Sawadee.com Regatta Samui 2010: May 31st - June 5th
Press Release: June 2nd 2009 - 2nd Day of the Sawadee.com Regatta 09 - FULL REPORT
News and results from the 2nd day of the Sawadee.com Regatta 09 in Koh Samui. Read the latest in the attached documents and below (scroll down for Word & PDF links):
Neil Pryde and Hi-Fi Take The Honours on Day Two at the Sawadee.com Regatta in Koh Samui
Koh Samui, Thailand. June 2, 2009 – Following some fiercely contested sailing on Day 1 of the Sawadee.com Regatta, Day 2 – the ‘Dunlopillo Race Day’ - got underway early on Tuesday morning. Chewang Beach on Koh Samui again welcomed the crews in scorching sunny conditions.
By the start of racing there was ten to twelve knots of wind, building to 16-18 knots by mid race which continued through to the end. The courses took the boats North of Samui, through the passage between Samui and Koh Pangan, and back again. Thirty-five nautical miles for the big boats in the racing class and twenty two for the smaller boats. Good wind, blue sky, warm weather, making it t-shirt and shorts sailing conditions - what more could you ask for?
Long reaching legs and tough slogs to windward favoured the big boats on this occasion. Frank Pong's R/P 75 Boracay led the way around the course but breathing down on him was Neil Pryde's Welbourne 52 Hi-Fi that added a third win to their tally. Once again the TP 52's had a good battle with Sam Chan's Ffreefire 52 claiming second place and this time getting the better of Bill Bremner/Andy Cocks owned Foxy Lady IV in third place. Overall Neil Pryde and Hi-Fi have built a healthy lead followed by Matt Allen's Beneteau First 44.7 Ichi Ban and Ray Roberts DK46 Quantum Racing in third overall.
The seven Premier Cruising yachts excelled in the fresh conditions and judging by the happy faces and favourble comments, was just what the doctor ordered. All powered up, Dr Ian Nicholson's Dubois 80 Intrigue crossed the finish line with a roar of cheers and high fives all round. Unfortunately not far enough in front of Peter Churchhouse's Warwick 64 Moonblue 2 that went on to take the handicap honours. The leaders are finding it to hard to shake Marcel Leits Beneteau 50 Blauwvoet off their tail which held on for second place and takes a handy overall lead at this stage. Dr Ian Nicholson's Intrigue ended up in third place with Jon Wardill's Cassidy 55 Australian Maid in fourth and holding onto second place overall.
With the increase in breeze the IRC/Sportsboat class has had a change of fortune. Kipson Beck's Shaw 6.5 Pornstar got up onto the plane on the long reaching legs to leave the other boats in its wake and take out the daily double. Jeff Davison's Mumm 30 Panic made up on the beats to windward but could not hold onto Pornstar on the downwind legs and had to settle on third place. Not to be left out in the cold, Ken Eyears Oracle 32 Waka Tere stayed on the pace to eventually become sandwiched between Pornstar and Panic for second place. This makes it Displacement Boats 2 - Planning Boats 1. The juggling of results has narrowed in the overall score with Panic leading Waka Tere by a point and Pornstar a further point behind in third overall.
It was hard to distinguish the Multihulls in all the spray and mist - but when it settled Fergus Wilmer and Henry Kaye's Seacart 30 Thor was up to 20 plus knots and averaged over ten knots around the 22nm course to pick up Line Honours way in front of the next boat. But was this enough? Peter Dyer's Firefly 850 SEA Property was next to cross the line and when the computer churned out the numbers they took over the lead by a mere 53 seconds. Interest levels increased as Radab Kanjanavanit's F9-A Cedar Swan approached the line with speed. Another round of number crunching saw Cedar Swan take the handicap honours in front of SEA Property with Thor reduced to third after her almighty effort. On the Overall score sheet SEA Property leads the way by one point from Thor and another point back is Cedar Swan. It doesn’t get much closer than this.
In the Bareboat Charter Class the Aussie's led by Andrew Short's Oceanis 461 Constanza, just keep getting better and better by recording three wins in a row and go directly to the top of the leader board. Hong Kong's Chin Yew Seah on the Sunsail 39 Bussakorn made a determined effort to change the order and succeeded with second place. John Stall's Sunsail OC361 Perigot, with the Samui youth sailors onboard, also made some improvements to lay claim on third place. Aussie Howard Blowes Sunsail 43 Milliebella ran into some difficulties and was forced to retire.
Neil Pryde was in good spirits following his second victory in two days “We had an excellent day on the water and sailed extremely well. We were actually pretty amazed at the lead we were able to achieve today. No complaints at all”.
Simon James, Sawadee.com Regatta Race Director, witnessed some close racing today: “We moved the course further North which gave us a different wind direction and mixed it up nicely for the racing. What was really noticeable was that the top seven boats all finished within five minutes of each other. Very competitive”.
The daily prize giving ceremony, held at the Grand Centara Beach Resort, also saw the official launch of the ‘Sawadee.com Regatta Samui Bluewater Scholarship’ – a new scholarship programme to help children on Koh Samui receive an education at Bluewater School – one of the island’s few international schools. Jeremy Lees, who has been Head Master at the school since it was founded in 2007, introduced the scholarship to the attentive crews, spectators and VIP’s with a call to action of digging deep to support local education. He commented “The scholarship will provide several children each year with a fantastic opportunity to get a head start in life with a strong education. Our expectation is that this scholarship will develop into a strong community programme that benefits from the influx of crews and supporters that the regatta attracts to Koh Samui and Thailand in general”. The scholarship is just one of several ways that the Sawadee.com regatta gives back.
As the crews headed off to a VIP Skippers Champagne Reception at nearby ‘Dr Frogs’, no doubt Neil Pryde and the crew of Hi-Fi were contemplating a hat trick of first places when racing resumes tomorrow. The Regatta continues through to Saturday 6th June, with racing set off tropical Chewang Beach.
Ends/
For additional Sawadee.com Media Updates, please see: www.samuiregatta.com
High-resolution images are available at: www.flickr.com/photos/sawadee-com-regatta-2009-samui/
Excerpts in this press release are re-produced with thanks to ‘Asian Yachting’ (http://asianyachting.com)
Media Contacts:
Citrus Public Relations:
Ian Grundy
ian.grundy@citrus-pr.com
Tel: +65 83226890
Nicholas Ferguson
nicholas.ferguson@citrus-pr.com
Tel: +65 94520613
About the Sawadee.com Regatta 2009, Samui
The Sawadee.com Regatta 2009, Samui, is an annual event that takes place on the beautiful Thai island of Koh Samui. Now in its eighth year, this ‘Tropical Island Regatta’ has become one of the main events on the Asian sailing circuit and attracts an international fleet.
Along with title sponsor Sawadee.com, co-partners are Centara Grand Beach Resort Samui, Dunlopillo and Singha – supported by Event Partners: Samui Villas & Homes, Dhevatara Properties, Nikki Beach Samui, The Moorings, Central Wine Cellar, Samui Emerald Condominiums, Thai Rent a Car, Seatran Discovery and T.A.T.
For further details see www.samuiregatta.com
Neil Pryde and Hi-Fi Take The Honours on Day Two at the Sawadee.com Regatta in Koh Samui
Koh Samui, Thailand. June 2, 2009 – Following some fiercely contested sailing on Day 1 of the Sawadee.com Regatta, Day 2 – the ‘Dunlopillo Race Day’ - got underway early on Tuesday morning. Chewang Beach on Koh Samui again welcomed the crews in scorching sunny conditions.
By the start of racing there was ten to twelve knots of wind, building to 16-18 knots by mid race which continued through to the end. The courses took the boats North of Samui, through the passage between Samui and Koh Pangan, and back again. Thirty-five nautical miles for the big boats in the racing class and twenty two for the smaller boats. Good wind, blue sky, warm weather, making it t-shirt and shorts sailing conditions - what more could you ask for?
Long reaching legs and tough slogs to windward favoured the big boats on this occasion. Frank Pong's R/P 75 Boracay led the way around the course but breathing down on him was Neil Pryde's Welbourne 52 Hi-Fi that added a third win to their tally. Once again the TP 52's had a good battle with Sam Chan's Ffreefire 52 claiming second place and this time getting the better of Bill Bremner/Andy Cocks owned Foxy Lady IV in third place. Overall Neil Pryde and Hi-Fi have built a healthy lead followed by Matt Allen's Beneteau First 44.7 Ichi Ban and Ray Roberts DK46 Quantum Racing in third overall.
The seven Premier Cruising yachts excelled in the fresh conditions and judging by the happy faces and favourble comments, was just what the doctor ordered. All powered up, Dr Ian Nicholson's Dubois 80 Intrigue crossed the finish line with a roar of cheers and high fives all round. Unfortunately not far enough in front of Peter Churchhouse's Warwick 64 Moonblue 2 that went on to take the handicap honours. The leaders are finding it to hard to shake Marcel Leits Beneteau 50 Blauwvoet off their tail which held on for second place and takes a handy overall lead at this stage. Dr Ian Nicholson's Intrigue ended up in third place with Jon Wardill's Cassidy 55 Australian Maid in fourth and holding onto second place overall.
With the increase in breeze the IRC/Sportsboat class has had a change of fortune. Kipson Beck's Shaw 6.5 Pornstar got up onto the plane on the long reaching legs to leave the other boats in its wake and take out the daily double. Jeff Davison's Mumm 30 Panic made up on the beats to windward but could not hold onto Pornstar on the downwind legs and had to settle on third place. Not to be left out in the cold, Ken Eyears Oracle 32 Waka Tere stayed on the pace to eventually become sandwiched between Pornstar and Panic for second place. This makes it Displacement Boats 2 - Planning Boats 1. The juggling of results has narrowed in the overall score with Panic leading Waka Tere by a point and Pornstar a further point behind in third overall.
It was hard to distinguish the Multihulls in all the spray and mist - but when it settled Fergus Wilmer and Henry Kaye's Seacart 30 Thor was up to 20 plus knots and averaged over ten knots around the 22nm course to pick up Line Honours way in front of the next boat. But was this enough? Peter Dyer's Firefly 850 SEA Property was next to cross the line and when the computer churned out the numbers they took over the lead by a mere 53 seconds. Interest levels increased as Radab Kanjanavanit's F9-A Cedar Swan approached the line with speed. Another round of number crunching saw Cedar Swan take the handicap honours in front of SEA Property with Thor reduced to third after her almighty effort. On the Overall score sheet SEA Property leads the way by one point from Thor and another point back is Cedar Swan. It doesn’t get much closer than this.
In the Bareboat Charter Class the Aussie's led by Andrew Short's Oceanis 461 Constanza, just keep getting better and better by recording three wins in a row and go directly to the top of the leader board. Hong Kong's Chin Yew Seah on the Sunsail 39 Bussakorn made a determined effort to change the order and succeeded with second place. John Stall's Sunsail OC361 Perigot, with the Samui youth sailors onboard, also made some improvements to lay claim on third place. Aussie Howard Blowes Sunsail 43 Milliebella ran into some difficulties and was forced to retire.
Neil Pryde was in good spirits following his second victory in two days “We had an excellent day on the water and sailed extremely well. We were actually pretty amazed at the lead we were able to achieve today. No complaints at all”.
Simon James, Sawadee.com Regatta Race Director, witnessed some close racing today: “We moved the course further North which gave us a different wind direction and mixed it up nicely for the racing. What was really noticeable was that the top seven boats all finished within five minutes of each other. Very competitive”.
The daily prize giving ceremony, held at the Grand Centara Beach Resort, also saw the official launch of the ‘Sawadee.com Regatta Samui Bluewater Scholarship’ – a new scholarship programme to help children on Koh Samui receive an education at Bluewater School – one of the island’s few international schools. Jeremy Lees, who has been Head Master at the school since it was founded in 2007, introduced the scholarship to the attentive crews, spectators and VIP’s with a call to action of digging deep to support local education. He commented “The scholarship will provide several children each year with a fantastic opportunity to get a head start in life with a strong education. Our expectation is that this scholarship will develop into a strong community programme that benefits from the influx of crews and supporters that the regatta attracts to Koh Samui and Thailand in general”. The scholarship is just one of several ways that the Sawadee.com regatta gives back.
As the crews headed off to a VIP Skippers Champagne Reception at nearby ‘Dr Frogs’, no doubt Neil Pryde and the crew of Hi-Fi were contemplating a hat trick of first places when racing resumes tomorrow. The Regatta continues through to Saturday 6th June, with racing set off tropical Chewang Beach.
Ends/
For additional Sawadee.com Media Updates, please see: www.samuiregatta.com
High-resolution images are available at: www.flickr.com/photos/sawadee-com-regatta-2009-samui/
Excerpts in this press release are re-produced with thanks to ‘Asian Yachting’ (http://asianyachting.com)
Media Contacts:
Citrus Public Relations:
Ian Grundy
ian.grundy@citrus-pr.com
Tel: +65 83226890
Nicholas Ferguson
nicholas.ferguson@citrus-pr.com
Tel: +65 94520613
About the Sawadee.com Regatta 2009, Samui
The Sawadee.com Regatta 2009, Samui, is an annual event that takes place on the beautiful Thai island of Koh Samui. Now in its eighth year, this ‘Tropical Island Regatta’ has become one of the main events on the Asian sailing circuit and attracts an international fleet.
Along with title sponsor Sawadee.com, co-partners are Centara Grand Beach Resort Samui, Dunlopillo and Singha – supported by Event Partners: Samui Villas & Homes, Dhevatara Properties, Nikki Beach Samui, The Moorings, Central Wine Cellar, Samui Emerald Condominiums, Thai Rent a Car, Seatran Discovery and T.A.T.
For further details see www.samuiregatta.com
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