Ao Chalong Yacht Club - Tritex Phuket Match Racing Championships
Race Report and ResultsSaturday 29th & Sunday 30th September 2001. Ao Chalong, Phuket Thailand. It all came down to a sail off race to decide the winner of the Tritex Phuket Match Racing Championships held in Ao Chalong, Phuket last weekend.In very patchy and wet conditions, Warm Chang skippered by Ian Coulsen and The Somtum Cowboys with Scott Duncanson at the helm, finished the second round of the two day championships neck and neck, with 6 wins each, forcing a sudden death match to decide, who would be the champions for 2001.
With the breeze and daylight beginning to fade the two boats engaged in a tactical battle 4 minutes before the starting gun, attempting to force each other over the line prematurely. Coulsen seemed to have the advantage entering from the starboard side, of a very short starting line, and managed to get in behind Duncanson in an effort to force an error. His strategy paid off, with Duncanson being penalised twice before the start gun had been fired.
To add to their woes, the Cowboys managed to clip the starting buoy on their way over the line giving race umpire Muzza Nordstand no other option than to raise a black flag and disqualify them, awarding the race and the championship to Coulsen and his crew.
"It was not the way I wanted to win the tournament," said Coulsen after the match. "I was obviously trying to get Scott [Duncanson] to make a mistake, and he seemed to get quite flustered after the first penalty. I thought of backing off when the second penalty was given but could not afford to, given that it was for the championship and we were racing against a very competitive crew".
Most matches throughout the championship were tightly contested. Some of the most entertaining racing, from a spectator's point of view, came when the two Thai teams met. The Pine Pacific team from Bangkok skippered by Ittinai Yingsiri and the Rolly Tasker team from Phuket skippered by Pote Suyasinto gave each other very little room with some very aggressive maneuvering.
Another match worthy of note was the race between the Rolly Tasker team and Gordon Williams and his crew The Hokies. In the upset of the tournament Khun Pote sailed a superb race which saw the lead change three times before the locals crossed the line only two meters ahead of The Hokies.
Without the help of sponsorship, tournaments such as this would not be possible here in Thailand, therefore special thanks must be made to the people from Tritex for their gracious support as well as the hard work put in by members of the Ao Chalong Yacht Club for their organization of the races.The event was this year held in place of the Thailand National Match Racing Championships which have been won by the ACYC for the past 3 seasons.
Results: 1st Warm Chang, 6 wins, 2 losses; 2nd Somtum Cowboys, 6 wins, 2 losses; 3rd Hokies, 5 wins, 3 losses; 4th Rolly Tasker, 2 wins, 6 losses; 5th Pine Pacific, 1 win, 7 losses.
Ends
Andrew Craig
Communications Manager
