 5 to 7 knots of wind. PRO Ross Chisholm elected to send the Premier Cruisers, Bareboat/Cruising and Multihull Classes on Coastal Course 1, up to Ko Phangan (which is still recovering from the full moon party last Saturday) and back. The Racing and IRC Classes stayed close by for short windward / leeward courses. Unfortunately a strong current that changed direction after midday and the fickle nature of the breeze saw fortunes quickly won or lost, depending on what side of the course the tacticians and skippers have chosen to play.

The much expected clash between Ray Roberts TP52 Evolution Racing and Neil Pryde's Welbourn 52 Hi Fi came alive again today, with both of them fully intent on not giving an inch away to each other. Frank Pong's 76ft Jelik II (Boracay) is prepared to get in amongst the mix and the Nick Burns/Fred Kinmonth co-owned Mills 51 EFG Mandrake are definitely not here just to make up the numbers. Two close but clear starts saw the racers either heading for the coast or staying further offshore. Not only was the adverse current stronger offshore but the patchy nature of the breeze had tacticians constantly scratching their heads. So much so that during Race 1, Hi Fi and Evolution Racing changed places on nearly every leg of the race and much to everyone's surprise in Race 2 all three 50 footers lead Frank Pong's 76ft Jelik II around the first mark and both Pryde and Roberts crossed the finish line in front of Pong. Also after a little more sail optimization Evolution Racing and Hi Fi's IRC rating or handicaps have shortened in to be separated by a mere .0001, so it is like match racing out there. After a good opening round jostle, Neil Pryde's Hi Fi came out on top in both races with Ray Roberts Evolution Racing in second and the co-owned Nick Burns/Fred Kinmonth EFG Mandrake in third.

The IRC Class yachts suffered the same fate with the wind and current as the racing class around the short windward/leeward courses. A battle of big proportions is developing between Ben Copley's Club Swan NY 42OD Katsu and David Ross' Kerr 32 Kukukerchu. Race 1 was shortened at the top mark on the second rounding which saw Katsu take out the daily double in front of Kukukerchu. However the roles were reversed in Race 2 with Kukukerchu taking out the handicap honours which has them tied on overall points after Day 1. Brad Kirk's ageing Farr 42 Dynamite did the best of the rest by posting two third places and making the Thai based foreign crew members very happy in their home waters.

It was also a game of snakes and ladders for the classes on the coastal course to Ko Phangan and back. The early leaders in the Premier Cruisers sailed into some light patches on the long run home. At the end of the day it was the smallest in the class, Gary Baguley's Holman & Pye 52 El Coyote that took handicap honours from Peter Forsythe and Jing Lee's X55 Xena that sailed solidly to claim line honours. Jon Wardill's well traveled Cassidy 55 Australian Maid was one of the yachts that sailed down the middle of the course to settle on third place.

The interesting mix of entries in the Bareboat/Cruising class on the coastal race saw John Stall's Atkins 34 Lanta Concept with the legendary Fraser Johnston onboard take out the daily double in front of the Sunsail boats. Nigel Hopkins Oyster Lightwave 48 Celere also non Sunsail jumped up into second place after handicaps have been applied. Apparently with a few crew teething problems Scott Finisten's Oceanis 461 Andrew Short - Constanza slipped into third place and would be the first time in two years that this boat has lost a race. Scott assures the media that this will all change tomorrow.

In the Multihull class Kirati Assakul's (Nim) Crowther 42 Sonic is up against three locally built bi-plane rigged catamarans and despite all their best laid plans, Sonic managed to come out on top on the coastal race. Kunta's (Samui Ocean Sports} Radical Bay Team Zazen is one of the first bi-plane rigged boats to be built on Koh Samui and scored second place in front of the new designs from the home of the bi-plane rigs. Kim Thomas' Storm maybe a Tornado look alike but had to settle on third place today. These boats are also amongst the first to experiment with using a spinnaker on a bi-plane rig. We wish them well.

Racing continues tomorrow and hopefully the wind picks up a bit to provide some steady racing across the board.

More Sawadee.com Regatta news, full results, photos and videos at: http://www.samuiregatta.com

Check out the AY Photo Gallery plus the gala prize presentation at: http://asianyachting.com/photos/photo.htm?KSR10
Goto AY Race Report 4 & Summary at: http://asianyachting.com/news/Samui10/5.htm
AY Race Report 4 at: http://asianyachting.com/news/Samui10/4.htm
AY Race Report 3 at: http://asianyachting.com/news/Samui10/3.htm
AY Race Report 2 at: http://asianyachting.com/news/Samui10/2.htm
AY Pre- Regatta Report at: http://asianyachting.com/news/Samui10/0.htm