Windy, rock & roll day to start with...
By AY MultiMedia
January 25th, Batam, Indonesia: The NE'ly trade wind didn't disappoint the sailors and by the high noon start time, 15 to 18 knots with confused, choppy seas to contend with, saw them away on three windward/leeward races in succession. Scattered showers, intermingled with increased pressure, produced some exciting moments on the downwind rides and overpowered others into knock down mode. The cap shroud, turn buckle on Simon Piff's Lauranus L34 Rainbow Dream, gave way before the start and contortionist mast bend, is cause for concern to become the first casualty and will take no further part at the regatta. Check out the AY Photo Gallery

On all three races, Gordon Maxted's Young 88 Shoon Fung Too pulled off brave port tack starts, to cross the entire fleet and leave them in their wake. As the others hit their straps, Justin Lean's Mumm 30 Invictus closed back in by the top mark and with Kurt Metzger's Nelson 10 Waka Tere, in close company.

Most of the crews come to the Nongsa Regatta, to experience these conditions and as they are still getting used to racing their boats in these blustery conditions, are finding that sail selection and trim, plus teamwork are paramount to success.

Joe Lombardo's Dufour 34 Shardana, was on the pace until the main halyard parted company and forced them to retire. They repaired it in time for the second race but suffered a monumental knock down, to finish with caution. But on the third race, eventually tore the spinnaker down the middle and retired once again.

Although Maxted's Shoon Fung Too finished in front of Metzger's Waka Tere, on all three races, when the IRC calculations were completed, the lower rated Waka Tere came out on top by 7 seconds and 39 seconds, in the first two races, but Shoon Fung Too took revenge on the third race, to claim the daily double.

After a slow first race, Justin Lean's Mumm 30 Invictus came good with two 3rd places, to lock into 3rd overall and claims the last months training has bought the teamwork together, and expects to be up with the leaders in the coming races.

The two SMU Platu 25's, Clement Lim's SMUMAD.and Ravipha Nilju's SMUVE traded 4th and 5th places to hold the respective places overall.

While the J24's aren't particularly suited to these bumpy conditions, Christian Mark's Quarterdeck and Faith Koo's Shengli, are staging their own grudge match and bound to get into the mix, when they can.

The Optimist and Laser 4.7 classes also began their quest today and chose to race within the confines of the marina. The leading Laser 4.7 boy Ramadhan Tito was hauled up in front of the jury and disqualified for deliberately rocking the boat, downwind in front of the jury.

Racing continues tomorrow and as the Windguru weather forecast is similar to today, we can expect some further thrills and spills on the race course.

Goto AY Photo Gallery
AY Race Report 3 & Summary
AY Race Report 2
AY Pre-Regatta Report

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