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Introduction to SAILING
Advanced Crewing

As demand for team building exercises and forming racing teams is increasing, a 2-day Advanced Crewing Techniques Course is being introduced to compliment the Introduction to Sailing course. This Advanced Crewing Techniques Course concentrates on crew roles, spinnaker handling and teamwork. Participants should have completed or have experienced the basic sailing techniques covered in the Introduction to Sailing syllabus
AY is approved & member of ISSA

Points are awarded based on the Skipper and Yachts performance over ten selected 5-star AY Grand Prix racing class events (Malaysia 2, Hong Kong 2, Thailand 4 plus Singapore and the Philippines with 1 a piece) held each year that fairly grades the competing Skippers ability to successfully run a racing campaign in Asian waters over the 2009 - 10 Season.

At the final AY GP event in Koh Samui the Champion Skipper and Yacht of the Year will don the tailored Armani Koh Samui Blue Blazer and receive the Perpetual AY Cup traditionally filled with chilled champagne at a magnificent prize giving party on the lawns of the Centara Grand Beach Resort at Chewang Beach

Changes to 2009-10 AYGP calendar of events
Each year the events on the annual AsianYachting Grand Prix Championships come under scrutiny, as this is the best way to determine the top Skipper and Racing Yacht of the Year in Asian waters. This season the top three Racing Class results at 10 major Asian Events will be scored as a series. Therefore selecting the events each year must reflect the high standards expected by the Racing Class boat owners and a fair turnout of top level Racing Teams to compete at the event. The Biennial HK to Vietnam Race has been dropped in favour of the Six Senses Phuket Raceweek which kicked off the 2009-10 Season on the 22nd - 26th July. The Rolex China Sea Race returns in April 2010 and becomes the tenth event on the program. All other events on the annual sailing calendar remain the same as last season.

AYGP comes alive
Sept 09: We like to keep our readers up to speed, by generating the current monthly AYGP Newsletter with all the finer points on the upcoming events, expert analysis, race results plus links to the Progressive Pointscore (Below) throughout the 2009-10 Season. Also the popular AYGP Updates to notify sailors when the regatta Photo Galleries are posted online, after each of the ten selected regatta/races that score points towards becoming the AY Skipper and Yacht of the Season.

Race Reports & AYGP related News

16th Singapore Straits Regatta - It's Evolution Racing by a whisker...
Once again it came down to a final day showdown in the Racing Class. Both crews on Ray Roberts TP52 Evolution Racing and Neil Pryde's Welbourn 52 Hi Fi were pumped up and raring to go. As the two boats surged into the finish line the watch keepers were poised with their fingers on the button. In a cloud of spray Evolution Racing crossed the line and Hi Fi followed 38 seconds latter. In what seemed like an eternity, finally the thumbs up sign came from the Evolution Racing tactician that they have firmly sealed first place in the record books. After putting up a brave fight Neil Pryde's Hi Fi had to settle on second place and Nick Burns / Fred Kinmonth Mills 51 EFG Bank Mandrake managed to slip into third overall and become the 8th skipper and 9th yacht to score points this season. This result lifts Ray Roberts to take a three point lead over Neil Pryde in the Skipper of the Year award and tied his TP52 Evolution Racing with Hi Fi on 12 points in the Yacht of the Year award. Both Roberts and Pryde have taken a commanding lead in this seasons pointscore and with four events to go it will take a herculean effort for anyone to topple them. With four events left to run, it could also come down to which regattas the dueling leaders choose to contest from now on in. AY Race Reports & Summary Here... or goto the SSR Photo Gallery

Royal Langkawi Int Regatta - Ray Roberts makes it five wins in a row...
After the nail–biting end to the Royal Langkawi International Regatta, Ray Roberts (12) takes a two point lead over Neil Pryde (10) in the Skipper of the Year award. As Roberts changed boats after the first event, his TP52 Evolution Racing (9) has closed in to be one point behind Pryde's Hi Fi (10) in the Yacht of the Year award. Frank Pong and his 75ft R/P Jelik III (3) added another point to their tally for third place in Langkawi and takes over third place in the AYGP. Although we are only half way through the season both Roberts and Pryde have had an extraordinary season going head to head at each of the regattas to take a valuable lead in the pointscore. They are constantly working on boat modifications and optimising their performance to suit the expected conditions. This dedication is the driving force of the racing class and has provided some exceptionally close and exciting racing as witnessed during the last race in Langkawi which went down to the wire. Goto AY RLIR Photo Gallery Goto January Newsletter

Royal Langkawi Int Regatta - Jan Update...
As most people in the northern hemisphere are shivering in freezing cold weather conditions, we are walking around the marina in T-shirt, shorts and thongs getting ready for next weeks Royal Langkawi International Regatta in Malaysia. This is the fifth event on the 2009-10 AYGP Championship, where Mohd Razali Mansor's Royal Malaysian Navy Farr 520 Zuhal will be taking on three stalwarts of the Asian racing class, that have dominated proceedings for the last decade or two. Neil Pryde, Ray Roberts and Frank Pong have each won the annual AY Skipper and Yacht of the Year awards at least once, worn the Blue Blazer plus drank from the Perpetual AY Cup traditionally filled with chilled champagne at the season ending celebrations on the magnificent lawns of the Centara Grand in Koh Samui. Razali's crew may have a mountain to climb to overcome these professional racing teams but the experience gained will surely help their competitive spirit and improve crew drills for the often new trainee's onboard. Goto January AYGP Update...

Neil Pryde & Hi Fi close in after King's Cup.
After clearly winning the King's Cup, Neil Pryde jumps up the AYGP Championship points table to be only one point behind Ray Roberts in the Skipper of the Year and his custom Welbourne 52 Hi Fi takes a two point lead over Roberts TP52 Evolution Racing in the Yacht of the Year. Frank Pong's 75ft R/P Jelik II pushed hard at the front of the fleet and bounced around the podium places all week, to finish up with 2nd overall and enter this seasons pointscore with 2 points. By not racing Hi Fi in the last race, Pryde left the door open for Roberts and Evolution Racing to score two wins on the day and after a slow start to the regatta managed to slip into 3rd overall and score one valuable point, which may make all the difference at the end of the season. As we are only 1/3 of the way through the season there is still plenty racing to come and points for the taking. Judging by the way things have panned out after four AYGP events, the eventual winner is already on the board, but which one will it be?

Roundup after Raja Muda & before King's Cup
25:11:09 After missing out on the China Coast Regatta, Neil Pryde and Hi Fi struck gold at the Raja Muda and kept pressure on Ray Roberts, who is presently leading the AYGP pointscore on both fronts. The change in boats has Roberts TP52 Evolution Racing tied on 5 points with Pryde's custom Welbourne 52 Hi Fi in the race for Boat of the Year. Judging by their performance and willingness to optimise their boats for speed and IRC ratings, the race is on with a vengeance to capture the title. Third place for Bill Bremner/Andy Cocks TP52 Foxy Lady IV has them entering the pointscore at an early stage in proceedings this year. After three regattas already six skippers and seven boats have thrown their hat into the ring and shown their intentions. On the King's Cup provisional entry list all 8 boats that contested the RM are fronting up for the KC next week. They will be joined by 2 new boats to the region, Kevin Whitcraft's GP42 and Andrey Arbuzov's Elliot 46 PH Plus that are very slippery boat designs in the right conditions. Chris Meads custom Corby 43 Full Metal Jacket with renown Kiwi Chris Dickson on the helm snatched 2nd place at the CCR in Hong Kong and are rumoured to be teaming up again for the KC. They could just be in with a chance and cause some almighty upsets along the way. The swelling of the ranks to 11 racing class yachts is marvelous and attracting top International crews to the region will ensure that the good word on Asian events reaches out to the sailing world.

Record fleet for Raja Muda Regatta & 20th celebrations
Nine formidable racing teams are contesting the high performance Racing Class IRC 1 and also competing for valuable points in the 2009-10 AYGP Championship. For the first time in Asian history four TP52's Geoff Hill (Strewth), Bill Bremner (Foxy Lady), Ray Roberts (Evolution Racing) and Sam Chan's (Ffreefire 52) will be lining up against Neil Pryde's custom Welbourne 52 (Hi Fi) and Nick Burns/Fred Kinmonth custom Mills 51 (EFG Bank Mandrake) on the start line. Neil Pryde, Ray Roberts and Nick Burns/Fred Kinmonth are former Raja Muda Cup winners who rank the event format as one of their favourite's and return year after year just to try once more. With the NE Monsoon arriving early this year and if it continues with strength into next week, veteran campaigner Frank Pong's (Jelik III) at 75ft is the biggest boat and long overdue to convert the three passage race line honours into handicap wins and most likely to run away with overall victory. Making there first appearance together is Sarab Jeet Singh's Sydney 40MOD (WINDSIKHER) and Rodney Keenan's tweaked up Farr 11 (TAZO TOO) built in Dubai by Premier Composite Technologies. What looks like a scaled down Volvo 70, TAZO TOO has a canting keel, twin rudders and daggerboards on a 36 footer has caught the measurers eye and will have to go like a bat out of hell as they have to beat the TP52 over the line to have any chance on handicap. Everyone is looking forward to the 20th reunion celebrations... So Bring it on! Everything is on the updated website http://www.rmsir.com or by Emailing info@rmsir.com

Unique pointscore after two events.
After two regattas a unique situation has developed in the AYGP scoring system. Aussie Ray Roberts has won both events on two different boats and presently leads the Skipper and Yacht of the Year pointscore on both accounts. The Skipper points continue to accumulate for Roberts while the DK46 Evolution Sails and the TP52 Evolution Racing are leading the Yacht category with three points a piece. A stunning performance by Chris Meads’ Full Metal Jacket to secure second overall at the China Coast Regatta has them sharing second place with Neil Pryde's Hi Fi that scored second place at Phuket Raceweek. Third place for Sam Chan's Ffreefire TP52 has them entering the pointscore early in the season and become the sixth boat to score points towards the coveted title. Over the next three months we get down to the business end of the championships with the Raja Muda, King's Cup, Royal Langkawi and Singapore Straits likely to sort out the pointscore. Anyone purchasing Roberts DK46 (Below) will inherit the three points already awarded to the boat and surely is a good incentive for a new team joining the Asian racing scene. Check out the 2009/10 AYGP pointscore as the championship unfolds at: http://asianyachting.com/news/AYGP09-10.htm

RHKYC China Coast Regatta - What a difference a day makes...
Day 1 dawned overcast but breezy and PRO Steve Bourne got the IRC Racing division underway on a new format to this popular Asian Regatta. All was up for grabs with Frank Pong road testing Jelik III and Ray Roberts racing the newly acquired TP52 Evolution Racing in her first Regatta. While it was Pong who got the gun, it was Roberts who cleaned up on corrected time, ahead of FfreeFire 52 and Mandrake. On Day 2 the Racing Divisions looked forward to three windward/leeward races. Entertaining One-on-one racing was provided by the 3 strong TP52 ‘class’ within Division A. Chris Meads’ Full Metal Jacket with renown Kiwi AC skipper Chris Dickson on board, finally started to perform to her potential, recording a 1,1,2 for the day. This elevated Meads to 2nd overall and within 2 points of Ray Roberts on Evolution Racing. Mandrake continued her solid form and was in third place overall, level on points with FfreeFire 52. Day 3 saw a windward/leeward race before completing the series with an islands course back to RHKYC Kellett Island. FfreeFire 52, Strewth and Mandrake over the line at the start. Giving the two main contenders a head start, with Evolution Racing taking the race on handicap, just over 90 seconds ahead of Full Metal Jacket and Jelik III taking Line Honours. After discard, this left FMJ 3 points adrift of Ray Roberts’ new TP52 going into the final race of the series. A procession of boats coasted into the finish just outside Lei Yue Mun gap, with Evolution Racing taking first in the A’s giving them the series overall ahead of Full Metal Jacket and Sam Chan's FfreeFire 52 securing third place on the podium. Goto RHKYC Daily Reports Here...

2009/10 AYGP - Sept 09 Update - AYGP comes alive next month
29:09:09: Ray Roberts has completed the purchase of Paul Winkelmann's TP52 Island Fling and the re-branded Evolution Racing is reported by sailing coordinator Don Buckley to be in Guilty's hands and already left KK for Subic Bay. They will be joining the bulk of the Racing Class fleet based in Hong Kong to contest the China Coast Regatta, from 16-18 October, which is the 2nd event on the AYGP calendar. The 20th Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta is moving along at a fast clip. Over 50 expressions of interest have been received and past winners, yacht club commodores and Royal dignitaries have been invited to attend a gala reunion and celebrate with a Open House BBQ Party on Thursday 12 Nov at the Royal Selangor Yacht Club in Port Klang. More news Goto the Sept 09 Update...

AYGP - Sept 09 Newsletter - Weighing up the odds for the rest of the season
09:09:09: A lot can be learned on how the 2009/10 season is shaping up by just taking a stroll around the hardstand at Raffles Marina in Singapore. Neil Pryde's beloved Welbourne 52 Hi Fi is again undergoing major surgery in the workshop. The old cabin top has been replaced with a smaller and lighter section plus a new deck layout is being fitted. The keelbulb is being replaced with a heavier new shape by boat builders specially flown in from New Zealand. The ongoing experimental nature on the hull and appendages has led to some huge performance gains in the past. So this round of moving high up weight, down into the keel bulb is also expected to yield good results.They will need as much speed as they can get as at the other end of the boat yard Paul Winkelmann's TP52 Island Fling has been sitting idle, waiting for a buyer to come along. It is believed that UK boat manager Taffy and Don Buckley (representing Ray Roberts) are good at spending the bosses money and a deal was settled a few weeks ago. The boat now has a new Evolution Sails branded boom tent and preparations are being made to deliver the boat to Hong Kong for the China Coast Regatta in October. The bigger boats welcome Ray with open arms to join them in the battle for line honours and on a more even footing for the handicap honours. Goto Sept 09 Newsletter...

Phuket Raceweek - Wonderful end to a splendid regatta...
26 July: Although the wind eased up on the last day of racing, there was enough for two more races to be run which completes the entire program. Handling the strong incoming current became a big issue and the determining factor in the final results. Certainly in the first race of the day (Race 7) the yachts that went offshore realised their mistake, as the yachts that favoured the Koh Lon shore generally rounded the top mark first. Then it became a matter of either playing catch up or the front runners extending their lead. Coming into the final day Ray Roberts DK46 Evolution Sails held a slender three point lead over Neil Pryde's Welbourne 52 Hi Fi. The discussion over breakfast was "Would this be enough? Could Peter Ahern's Farr 40 YO!2 slot in to create some points separation?" Neil Pryde's crew were up and at it early, with an air of confidence in their stride and struck gold soon after by winning both races today. Only 34 seconds in Race 7 and 41 seconds in Race 8 behind was Ray Roberts on Evolution Sails that reduced the overall points lead down to one, for Ray Roberts to claim the title on his first outing at Raceweek. Talk about coming down to the wire. If that's how it is going to be for the next nine events on the AYGP we are in for a bumper season. Goto AY Race Reports and the SSPR 2009 Photo Gallery

Six Senses Phuket Raceweek - First cab off the rank
We kick of early this year, as SSPRW organisers Image Asia agreed to join in and expect to see some increased AYGP action at the event. 2008/09 Champion Neil Pryde has deferred some modifications to his prized Welbourne 52 Hi Fi, till latter in the year, just to attend Phuket Raceweek for the first time. Similarly the 2007/08 Champion Ray Roberts has forgone defending the Sydney Gold Coast Race title, in favour of attending Raceweek and not letting Neil Pryde get the early jump as he did last season. Ray will be helming the re branded DK46 Evolution Sails (formerly Quantum Racing) which already has an outstanding racing record both in Australian and Asian waters. However they won't have it all there own way as regulars in the racing class include Peter Ahern's defending champion Farr 40 YO!2, and two time winner Scott Duncanson's super fast Phuket 8 Quantum Fusion M will be there to spoil the party. Ben Copely's Swan CS 42 Katsu has racked up a number of second places recently and is long overdue for a win. If Stuart Williamson's Beneteau 34.7 Skandia Endeavour of Whitby can repeat the performance they found in Langkawi earlier this year they could also be a thorn in the side of the favourite's.