Sawadee.com Regatta 2009, Samui
AY Pre-Race Report

Grand final fever hits Samui
31 May 09: A large contingent of Hong Kong yachts arrived early in Samui to complete preparations and plan how to overcome the Aussie's, Singaporean and a strong fleet of Thai based boats from Pattaya and Phuket that have descended here in droves. Being the last regatta on the 2008-09 Season, usually makes it the most memorable event held throughout the year. Neil Pryde and his Welbourne 52 Hi Fi, may have already rapped up the AYGP Skipper and Yacht of the Year awards but the other eight racing class yachts will be out in full force to take a little shine of the trophy. Defending champion Ray Roberts and his DK46 Quantum Racing are very familiar with the waters and weather conditions around Samui and is ready to repeat the performance of past years. For Bill Bremner and Andy Cocks TP52 Foxy Lady IV, Samui is their favourite event and along with Frank Pong's R/P 75 Jelik who have won here before, are determined to have a good time doing it again. Sam Chan's TP52 Ffreefire 52 and the Fred Kinmonth/Nick Burns owned Mills 51 Fortis Mandrake are more than ever, ready to take the Sawadee.com Trophy home, along with the bragging rights back to Hong Kong for the next year.

Since winning here last year at her Asian debut in the IRC 1 class, Matt Allen's Beneteau First 44.7 Ichi Ban has won everything before them and being promoted to the Racing Class must rank them amongst the favourite's here. Up from Singapore Sarab Singh's Sydney 40 Windsikher has won here before as Foxy Lady III and expect to put the pressure on and give the others a run for there money. Ben Copley's Swan NY 42OD Katsu has the pedigree to triumph here but will have to shake off the brides maid role if they are to do so.

The Premier Cruising class makes a reappearance with seven magnificent yachts ranging from 48 to 80 feet in length. Dr Ian Nicholson's Dubois 80 Intrigue tops the scales and has shown with new sails and good wind, she can turn into a speeding locomotive. Peter Churchhouse's Warwick 64 Moonblue 2 has been the star of the class at previous events and is looking at resuming that role. For the first time Jon Wardill's Cassidy 55 Australian Maid is making an appearance at Koh Samui and would like to add the title to the string of victories over the last 20 years competing in Asian waters. Pana Trungkabunchar's all Thai crew on the X512 Lawana is the local favourite and will bring the house down if they manage to triumph this year. Marcel Leits Beneteau 50 Blauwvoet have come ready for action and will be better suited in this class. Nigel Hopkins Oyster Lightwave 48 Celere showed good bursts of speed at the Top of the Gulf recently and hopes to carry this though at Samui. Down from Pattaya Gary Baguley's Holman & Pye 52 El Coyote hopes to improve on 3rd place at the TOTGR last month and rounds out the Premier Class entries.

After careful consideration the entries have been divided into classes based on the handicap ratings and number of boats that can be grouped together. IRC 1 is now for the sportsboats and sees a clash between planning boats and displacement boats. Kipson Beck's Shaw 6.5 Pornstar leads the star studded lineup and is still basking in the glory of being defending champion. Jeff Davison's Mumm 30 Panic has also tasted victory here before and brings an exciting mix to the table of former winners. Samui based Mick Grover's Elliot 7 Moonshadow is no slough in her home waters and will be out to improve on the 3rd place they scored last year. Ken Eyears Oracle 32 Waka Tere are hoping for light to medium breeze where planning is not possible and reduces the sportsboats performance back to displacement boat speeds.

The nine strong Multihull fleet have the widest cross section of boats of all the classes. After recently triumphing at the TOG Regatta, Radab Kanjanavanit's F9-A Cedar Swan is the defending Samui champion, therefore can be considered the local favourite. Chasing hard will be Peter Dyer's Firefly 850 SEA Properties that has the legs on the trimarans in medium to strong conditions. Never to be discounted in mixed company is Kirati Assahul's Crowther 43 Bandara Sonic but they will need quite a bit of breeze to enjoy the long passage races. Carrying a massive Code "O" and weighing in at approx 940 Kg, Fergus Wilmer and Henry Kaye's all carbon, ultra fast Seacart 30 trimaran Thor (God of Thunder) will be making her debut and worth watching as they know the Samui conditions well. Former Thai windsurfing world champion Saard Panyawan will be making a welcome comeback, this time on his new Fountain Pajoy Bahia 43 Kindred Spirit and is hoping to make a good impression. Aussie Bill Webb's well traveled catamaran Out of the Bag has competed with distinction over the last few years at almost all of the major SE Asian regattas.

Four Sunsail yachts make up the Bareboat Charter Class. Aussie Andrew Short is better known for his maxi yacht campaigns out of the CYCA in Sydney but has chartered the Oceanis 461 Constanza to take his old sailing friends on a romp in Asian waters. John Stall of Tradewinds fame, next door to race headquarters has the Sunsail OC361 Perigot at the disposal of his youth dinghy sailors that look forward to sailing on big boats each year. Almost everyone likes to take a tropical island holiday but chartering a boat and competing on a fully fledged International regatta while your there, would be the icing on the cake to a life long sailing experience. Doing just that are Aussie Howard Blowes on a Sunsail 43 Milliebella and Hong Kong's Chin Yew Seah on the Sunsail 39 Bussakorn. Go on, live your dreams! Anything goes in Thailand.

Crews have an extensive social and race program to get through during the week. Already the Australian 12ft Skiff Association have just competed their first ever 3-day demonstration Samui Challenge. Five days of racing and seven nights of partying makes this sailing bonanza " One of Asia's top sporting and Lifestyle events". Even on the layday Cap'n Squall has organised the 2nd Kids Optimist Regatta on Thursday (12 - 4pm). Some of the big boat owners have kindly donated boats to the cause and no doubt will be there to cheer them along.

This year, one of the sponsors is UK based MapMyTracks. They have donated free access to their software which tracks the boats by mobile phone in real time and show this on the website.

More information, entry list, program of events, webcam, video, photos & results when available at: http://www.samuiregatta.com/

Online 2009 Sawadee.com Regatta Samui - AY Race Reports with photos can be accessed from:
Race Report 5 & Summary: http://asianyachting.com/news/Samui09/5.htm
Race Report 4: http://asianyachting.com/news/Samui09/4.htm
Race Report 3: http://asianyachting.com/news/Samui09/3.htm
Race Report 2: http://asianyachting.com/news/Samui09/2.htm
Race Report 1: http://asianyachting.com/news/Samui09/1.htm

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