Slow but good start to the regatta...

04:02:2010 The order of the day was to clear the head after last nights opening party at the Absolute Chandara Resort and Spa, then gear up for the early 8:30 start a few miles down into the bay. The light 6 to 8 knot northerly had the fleet beating up wind for half of the 16 mile course, to round the Ko Yai mark and then reach across to the Ko Dua finish line. Unfortunately the wind faded as the yachts approached the rounding mark and as the leaders were making their way across the top of the bay the race committee wisely decided to shorten the course at Ko Sum.

The media were divided up and placed onboard the magnificent 50m Indonesian phinisi Silolona and Shane Granger's 120 year old, 80 foot Norwegian galeass class Vega. Traveling around the picturesque islands in style while covering the regatta is one of the big attractions for participating on this event.

Ben Copley's Club Swan 42 Katsu was the first monohull to cross the shortened finish line and Henry Kaye's Seacart 30 Thor was first of the multihull's. The wind did not completely desert us and stayed around long enough for the rest of the fleet to slowly make their way to the finish. This gave Race Director and PRO Simon James had a relaxing afternoon calculating the handicap results.

In the Racing class Mike Downard's Switchblade corrected out in front of Ben Copley's Katsu and Peter Jones' Moya Hin.

Cruising A saw Niels Degenkolw's Phoenix take out the daily double in front of Hugh Thompson's Fidgi and Jon Button/Phil Kendall's Simba in third.

Bill Crump's Fistral got the better of Gavin Welman's Rascal and Kevan Perrins Rusalka in the Cruising B class.

The Firefly 850 results are subject to protest but provisionally Hans Rahmann's Voodoo holds top spot and is closely followed by Roger Kingdon's Moto Inzi and Robert Van Pardon's Mamba in third.

Fergus Wilmer/Henry Kaye's Thor seemed to slam home a first and fastest in the Multihull Racing class and although Mark Pescott's Sumersalt finished over an hour latter they just missed out on first place by seven seconds. Eighteen seconds latter Grenville Fordham's Da Vinci Nina corrected out into third place.

Bill Phelps Maharani got the better of Hermann Schwarz's Vienna Cat in the two boat Multihull Cruising class.

The fleet then proceeded over to the Chong Lat anchorage and went ashore for the prize giving at the Laem Sak Seafood restaurant. Tomorrow they head down to Ko Yao Noi with boats anchoring off The Paradise Koh Yao, who are the Race Day 2 sponsor and host.

More info and results can be found at: http://www.bay-regatta.com/

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