The Yacht Sales Co Regatta 2023 – Day 2

Fugazi & Alright own the seas at the Yacht Sales Co Regatta

Photography by Scott Murray

The blue skies and wind held again as PRO Simon James sent both classes on two races today; the first being a race out past Koh Bon and returning hugging the coast of Koh Lon.

Dan Fidock’s Fugazi bounced back from a starboard shroud snapping & bringing down the mast on day one to win both multihull-class races today in the Yacht Sales Co regatta. With the dropped race now in play as the regatta has sailed five races, Fugazi has four wins heading into the final day and a commanding lead in the multihull class.

In the movie Donnie Brasco, Johnny Depp’s character (Brasco) explains to Al Pacino’s character Lefty Ruggiero that a fugazi is a fake diamond. Well, here’s nothing fake about the skilled and talented crew on Fugazi in this regatta. Whatever difficulty they encounter, they just deal with it and move on.

In the monohull class, James Bury’s Alright (formerly Emagine) won their fourth out of five races in the monohull class also taking a strong lead into the final day. Niels Degenkolw’s Phoenix won the first race on the day and sits in second in the three-boat class with Fang Liang Zhou’s Sumalee in third.

John Newnham’s Twin Sharks and George Eddings’ Blue Noze are staging a race within a race as the two Fireflies are jockeying for place and show in the eight-boat multihull division. Going into the third and final day Twin Sharks sits in second spot with seven points with Blue Noze close behind with eleven.

Dirk Weiblen’s No Fear is in fourth spot with 16 points followed closely by James Haste’s Bonza and Glywn Rowlands Twister 2, both with 18 points. Roger Diggleman’s Asia Catamarans is in seventh with 24 points while Andrew McDermott and his all-female crew on Trident round out the multihull class with 29 points.

The regatta concludes tomorrow with the final prize giving and buffet dinner scheduled for the Phuket Yacht Club on Sunday.

A huge shout-out must go to Chandran and David Rucker in the support vessels, laying the marks and recording the times as well as all of PRO Simon James’ committee who make the regatta happen.

And Colin Wright stepped in at the last minute to provide his catamaran Swift as the start boat after an equipment malfunction prevented the scheduled start boat from servicing the regatta.

The staff at the Phuket Yacht Club have done their usual stellar job of keeping all the hungry & parched competitors satiated as they came to shore.

And, btw, a big thank you to Andy Hamilton for supplying and driving the photography boat.