Passage race reshuffles the results...

29:01:2010 Clear blue skies and ten knots of North Easterly breeze saw all classes comfortably depart on respective passage races. The Racing Class briskly set sail on a 35nm triangular course across the Singapore Straits, round Stapa mark in Southern Johore, Malaysia then down to a common rounding mark off Bintan and back to the Batam finish line. The rest of the classes headed out on a 26nm sausage course for the Indonesian Resort Island of Bintan and returned to finish at Batam. As the NE Tradewinds strengthened throughout the afternoon the sailors enjoyed some fantastic long spinnaker rides, at times reaching speeds in excess of twenty knots.

After a cat and mouse chase before the start, Ray Roberts TP52 Evolution Racing and Neil Pryde's Welbourn 52 Hi Fi broke away to cross the line at different ends. Being preoccupied with their grudge match allowed Geoff Hill's TP52 Strewth to nail the start at the pin end with good speed. As they charged out towards the busy shipping channel the game switched to who could find the best path through the ships. Ray Roberts did the best and Neil Pryde was severely hampered by two ships after going further east, which gave Evolution Racinga big advantage by the time they rounded the windward mark. Game on! Gradually Hi Fi wore down Evolution Racing's lead on the 15 mile leg and by the time they reached Bintan only a little over a minute separated them. As the current changed and the wind increased it was a matter of picking the right lane on the fast 10nm reach back to the finish.

Evolution Racing's spinnaker was first to reappear on the horizon followed in hot pursuit by Hi Fi. On the final approaches to the finish it was apparent that Evolution Racing was tracking a bit higher and would have to gybe down to the finish. Neil Pryde had picked a better line that took them directly across the line. The extra minutes it took Evolution Racing to execute two gybes and realign the finish line was enough for Hi Fi to snatch both line and handicap honours. That makes it Evolution Racing 3 - Hi Fi 2 with two races to go. The corinthian spirit is alive and well between Geoff Hill's TP52 Strewth and Nick Burns / Fred Kinmonth Mills 51 EFG Bank Mandrake who are having their own grudge match. Only three seconds separated them on corrected time with Strewth taking the honours which maybe attributed to the excellent start line tactics.

A turn for the books saw Renford Tay's Farr 30 Judy correct out in front of the IRC B Class. Better suited to long races Sarab Jeet Singh's much bigger Sydney 40MOD Windsikher took line honours and held on to take out second place. Despite posting four wins in a row, David Ross' Kerr 32 Kukukerchu had to settle on third place but still has a commanding lead in the overall pointscore. Fourth place for Jonathan Mahony's Happy Endings creates an interesting scenario for the remaining podium places between Windsikher, Judy and Happy Endings with two races left to run, it could go either way.

After a bad start to the regatta Ang Yong Tat's Platu 25 SMUmad have got better with each race and broke through today to claim handicap honours in the IRC C class. Gordon Maxted's Young 84 Shoon Fung Too breasted the line to take class line honours but drops down to second place on handicap. Jovin Tan's disabled crew made a brave effort sailing their Sonar Victory across the Riau Straits and back to claim third place. The three wins Jovin scored in the opening races has Victory still on top of the pointscore with a two point buffer but they can't afford to slip up in the next two races as the others are rapidly closing in on them.

First off the startline and galloping away from the other yachts is Borstnar Vladimir's winning tactics on his J24 Angel that has earned them five wins in a row to secure IRC E title with two races to go. Christopher Lim's Shengli has yet to find top gear and make inroads on Angel but is 'the best of the rest' scoring all second places. All five boats have finished in the same order in all races so far. Colin Cheng / Tim Tan's J24 Juno has consistently finished third. Nova skippered by Wahab and Merdeka by Subiyanto are from the Indonesian Navy and will be better for the experience gained here.

Tomorrow is the final day of racing. The NE tradewind is expected to hold up and only time will tell if the two remaining windward/leeward races will spring any surprises and change the present standings. A couple of classes maybe decided but the podium places are still open for the taking.

More info and results can be found at http://www.straitsregatta.com

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