Koh Samui Yacht Club Regatta
Sailing in The Gulf of Thailand
Monthly Sailing Yacht Regatta on Koh Samui

ARCHIVE: Race Results from Samui Yacht Club Regatta

The Committee Boat for the February regatta was the Junk, La Fortune, you can visit their website here: www.jonque-fortune.com

Race report monthly regatta held at
Petcharat Marina February 24/25 2007

Please view our Image Gallery to see photos of the day

Race 1 As the fleet assembled at the sparkling new premises of Petcharat Marina, the sad news of the sinking of Capt. Didier’s Hobie 21 on the eve of the first race was the main topic.

Apparently the racks broke away and the hulls soon filled and were assisted back to the beach by the charter catamaran Kia Ora, whose guests experienced a longer sunset cruise than they had paid for. The fleet as usual, comprised a wide representation of sailboats, with 5 beach multis, 4 of which were the Windrider trimarans, 2 cruisers (a Tiki 36 ft. cat and a Jeannue 47) and a sports boat the Elliott 7 Moonshadow.

The committee boat, the 70 ft. Burmese junk La Fortune hosted the Race officers, Mick Reeves and Big Roy, who, after starting the race were treated to a slap up French gourmet lunch by the owner, avec ze wines !

The fleet got away at 1230 from Ban Rak bay in a pleasant 10-12 knot Easterly and headed North across the channel to Koh Phangan Southern tip, where they had to round the large rocks a mile offshore Koh Kong Rin.

For the unfamiliar, this is a daunting task, as the rocks blend into the background of the coast of Koh Phangan and you don’t see the pass until you are right up on it. First to round was the Nacra 4.5 followed by Erwin's Windrider and Moonshadow, then it was tight on the wind back to Ban Rak.

As the leaders approached Samui, large wind shifts had them tacking for the finish line with the first boat taking just 3 hours to complete the course. By 5pm all the boats had finished and Petcharat’s owner, the vivacious Tuan Jai laid on a grand buffet and a keg for the parched sailors.

Results 1st Nacra 4.5 Cap’n Squall, 2nd Moonshadow Mick Grover, 3rd Windrider Erwin

Race 2 As the crews assembled at the grand new Petcharat bar/restaurant at 10am, Squall was seen behind the bar, coaching the staff on how to make Bloody Mary’s, as he put it, “Believe me, just wait, yachties must have this for breakfast !”

With all the ingredients in place, complete with the Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce and celery, some 80 glasses were quaffed and the white shirts were soon speckled with red blotches. Mingling with the crowd were 10 gorgeous hotel and property staff invited to join Stressbuster’s crew and had the regatta cameramen going bananas.

The first race got underway at 1130 and the fleet headed North with an 8 knot Easterly to round the two rocks Koh Lum Mu Lek and Koh Lum Mu Yai to port and beat back to the committee boat. Erwin’s Windrider was first to finish in 44 minutes closely followed by the Nacra and Moonshadow and after handicap adjustments final placings were 1st Nacra 4.5, 2nd Windrider (Erwin) 3rd Moonshadow (Elliot 7)

Race 3 With most of the small boats replenished with cold beers from the larger vessels, most of them diverting to check on the action going on aboard Stressbuster, the last race got away at 1.15pm with an identical course and this time Moonshadow crossed first in 47 minutes, followed by the Nacra and then Erwin’s Windrider but a good race by Nok Talay who had the only spinnaker in the fleet, saw them shoot up to third on handicap. Results 1st Moonshadow, 2nd Nacra 4.5, 3rd Nok Talay

This weekend we all witnessed the Ellott 7’s awesome upwind ability and when sailed with spinnaker this appears to be the perfect boat for Koh Samui’s waters. Back on shore, Petcharat's beach deck became a party house with their DJ providing the grooves and the Stressbuster’s girls the glamour.

Overcome by the party atmosphere, treasurer Francesco dug into the kitty and presented 12 pizzas for the mob. After the prize giving (see Results) Francesco announced we now have enough funds to purchase another Optimist sailing dinghy for Koh Samui's’ Junior sailing club.

He also announced that the owner of the Firefly he raced with in last weeks Phang Nga Bay regatta Bill Phelps has offered to provide a third Optimist for the Samui kids.

Race results February regatta held at
Petcharat Marina, Ban Bang Rak, February 24 & 25, 2007

Overall results regatta Feb 24/25 2007