5th Top of The Gulf Regatta 2009
AY Race Report 2

Strong winds test sailors mettle..
02 May 09: Race three got off to a flying start in about ten knots of breeze, which soon worked its way up into the 16 to 18 knot range. The first sign of trouble came at the start of IRC Racing when the top of the mast on Kipsan Beck's Shaw 6.5 Pornstar became entangled with Suwan Poapoksakul's X512 Lawana's leeward runner. After slowing both boats and trying everything to free the mast, they eventually succeeded, only for it to get entangled this time with the windward runner before releasing. Luckily the mast remained intact and both boats could continue racing although Pornstar latter retired with further damage.

After taking the overnight lead in the Multihull Class David Wales C750S The Sting looked set to have a chance at the title, which was not to be, as the mast came tumbling down on the first downwind leg of Race 3. Also Paul Reeves newly launched catamaran Glouy Yai with the one eyed banana snake emblazoned on the hull saw that the mast was doing all sorts of gyrations so decided to with draw before any further damage resulted and live to fight another day.

Matt Allen's Beneteau 44.7 Ichi Ban is proving to be a handful against the local boats in all conditions by scoring four wins in a row. Two second places for Pascal Leray's Jarkan 38 Breakaway has them holding onto second overall and the best of the local boats. Third places were shared between Ray Waldron's Phuket 8 Vino and Dr Ian Nicholson's 80ft Intrigue which certainly enjoys the heavier going. Third overall at this stage in proceedings go to Gary Baguely's Holman & Pye El Coyote but may change when the drop race is introduced.

Ray Roberts and the now renamed Wikki Quantum Racing are living proof that the cream of the crop always rises to the top. By posting two wins on the board takes Wikki Quantum Racing to first overall in the hotly contested One Design Platu class. A weary Ray Roberts said this afternoon "That the transformation to Platu's has been relatively easy as the crew have raced Mumm 30's and Farr 40's successfully before but after being elbowed in the face and become entangled in the mainsheet on several occasions he did not realize how good a cold drink could taste after the race". Ray also added "That rounding the top mark in the first three boats is much better than being buried back in tenth or worse and having to fight your way back from there". After scoring third and fourth places Scott Duncanson's reigning TOTG champion The Ferret slipped a little to second overall but likely at any moment to spring back into contention. Khun Aek's Naiad is also on the pace to hold onto third overall by a slimmer of a thread and Singapore's Max Soh sailing Magic Dragon six up, scored two second places today to apply additional pressure on the leaders.

In the stronger breezes the Firefly 850 catamaran likes to kick up her heels and is proving extremely hard to catch. Peter Dywer's Sea Property did just that to post two first and fastests and go to the top of the Ocean Multihull score sheets. Two second places for Radab Kanjanavanit's F9-A Cedar Swan is the best of the folding Cosair / Farrier trimarans to hold onto second place despite being the oldest boat here. Third places for David Race's C28R Free Wheeler and Henry Kaye's C28R Zenith has them closing the gap on the leaders and have a lot of work to do just to stay in front of the hungry chasing pack.

The IRC Racing 2 Class had a bit of a back to front day by completing Races 3 & 4 then rerunning the cancelled Race 2 from yesterday. With a 1, 4, 2 scoreline Leif Ho's Carrena holds onto the overall lead from the Farr MRX Thai Navy 1 who have stepped up a place to second overall after scoring 3, 2, 1 today. A bit of tweaking and some improvements saw David Bell's Jeanneau 35 OD Magic Roundabout leap up the standings to fill third overall. Although John Higham's RS Elite OD Prosecco slipped to fourth today this class is still open for the taking for the four top runners.

In the IRC Cruising Class Tetsuro Ogino's Sun Magic 44 Missy claimed first and fastest to hold onto second overall. Second place for Singapore's Renfred Tay skippering Amanda added onto yesterdays first place keeps them on the top of the leaderboard by a mere point. A string of Did Not Finish (DNF) for the rest of the fleet either yesterday or today sees Fredrik Anderson's Oceanis 46.1 Constanza in third overall and Yasunori Osada's Cyclades 43.3 Millibella in fourth overall.

More TOTGR 2009 news and results can be found at: http://www.topofthegulfregatta.com

TOTGR 09 Photo Gallery: http://www.asianyachting.com/photos/photo.htm?TOTGR09

Race Report 4 & Summary: http://asianyachting.com/news/TOTGR09/4.htm
Race Report 3: http://asianyachting.com/news/TOTGR09/3.htm
Race Report 1: http://asianyachting.com/news/TOTGR09/1.htm
Pre-Race Report: http://asianyachting.com/news/TOTGR09/0.htm
April Press Release: http://asianyachting.com/news/TOTGR09/PR.htm

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