Twin Sharks shines as seventh Sailor’s Regatta gets underway
Photography by Scott Murray
Grey skies greeted participants on the first day of the seventh annual Sailor’s Regatta, organized by the Phuket Yacht Club. Taking place from Friday March 29th – Sunday March 31st, thirteen boats registered for the regatta, split between multi and monohull classes.
Matt McGrath was back as PRO and on the first day, starting at 11am, he set the sailors off on a two-lap windward-leeward course for both classes. The second race of the day ended up being a longer one-lap windward-leeward, which turned to port by the mark laid in front of the mosque not far from the former Six Senses Evason resort.
The stars of the show on the first day were John Newnham’s crew on Twin Sharks who took line honours in the both races and won both races in the multihull racing & cruising classes. George Eddings’ fellow Firefly Blue Noze was second in both races while Andrew McDermott’s trimaran Trident was third in both races. Rob Azzopardi’s North Star and Rick Fielding’s Mojo, rounded out the five-boat multiclass, finishing fourth and fifth place respectively on the day.
After two races, the monohull racing class has the crafty Dane Niels Degenkolw, no stranger to the podium, in first place on Phoenix, followed by Som Tam Pu (formerly Somtam Express), skippered by Georgi Pimkin, who was second in both races. Third place is currently held by Kirill Stanshevskly’s Lastochka.
K Sand’s Beaver, Torben Kristensen’s Kinnock, and D Izatt’s Wolf, follow in that order as Wolf unfortunately did not start the second race after finishing third in the first race.
After two races, the Monohull PHS standings are the same as monohull racing except that Georgi Pimkin’s Som Tam Pu, and Niels Degenkolw’s Phoenix, flipflopped first and second spots.
Mark Stennett’s 15-ton Madame, a 70-ft sloop, designed, built and shipped from the UK, stole the show with its grace and beauty.
There were no casualties or damage on the course today and the sun peeked through the clouds just as the racers were folding their sails and headed to the host Phuket Yacht Club to imbibe and share their stories.
This “no frills” regatta continues to be popular with local sailors. There are no t-shirts, caps or goody bags handed out and the only dinner is given on the final night at the awards presentation. But the cost of entering is much cheaper than other regional regattas giving the sailors more dosh to spend on other things.
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