Even though THA 72 Vayu did win the eighth and final race in their series - both on corrected and elapsed time - and even though THA 72 Vayu had the same number of points as Team Hollywood, Ray Roberts’ boat took home the coveted IRC Zero class based on one more first-place finish in the series as they won four races while THA 72 Vayu won three.
THA 72 Vayu, and the regatta, were blessed to have Queen Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana on board for three days of racing as she prepares for next week’s SEA Games. King Maha Vajiralongkorn Phra Vajiraklaochaoyuhua kindly escorted her to THA 72 Vayu on Saturday.
Heading into yesterday’s action, Team Hollywood and THA 72 Vayu were tied with eight points each, factoring in a drop race, as the class readied for two final windward-leeward races. The other yacht in the class Aftershock, finished seven points back when sailing wrapped up.
PRO Simon James gave IRC Zero and IRC 1 two windward-leewards, while giving everyone else just one. Rolf Heemskerk’s The Next Factor had a great final day on the water and won the seven-boat IRC 1 class based on their second and first-place showings. Nick Burns’ Blitz had two third-place finishes on the final day, helping them secure second overall, four points back of The Next Factor.
Craig Nicholls’s Alright didn’t have a great day on the water, finishing sixth in both races, but their strong performance early in the regatta enabled them to lock down third spot in the IRC 1 class. J. Masuda & S. Kida’s Grand Turtle (Char Chan) did have a very strong showing, winning the first race and finishing second in the other, enabling them to grab fourth overall in IRC 1.
The Premier class was already decided before racing started on Saturday because of an unfortunate incident that occurred on the start line of the first race the previous day. Hans Rahmann’s Yasooda bumped Thailand’s Ithinai Yingsiri’s Pine Pacific. Neither boat could race Saturday and as the only other boat in the class, Shahtoosh, had no chance of winning they didn’t race either. Final results had Thailand’s Pine Pacific winning this class again with Shahtoosh in second and Yasooda in third.
The seven-boat IRC class 2 saw Sergei Muskhin’s Madame Butterfly edge Match Racing star Mati Sepp & his Estonian crew on RTS-Baltic by one point overall, even though RTS-Baltic won both races on the final day. Igor Puzanov’s Jolt placed third in this class.
Tight
The four-boat Bareboat Charter A class saw Andrei Novikov’s Gloria win the last three races in the series defeating Feng Chen’s Isabella and Aleksei Brunov’s Moonshine by four points overall to win the title in the class.
The four-boat Bareboat Charter B class was ever so tight as well as one point separated the top three finishers. Hideyuki Miyachi’s Amigo II and Takashi Ito’s Team Miyakomuru (Sariya) finished tied on points with Amigo II claiming the title based on one more first-place finish. Maximillian Soh’s Piccolo was third, just one point back, though they did win yesterday’s race on corrected and elapsed time.
The eight-boat monohull cruising class was also close and even though Igor Ginzberg’s Wind of Change and Oleksly Borysov’s Ronin finished tied on points – they both had one win in the class – the tie-breaker went to Wind of Change who had one more second-place finish than Ronin. Philippe Dallee’s Swan II was next in the class, three points back.
Ryan Merrill’s Compass Rose, the only boat racing in the multihull class, had a minor collision with the start boat at the beginning of the day and did not race, although as the only boat in its class, it did win all the places on the podium.
Eighty-one dinghy sailors battled it out early in the regatta, striving for honours in the eight titles up for grabs: Boy’s and Girl’s Optimists, ILCA4 U18 (mixed), the ILCA 7 class, the ILCA6 Open Class, the International 420 class, the Open Skiff U18 class and the Inclusive S/V14 class.
Forty-one sailors competed in the boy’s and girl’s Optimist classes. YRAT’s Surapa Muangngam had an outstanding regatta winning four of the eight races in the class and finishing second three times. She beat her closest competitor China’s Youjia Xu by 17 points while YRAT’s Pakornkiat Chaiya-o-cha placed third, a further six points behind Youjia.
In the ILCA 4 class, there were 14 sailors (8 male, 6 female) competing, and Samut Prakan Provincial Sports Authority’s (SPPSA) Pinchanok Klaysomboon also had an outstanding regatta winning five of the eight races and finishing second twice to finish 12 points ahead of YRAT’s Kitchakhun Somkhanngoen, and 15 points ahead of Karit Phramanee.
The ILCA6 Open, ILCA7, and the 420s were scored together and by winning four races Voravong Rachrattanak of the RTNA edged Gass Anton of Kazakhstan by two points to capture the class with fellow-Thai Thorfun Boonnak in third spot, five points back of Gaas.
The nine-boat Open Skiff U-18 class saw another outstanding performance, this time by UWC’s Punthita Werotjanakul as she has won six of the eight races in the class to finish eight points ahead of UWC’s Andries Kosuge & 14 points ahead of UWC Owen Wong-Forhart: a clean sweep by UWC. Congratulations to Seahorse Sailing School’s Scott Duncanson and Garfield Meeyusamsen for the role they played in developing these sailors.
Disabled Sailing Thailand (DAT) finished on the east coast of the island, just off of Ao Po Grand Marina. After four days of racing, last year’s winners’ Suraphong Chitkhong (helm) & Mak Sarawat (crew), defended their title finishing two points ahead of Tanat Upatising (helm) & Tatiana Kaurova (crew), with the crew of Thitapa Saelime (helm) and Martin Holmes (crew) taking third, eight points back of Tanat/Tatiana. Garfield’s father, Thammasak Meeyusamsen was the racing official, presiding over these races.
After racing was finished, the royal awards ceremony was held and King Maha Vajiralongkorn Phra Vajiraklaochaoyuhua and Queen Suthida presided over the ceremony held at the Kanda Ballroom in the Beyond Kata hotel.