September 2010 - AY
Team
News
Match
Race Cup III - Thailand - Ridgely
Balderas, Philippine Team wins closely fought finals...
By
Neil Semple
Sept
18th and 19th 2010: As usual at Royal Varuna
Yacht Club match racing events, the start line was just 30 metres from
the beach bar and the spectators had a great view. A new addition this
time was a huge comfy sofa for onlookers to sit on while watching the
pre-start and exciting racing action. The best match of the entire weekend
was the final battle of the round robin stage Group B, between Jon Eriksson
and Ridgely Balderas, as this would determine which one of them would
get into the semi-finals. We thought it was all over on the last beat
when Jon went out the left, got good wind and pulled into the lead, while
Ridgely got stuck in a bit of a hole in the middle of the course. But
Ridgely's excellent spinnaker work allowed the Philippine team to close
the gap on the run. Just before the finish line Ridgely gybed onto port
to cross the line just ahead of Jon on starboard just a few meters behind. We
were all on the edge of our seats at the beach bar sofa. Even spectators
on the yacht club veranda 100 metres away, could hear the whoops of delight
from the Filipino boat. This sent a message to the rest of the teams that
the Filipinos had got into a groove. The lighter conditions which had
troubled the Filipino's earlier in the event now presented few worries.
In a closely fought final contest with Veerasit Puangnak (THA), Ridgely
held onto the lead and won both match races and claimed first place in
Thailand Match Racing Cup III of 2010. So who is Ridgely Balderas? He
is with the Philippine Sailing Association and has done most of his sailing
in small two man 470 dingy's and has some experience in large keel boats,
but is fairly new to match racing. Balderas match racing team is
also the Philippine national team and consists of his former 470 crew
and other SEA Games medallists.They
will represent the Philippines at the Asian Games in the keel boat match
racing in November 2010. Goto full Match
Race Cup lll story and results Here...
Which
other National Teams are going to the Asian Games?
At
the 14th Asian
Sailing Championship held from 20th-29th March 2010 at the
Guangdong Ocean Sports Training Centre (GOSTC), Shanwei, China, hosted
by the Asian
Sailing Federation and Chinese Yachting Association as the
pre-event for the Guangzhou Asian Games in
November this year. Seven match racing teams raced on J80 keelboats
which was hotly contested in strong conditions and steep seas. The eventual
results are below and AY
have been eagerly following some recent national qualifying sessions
and trying to work out which countries will be sending keelboat teams
and have summarised our findings so far. (Further below). If you can assist
us in the search, please email any team news and results to info@asianyachting.com
1st Japan - Takumi Nakamura
2nd Singapore - Maxmilian Soh
3rd India - Mahesh Ramachandran won the YAI
National Squad Selection Trials
4th China - Zhou Jing
5th Pakistan - Zahid Rauf
6th Thailand - Kim Junggon
7th Korea - Morton Jakobsen
Singapore's
Tan Wearn Haw looks set for a return after his team recently
topped the selection trials for this year's Asian Games keelboat match
racing event. The Singapore keelboat team are the defending champions
after winning gold at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. Tan and the rest of
his crew - jib trimmer Yurii Siegel, main trimmer Colin Ng and bowman
Benjamin Tan (picture) - should be nominated by SingaporeSailing
for the Asian Games, which will be held in Guangzhou, China, from Nov
12 to 27.
We
already reported in last months AY
Team News, how Mohd
Masyuri and his Royal Malaysian Navy 1 team, came from behind
to snatch victory and be selected as the keelboat match racing team to
represent Malaysia at the 16th Asian Games. After struggling in the round
robin stage and scraping into last spot for the semi final cut, Mohd Masyuri's
RMN1 team went on to beat Nurul Elia's more favoured Perak
Team, that topped the leader board after winning every race in the
round robins. A very jubilant team have sailed their way into the record
books, after defeating their Navy counterparts in the final. Goto extensive
MYA
Photo Gallery and results are posted on the MYA
Website
Mahesh
Ramachandran's team won the Yachting
Association of India - National Squad Selection Trials earlier
this year which earned them the berth to contest both the 14th
Asian Sailing Championship and the 2010
Asian Games.
Who will represent Thailand and other Asian countries? Perhaps Veerasit Puangnak's all Thai team that won the 2007 SEA Games and represented Thailand at the Platu 25 Worlds in Italy will get the nod. Thai based Morton Jakobsen and Neil Semple have heavily promoted and participated in local match racing events and have coaxed some foreign teams to participate.
As
Keelboat match racing is a relative new discipline to the Asian Games
scene and the certainty of winning a medal cannot be determined, most
national sailing organisations and Olympic Councils are not willing to
fund the teams expenses. Individual MNA's have to find sponsors to pay
for the teams full expenses before and in China, including J80 boat hire
and only if they end up on the podium, can expect their hefty expenses
to be refunded. The MYA have estimated the expenses to be around RM45k
(US$15k). Depending on which podium place they may secure, is a handsome
cash reward for the skipper and crew plus more financial benefits to be
bestowed on the team when they get back home.
The
problem with sustaining a match racing team in Asia is that there is no
continuity of events throughout the year to keep a racing team together.
Thailand is leading the way by having three Match Racing events this year.
The next big match racing events for teams to garner more experience is
the Malaysian Match Racing Championship
(MMRC) taking place at Ri-Yaz Heritage Marina Resort & Spa, home of
the Monsoon
Cup, from 20th – 23rd October 2010. It will be followed
by the Asian Match Racing Championship (AMRC) from 26th – 29th October
2010. For South Asian sailors the Mumbai
International Match Race
- ISAF Grade 3 Match Racing Regatta is squeezed in from 25 – 28
October 2010.
This year’s Defending MMRC champion Hazwan Hazim Dermawan has a special reason to retain the title this October – as he will be representing his home state Perak this year. 25-year-old Hazwan, who was born in Ipoh, made the decision to move back to his home state after capturing last year’s crown while skippering Terengganu’s Taring Pelangi. Although it was a special moment for him, Hazwan said the joy would have been so much better if it was achieved while sailing for Perak. They have secured sponsorship and will be racing under the team name of Silvermatch AC Law where AC Law represents a law firm from Perak, while Silver means Perak. More at http://www.monsooncup.com.my This wonderful opportunity will also give Mohd Masyuri and his Royal Malaysian Navy 1, national representative keelboat team a chance to hone their skills before they go onto the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China in November. Further MC qualifier info contact T Best Event (Ms Mira) at 603-22833324 or 016-3385341(HP) / Email: mira@tbest.com.my
On
the home front the newly purchased Platu
#129 AsianYachting
1 has been re-launched and over the coming months
we will be reviving the Learn
to SAIL program. Prices have been slashed
to RM50 per person for a 2 to 3 hour Discover
Sailing trip from PD
World Marina in Port Dickson. (See
map) This would suit a small family or agile group of friends
that would like to share in a sailing experience on our small race boat
over the weekend or during the school holidays. Future course dates and
details can be found at: http://asianyachting.com/AYmasters/classes.htm
As Malaysia has become the home of match racing in Asia, the plan is to
build on our AY
Racing
Team with an emphasis on match racing as this increasingly
popular discipline is used to settle keelboat championships at the SEA
and Asian Games. We are
constantly on the lookout for serious sailors that want to develop their
racing skills and go on to successfully compete at regional keelboat regattas
and match racing events. If you want to TRY
OUT for our
AY Racing Team we
will set aside some weekends, when we will take anyone sailing that is
interested in making up the core of sailors needed to form a team. The
full
AY Syllabus
can
be accessed from the extensive AY
Menu
Click Here...
Goto
past AY Team
News
August 2010 - Mohd
Masyuri & Royal Malaysian Navy 1 -
Qualify for Asian Games 2010
July
2010 - Reviving Learn
to SAIL with Asian Yachtmasters
Courses at the AY Center in PD
November 09 - Asian Qualifiers key to World Match Racing Tour door
October
2009 - Malaysian Match Racing Championship 2009
- One chance in a million...
Sept
09 - AY Team
News launched
August 09 - Monsoon
Sailing School a resounding success
Sponsorship
Request by the AY Match Racing Team
Go to archived Malaysian
Match Racing Championship Race
Reports: 2006
- 2007
- 2008
- 2009
Go
to archived Asian
Match Racing Championship Race Reports
2007
- 2008
- 2009
Go
to archived AY
Monsoon Cup Race Reports:
2005
- 2006
- 2007
- 2008
- 2009
This September 2010 - AY Team News is proudly sponsored by:
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AsianYachting
Ventures Sdn. Bhd. (Co. No. 627106-T)
A 308 PD Perdana Condo Resort, Jln Pantai, 71050, Pt Dickson, Malaysia
Tel: 6 06 6477701 Email: info@asianyachting.com
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Yachting
http://AsianYachting.com