To squall or not to squall…
Photography by Scott Murray
That was the questions lingering in competitors’ heads as grey skies once again greeted participants on the second 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 are competing in this regatta, split between multi and monohull classes.
PRO Matt McGrath once again ran two windward-leeward races starting at 11am: the first being uneventful, but the second, well, the storm that had been threatening came full bore and with the strength and direction of the wind it brought, the best the racers could hope for was a soldier’s formation, throwing tactics to the wind – literally – as they tried to keep dry and sail through the storm. Some of the boats were moving through the water at such a pace that even their skippers were astonished at the speeds they were reaching.
When it was all sailed and done, John Newnham’s Twin Sharks continued to shine taking line honours in both races again and winning both races in the multihull racing class again. Twin Sharks was followed by George Eddings’ fellow Firefly Blue Noze in second for both races with Andrew McDermott’s trimaran Trident in third for both races, the same placings as in day one. The class is using the TCF Handicap System.
Multihull cruising, meanwhile, saw George Eddings’ Blue Noze jump into the lead after four races followed by Rob Azzopardi’s North Star, and then Twin Sharks, and Trident with the colourful Rick Fielding’s Mojo, rounding out the five-boat class, using the ECHO Handicap System.
After four races, wily Niels Degenkolw, and his X-Ton Phoenix, sit in first place in both the monohull racing and Monohull PHS classes. In the monohull racing class, Phoenix is followed closely by Georgi Pimkin’s Som Tam Pu (two points behind), with Kirill Stanshevskly’s Lastochka in third place (11 points behind). Kirill by the way, owns Som Tam Pu, so he’s headed for two spots on the podium at regatta’s end.
Torben Kristensen’s Kinnock (13 pts back), K Sand’s Beaver (14 pts back), D Izatt’s Wolf (22 pts back) and Mike Downard’s Weasel (27 pts back), follow in that order. It should be noted that many of the competitors on the Sail in Asia boats (Beaver, Wolf & Weasel) are either in sailing school, or recent graduates, so they don’t have a lot of regatta experience.
The standings in monohull PHS are similar with Phoenix in the lead followed by Som Tam Pu (two points back), and Kirill Stanshevskly’s Lastochka in third place (5 points behind). Torben Kristensen’s Kinnock sits 11 pts back in fourth place while Mark Stennett’s Madam is 12 pts back in fifth. K Sand’s Beaver (also 12 pts back) is sixth with D Izatt’s Wolf (22 pts back) in seventh and Mike Downard’s Weasel (28 pts back), follows in the eighth spot.
The 15-ton Madam, a 70-ft sloop, designed, built and shipped from the UK, continued to draw oohs and aahs as it gracefully moved through the water, helmed by Paul “Flatty” Baker with PYC Commodore Peter Dyer on as crew for good measure.
Despite the weather, there was no major damage to any of the boats, and once the racing was over, at 2ish, the competitors congregated at the host Phuket Yacht Club to regale each other with their best storm stories.
And a big shout to Tim Willis for supplying the camera boat as well as Khun Jib and all her crew at the Phuket Yacht Club for keeping the sailors well-fed and refreshed.
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