Top of the Gulf Regatta 2006
Platu Coronation Cup Winners Report

Winning skipper Marty Kaye gives a blow by blow account on each race as seen from his Platu 102 Pom Rak Khun (I Love You) during their recent Coronation Cup victory over the biggest one design fleet to ever assemble in Asian waters. Sailors can get a good insight (Below) into how skippers and crews approach their racing and the strategy they use, while executing their racing skills over a full blown regatta.

Introduction: 10-15 knots, brilliant blue sea, and a fleet of slippery Platus crewed by local legends and international pothunters… Awesome setup for a regatta, and that’s what is laid on at the Platu Coronation Cup in Pattaya, Thailand. The regatta is just part of the Top Of The Gulf regatta, which also hosts races for big boats, windsurfers, catamarans and dinghies, the most popular of which is the vast swarm of Optimists which assembles on the grass in front of the clubhouse and then buzzes out of the South beach every morning.

Day 1 for the Platus consisted of one windward-leeward and one islands course

Race 1: Right on midday the warning signal went and the fleet growled into action. The left looked like the popular choice, and at the pin end it was Pom Rak Khun (102), in the aggressive hands of a bunch of HK Etchells sailors, which nailed it, in close company with Emma Mathilde XX (103). The Ferret (403) got the best of the mid-line, and these 3 trucked on out to the left while the rest peeled for clear air. As the left hand pressure and back developed, Pom Rak Khun squeezed off Emma Mathilde XX and flipped over for a look at The Ferret. Not quite able to cross, a leebow tack protected the left for Pom Rak Khun and when the two leaders separated and reconvened at the top mark, it was Pom Rak Khun by a couple of lengths. The Ferret went high on starboard down the first run, as Pom Rak Khun slid down to protect the inside… The breeze veered about 10 in the last quarter of the run, enabling Pom Rak Khun to slide nicely down on port to extend to about a 30-second lead at the bottom mark, with The Ferret well clear of the pack in 2nd.

Up the second beat it became painfully apparent that Pom Rak Khun was having some major speed problems as the breeze got up to about 12 knots, and The Ferret rolled them comfortably on the approach to the top mark to lead round by about 30 seconds, and at the hoist it became obvious what was Pom Rak Khun’s problem – sailing a beat with a spinnaker guy around the keel is not fast in Platus… As the hoist degenerated into a cacophony of abuse and recrimination, The Ferret extended to a handy lead and Emma Mathilde XX and the chasing pack closed in hard, Lee Marine and Emma Mathilde XX riding a nice veering puff down the left hand side; at the finish it was The Ferret, Emma Mathilde XX, Lee Marine, Pom Rak Khun and a hard-charging Wikki (108) (108). It later transpired that Emma Mathilde XX had been a bit too keen at the start and took an OCS. Also worth noting there was less than a minute between the first 5 finishers. Race 1:  The Ferret (403), Lee Marine (130), Pom Rak Khun (102)

Race 2: After a brief respite from the excitement and adrenalin of the first race of a big regatta, the guns went for race 2, a 6-mile effective windward leeward with a beat to an island followed by a run back home to the beach. Tough life, huh? A couple of boats got slightly caught out by the fact that the class flag for the Platus is a white flag with a P on it and the class flag for the catamaran start on the same line is just a white flag, so the start line seemed oddly unpopulated as the 1-minute gun went, apart from the sharper series contenders Lee Marine, The Ferret, and Emma Mathilde XX who screamed off the pin end heading for the bigger pressure to the South. A couple of others had a look at the middle of the track, either out of strategic interest or (in the case of Pom Rak Khun) out of complete cluelessness as to the course… The Ferret was the first to flip back out of the left, with Lee Marine on their hip and Emma Mathilde XX above them. These 3 looked to be pretty much even. Pom Rak Khun was a few lengths back, and set up on their hip for the (now apparent) long port fetch to the island top mark. It soon became apparent that the breeze was better the higher up you were, and The Ferret slowly but surely slipped back… Lee Marine aggressively controlled the other two leaders on the high side. As the island approached, Lee Marine made a nice jump and a last-minute surge in a lefty brought The Ferret into the frame, having laid the island perfectly from about 4 miles out. An unusual skill in a one-design fleet, but useful in this case… Some quick sets and gybes later, Lee Marine led the quartet out from behind the island, with Emma Mathilde XX in second, and Pom Rak Khun in third having snuck inside The Ferret on the gybe. Now that the back had kicked in fully, a six-mile broad reach to the finish didn’t exactly promise much except sore shoulders for the driver and trimmer and “spotty botty” for the crew, but Pom Rak Khun made an aggressive move to go really low, hoping to gain from an expected dying of the pressure as the day kicked on. This at least made the leg interesting (read “downright scary”) but the breeze stayed pretty constant and at the finish Lee Marine had it by about two minutes from Emma Mathilde XX, Pom Rak Khun, and The Ferret. Unfortunately for Emma Mathilde XX they discovered they were OCS again, setting them up nicely for a MAJOR week on the sauce as their regatta went down the pan on Day 1. Race 2: Lee Marine (130), Pom Rak Khun (102), The Ferret (403).

Race 3: Day two had two windward-leewards scheduled but unfortunately after a monster electric storm for about 2 hours in the morning, the wind decided not to play ball and so only one race was possible, and the race committee had to work their tails off just to get that one in.. After much committee boat movement, a reasonably steady 4 or 5 knots out of the East established itself and we were into it. The left looked like the best pressure, and as usual the action at the pin was intense, with Emma Mathilde getting a cracker with Pom Rak Khun above them and the rest of the fleet struggling to cross the bias in the light air. Pom Rak Khun however had the pedal down big time and managed to climb over the top of Emma Mathilde and squeeze off the rest of the pack. After a few minutes Emma Mathilde came back on port but got bounced by Pom Rak Khun who led the fleet back just below the port layline. The breeze was seriously low at this stage, and Lee Marine started to show some really dramatic pace to slip through to leeward of the leaders until about 200 yards below the top mark they flipped over onto starboard and crossed the fleet to lead to the left layline. Pom Rak Khun held on on port to the starboard layline and caught the last decent puff to sneak round in the lead from Lee Marine, Emma Mathilde, The Ferret and Platu 122. The run became a nightmare of 130 degree gybing angles and radical gains and losses as the breeze ranged from 2 to 5 knots, and Platu 122 picked a beauty down the right hand side to move into 2nd behind Pom Rak Khun who had been sailing a bit hotter than the rest of the fleet which seemed to work well… The beat had the expected adequate supply of fear and greed but at the end of it the order was the same, and on the run to the finish the leaders covered hard to protect their position, so Pom Rak Khun got the gun followed by a jubilant Platu 122, and then a near dead heat between The Ferret and Lee Marine, The Ferret shading the bronze by a whisker… Race 3: Pom Rak Khun (102), Platu 122, The Ferret (403).

Race 4: Day three had originally been planned as just one long coastal race using the beautiful islands around Pattaya, but to catch up on the missed race on day 2 the race committee got a windward-leeward off beforehand. It was a solid 10 knots at the start, and Pom Rak Khun assumed their usual position, screaming off the pin end at pace to lead the pack out to the left, with Emma Mathilde and Naiad (116) in close company. Lee Marine got a fairly ordinary one and flipped to port to clear their air, and worked up the right hand side. Pom Rak Khun and Naiad looked good out the left and came back to cross the fleet about half way up, but when Emma Mathilde went back out to the left Pom Rak Khun carried on on port to split the difference with Lee Marine, but missed the last 2 phases which saw Emma Mathilde lead into the top mark followed by Naiad and Lee Marine, with Pom Rak Khun and The Ferret in close attendance. The last shift into the top mark was a left, and Naiad read it beautifully to set and hold on starboard, while The Ferret set and went high over Pom Rak Khun to use the same shift. Naiad and The Ferret continued on down the right hand side of the run, while Emma Mathilde, Lee Marine and Pom Rak Khun slid hard down the left middle. But the breeze started to aggressively veer again, and it was obvious half way down that the boys out the right had made big gains. Naiad got round in the lead from Emma Mathilde and The Ferret, but it was SERIOUSLY close and all the front 5 places were still up for grabs. The breeze was shifting fairly regularly up the second beat, and Lee Marine moved into top gear and got nicely in phase to get into a very close second behind Naiad at the top mark, and on the run to the finish they slid through to leeward to take the win. Emma Mathilde got a bit stuffed out the left, and The Ferret kept it interesting by going HARD right down the run to the finish, but they got through OK to pinch the bronze in the end. Race 4: Lee Marine (130), Naiad (116), The Ferret (403).

Race 5: The long coastal race was set to have a 1 mile beat to a top mark, followed by an 8-mile reaching leg north to an island off Pattaya itself, a beat to another island, and a long fetch home to the finish at Ocean Marina. Pom Rak Khun in seriously repetitive mode came scorching off the pin end but this time stayed in phase to lead round the top mark from Emma Mathilde XX, Platu 122 and Lee Marine. The breeze had been about 10 knots but it started to slowly but surely die away, until about halfway down the reach there was no more than 5 knots and it was looking like an epic. There was much debate and consternation about whether to set a chute or not, as it was very tight, and only Emma Mathilde went for it initially, setting off at pace about 15 degrees below the rhumb line. But after about 20 minutes of the leg the breeze got so light and lifted that everybody went for it, and at the island bottom mark a bit of excitement between the leaders saw Pom Rak Khun lead round outside and ahead Emma Mathilde XX and Lee Marine, and for the seemingly interminable leg back to the finish at Ocean Marina as the breeze swung slowly but surely 90 degrees left and died to a barely noticeable zephyr, these three tracked each other closely. The positions didn’t change all the way home, and it was with a huge sigh of relief that they crossed the line to finish one of the longest Platu races in history. About 6 hours of agonizing concentration. Crikey. Race 5: Pom Rak Khun (102), Emma Mathilde XX [103], Lee Marine (130).

Race 6: The final day dawned with what looked like a steady south-easterly brewing, a perfect day for a nailbiting finish, as both Pom Rak Khun and Lee Marine had scores of 1,1,2,3,4, and The Ferret was ready to pick up on any slip-ups with a 1,3,3,3,5… The left looked like the best pressure, but a big storm cloud was threatening from the right – the big question was would it suck all the wind away or would it blow a new breeze down? Scary. Anyway the pack got into the usual jousting but with about 2 minutes to go Lee Marine nailed their colours to the mast and hopped onto the tail of Pom Rak Khun, looking to shepherd them past the pin end. But their intended victims got dead downwind with the sails sheeted in hard and Lee Marine’s way carried them into a forward leeward position, whereupon Pom Rak Khun whipped round and headed for the pin, Lee Marine hightailing it for the middle of the line. They were both late, but Pom Rak Khun had the better of it. Wikki (108) and Emma Mathilde made the best starts from the pin, and in the first hint of a lefty they all flipped and headed towards the raincloud. Up the track the big cruising boats who had started 5 minutes earlier started to one by one get knocked down by a massive increase in veered pressure from the storm cloud, and by the time the lead Platu’s were half way up the beat the breeze kicked up to 20 knots and went right 30 degrees… It was a hair-raising scream into the top mark, and Emma Mathilde got round with a decent lead only to be forced to be the first to make the call on whether or not to go with the spinnaker… God bless them, they went for it, but it was carnage by now and on seeing their problems the chasing pack rounded and just gybed onto port for a 2-sail blast to the bottom. Pom Rak Khun was the main beneficiary of Emma Mathilde’s gutsy hoist, moving into the lead, and Lee Marine executed an excellent gybe and got the hammer down fast to roll over Wikki (108) into 2nd. I’ll tell you for nothing, it was BANANAS down this leg, with the big multihulls like the Firefly cats and Henry Kaye’s tri “Sting” coming through the Platu fleet as a blur, and I don’t think anybody was all that disappointed when the race committee shortened it at the bottom. I mean, how are you supposed to lay a new weather mark when the multihulls are completing a single leg in about 4 minutes? Pom Rak Khun got home for the win, with Lee Marine in 2 and Wikki (108) in 3. Emma Mathilde scored a 5th but definitely get the endorsement dollars for their hoist in the squall. Race 6: Pom Rak Khun (102), Lee Marine (130), Wikki (108).

Race 7: With The Ferret’s regatta hopes having been blown away with a 7th in the squally morning race, it was now a pretty simple story for the final race: Lee Marine had to win or the Coronation Cup was Pom Rak Khun’s. With HK Match Race champ Marty Kaye on the helm of Pom Rak Khun for this one, it promised to be fairly spicy stuff pre-start. And sure enough, the 4-minute gun had hardly gone but Pom Rak Khun and Lee Marine were in circle mode, aggressively hunting and spoiling for the advantage. But the breeze was dying dying dying, and when Lee Marine threw their last little wriggle tack to escape by the boat at about 15 seconds to go, there was hardly a puff of breeze and yet the sea from the earlier squall was still there. They had to throw such a quick tack that their pace was snuffed, and Pom Rak Khun flipped in front of them and set off up the beat. ACYC (112), Emma Mathilde and The Ferret had the best of the start, and led the pack out to the left where it looked like the next squall was coming from. Wikki was first to tack over in it as the breeze built and started going left, and then the leaders came over. Pom Rak Khun went ahead and to leeward of the front two, and then it all started to get very weird. A massive rainsquall hit hard, and as visibility dropped to 200 yards all hope of finding the top mark went out the window, and disorientation kicked in as the breeze continued to build and clock left… Even the cruisers in the fleet ahead couldn’t find the mark, and when eventually the rain died off enough for normal service of visibility to be resumed, the leaders had all overstood and it was a quick chute hoist to get down to it. Platu 122 was the best positioned and went round with a healthy lead over Wikki and then Pom Rak Khun. Lee Marine had made some gains by being able to see the leaders crack off and got into a close battle for 4th with The Ferret and ACYC, and as everybody dropped chutes to tack round the top mark (how weird is THAT?) Lee Marine caught a nice puff and went over the top to get one behind Pom Rak Khun. But could they get into first? It was a LONG way home, and there was lots of weird stuff going on… Pom Rak Khun decided they would do their best to eliminate the weirdness factor by setting their chute and sailing up under Lee Marine and proceeding to sail them about 30 degrees high of the course to the finish. It’s been a long time since this reporter was in a luffing match, but this one was as good as any in the old triangle-sausage-triangle days, as the two boats fought tooth and nail for about 10 minutes before finally Lee Marine rode one puff over the top. But the fleet ahead was a speck on the horizon by now, and the two series leaders turned for home and ran down almost side by side, Lee Marine crossing in 7th and Pom Rak Khun in 8th. Platu 122 took a big win from Wikki, with The Ferret doing a nice job to pull into their now traditional 3rd slot. Race 7: Platu 122, Wikki (108), The Ferret (403)

Summary: So the Hong Kong Etchells boys on Pom Rak Khun shaded it from the Phuket 8 boys on Lee Marine by a single point after 4 days and 7 races of wildly contrasting conditions and damn good racing. To be honest there wasn’t a lot in it between any of the first 6 finishers, and in the end I think perhaps just a little more match practice (it’s coming up to the end of a 48-race Etchells season in Hong Kong) might have been the difference, especially at the start line and on the VMG runs. Lee Marine were generally the tidiest upwind boat, having very consistent pace and height, and were a seriously pleasant bunch of lads to boot; The Ferret, Emma Mathilde, Wikki and Platu 122 all had moments of lighting pace but struggled to stay constantly at the front in each race.

The Race Committee are to be congratulated on getting in all 7 races in very trying conditions, and before anybody bleats too much about the 6 hour epic race 5, remember the committee had to sit out there all day too… Nice job, fellas.

We look forward very much to returning next year to enjoy the great parties, sociable competitors, super racing and smashing marina facilities. King’s Cup may have the reputation, the history and a larger turnout of keelboats, but the sailing conditions here seem at least equal, the Ocean Portofino marina is an overwhelming positive, and at least the starts are at a sensible time (11am). A really good experience all told. A big POM RAK KHUN to Bill Gasson who chaired the organizing committee and is the man who made it all happen.

Cheers

Pom Rak Khun Team: Marty Kaye (Skipper), Jamie McWilliam (Main and co-driver), Graeme Handley (Trimmer), Stefan De Baets (Mast/Bow)

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