15th Jan 2008
The regatta is a Singapore Sailing Federation event and this year its the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Yacht Club turn to organise and run the 14th Singapore Straits Regatta (16 - 19th Jan). In previous years the fleet sailed to Batam, Indonesia but in view of the marina reconstruction this year it was decided to hold all the races in the waters off the SAF Yacht Club. A variety of new courses including two passage races in the Singapore Straits have been created to ensure the highest level of competition. Twenty five yachts are lining up in five classes and the North-East monsoon is expected to provide good winds for these top class racing yachts.
Ray Roberts DK46 Quantum Racing and Neil Pryde's newly converted Welbourne 52 Hi Fi Team Pryde have made a quick dash down from Langkawi and they will be joined in the racing class by Nick Burns and Fred Kinmonth's Farr/Mills 51 Fortis Mandrake and the highly anticipated first outing for the Bremner/Cocks/Singh owned TP52 Foxy Lady IV. Both Quantum Racing and Fortis Mandrake are also vying for the annual Sir Thomas Lipton Perpetual trophy which is awarded to the yacht which cumulatively places best at the Raja Muda, King's Cup and Singapore Straits regattas. Our commiserations go to Bill Bremner who would rather be here helming his new boat but instead is in a business meeting in Paris all week and given the reigns to Andrew Crombie who is rather stoked at the idea and a bit nervous at the same time. Don't worry Bill we will keep you informed...
With thirteen entries the IRC B class is the biggest and has a very diverse range of boat designs. David Ross's Swan 53 Frangipani Girl is the biggest and Renfred Tay's Platu 25 SMUve is the smallest. Jeff Davison's Mumm 30 Panic has been on fire lately with relative newcomers Steve Manning's Beneteau 44.7 Walawala from Hong Kong and Stuart Williamson's Beneteau First 34.7 Endeavour of Whitby (Skandia) down from Malaysia having managed podium places at recent events. Leading the Singaporean charge is Hellmut Schutte's Elan 340 Aquavit IV and Gordon Maxted's Young 88 Shoon Fung Too that have won here before. Timo Bretschneider's Reflex 28 Wild Thing, Esben Poulsson's ESSE 850 IMP and Bob Ashman Van Der Stadt Simba are all looking for big performances throughout the event. The first time an entry all the way from Korea has been received from Harold Shim's Admiralty 30 Glory 121 from the 700 Yacht Club. late entries include Lim Cheng Liang's Judy and Keith Dunn's Mount Gay 30 Lunchcutter 2 that won in Langkawi last week expecting to continue with there success here.
Five J24's are contesting the one design class. Borstnar Vladimir's defending champion Angel will be the one to watch. Raphael Phang's Hakuna Matata has been breathing down their neck and Winfrid Wong's Quarterdeck is over due for a win. Ong Chee Keong Alvin's Shengli and Justin Tan Weizheng's RSYC Dua will be out to spoil the party.
The two Chinese Thompson 6.8m Longtze Premier sportsboats that made there debut in Langkawi are making an appearance in Singapore. China Teams America's Cup skipper Pierre Mas will be helming Longtze Premier White and Thierry Barot Longtze Premier Red. Its a pity that some of the big fleet of Laser SB3's based at Raffles Marina don't come out to play and make a decent sportsboat class out of it. The likely hood is that these two Chinese boats will have to join the IRC 1 class on this occasion.
Only one entry has been received for the PY Class Jerry Lau's Ericson 28 WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) who is the busy organising chairman that expressed at the press conference just how hard a job it is to bring everything together including sponsors and run an event of this magnitude in a voluntary capacity. My heart goes out to them and the committee for the good job they have done so far.
Captain Marty htto://AsianYachting.com
