Mick Coleman’s Java fought bow to bow with Hurricane over the three days of racing, with two races settled by a finishing time of three seconds. Yet with both teams concluding the regatta on Sunday (July 12) on equal 7 points and an equal number of wins and second-place finishes – it literally came down to who won the last race in the series to be declared class champion.
That was Hurricane, and even then only by 51 seconds and after more than an hour of racing.
Grenville Fordham racing on his ever-faithful Niña, co-owned by Bob Mott, placed third overall in the series.
In a yacht racing event that was nearly called off due to winds blowing more than 40 knots just days earlier, boat breakages came hard and fast.
On Friday, the whole fleet raced with reefs in their mainsails, but that did little to stave off a slew of mishaps brought on by being overpowered by the wind.
Several boats blew the sheets off her headsails, and Hurricane ended up with the spinnaker under the boat, but quick thinking - and action - saw it safely recovered amazingly without any damage, to be hoisted again further down the course.
The breakages took its toll on several boats, most notably David Liddell’s Wow. Stunning with her spinnaker in full flight, the recently launched Stealth catamaran was forced to retire early due to broken daggerboards.
Broken daggerboards sadly also brought an end to Neil Ayre’s campaign in the Firefly Sport 850 class on his screaming fast Mamba, which was nipping at the heels of John Newnham’s eventual class winner Twin Sharks until Mamba grounded in shallows at the northern end of the bay.
That didn’t stop George Eddings’ Blue Nose from stepping up to claim second overall in the class, while Mamba still placed third overall.
Tatiana Bogatyreva’s Star Fruit, with a nearly all ladies crew, won the Open Mulithull class as the eventual sole entrant in the division.
But probably the stars of the show were the brand-new Corsair Pulse 600 trimarans which were literally “out of the box” and thrown into winds gusting well over 20 knots in their opening foray on Chalong Bay.
“That’s pretty testing conditions for any new boat,” Zam Bevan, Corsair Trimaran Production Manager, later told The Phuket News.
The strong winds on the opening day of racing quickly saw three of the four Corsairs retire early due to gear problems with Bob Garner and Mike Downard managing to keep their Su Du 1 (aka “Red”) in racing trim throughout the entire race series.
“Thankfully, Scott Gayle and Campbell on Su Du 4 (“Yellow”) busted only some running gear and were able to rejoin next day racing These guys are long-term Corsair sailors and it was great to see them enjoy racing the Pulse 600s,” said Bevan.
“The Multihull Solutions Regatta is a fantastic event. It keeps its relaxed atmosphere, but it’s still competitive on the water. Chalong Bay when the breeze kicks in is always a great venue, especially in these conditions, which certainly puts boats in a testing situation.”
The good news is that all four Pulse 600s will be on track to race next week, after which two of them will head across Phang Nga Bay to their new home at the Krabi Sailing Center at Krabi Boat Lagoon. The other two will remain at Boat Lagoon in Phuket for charter, sail training and day sails.
“We’ve received fantastic interest in these boats,” Bevan noted, and he’s not wrong. The trimarans speed upwind was a big part of the post-regatta scuttlebutt, as was high praise for putting on a great regatta.
“It’s been brilliant racing over three days with consistent winds from 15-20 knots. I hate to use a hackneyed phrase, but it really was ‘champagne sailing’,” said Multihull Solutions Asia managing director Andrew de Bruin.
“There were 16 boats entered, which was reduced by various carnage and breakages to about 12 by the last race. But it was great to see the cruisers on Star Fruit having a ball in these conditions. We need more cruisers and next year we are considering a ‘white sails only’ division.”
In all the regatta drew 120 sailors and people of “moveable ballast” qualities, but the fun was just as good off the water, de Bruin noted.
“The feedback is that everyone had a fantastic time both on and off the water, with three nights of social gatherings including a free beer evening sponsored by Corsair and the final night buffet from Kim and Pia at the Ao Chalong Yacht Club.
All the major racers have sworn they’ll be back next year: “Best regatta I’ve ever sailed,” said John Newnham on Twin Sharks; “Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” said Mick Coleman on Java; and “Closest racing we’ve ever had with three races separated by less than 5 seconds,” said Alan Carwardine on Hurricane.
“We’re aiming for 25 boats in 2016 and if the weather gods are a little kinder in the week leading up to the regatta, we’ll do it easily,” de Bruin smiled.