16th Samui Regatta; May 20-27, 2017
16th Samui Regatta; May 20-27, 2017
KEVIN AND TOM Whitcraft’s THA72 won the IRC Zero Class at the 16th Samui Regatta, with David Dimmock on Loco from Singapore leading IRC One Class, Lady Bubbly from Australia topping the Cruising Class and Thailand’s Nut Thongtoam on Multihull Solutions H3O winning the Multihull Class.
With THA72 having already won the IRC Zero title on the penultimate day, many eyes were on the battle for second and third between Hong Kong yachts Zannekin and Freefire, with the former carrying a point’s advantage into the final day.
As had been the case all week, THA72 pulled away at the start and chased Jelik around the course to cross the line just three minutes adrift. It was enough for the win on corrected time and the smaller 46ft Zannekin recorded the exact same time on handicap. Both scored 1.5 points each, allowing Zannekin to increase their lead over Freefire.
The close racing continued in the final race with less than a minute separating the top three and this time it was an outright win for THA72, with Zannekin getting the better of Freefire by just eight seconds to finish second and third respectively. Apart from Race 8 when Zannekin sailed the light airs best, THA72 was untouchable, finishing the series with eight wins, one tied first and a third.
David Dimmock’s Loco and the Ketelby/Sorenson/Brown/Douglas Ramrod tied for first in the first race of the day. While they shared the honours, the all-Chinese crew on Ocean Knight finished eight seconds back in third.
Anthony Root’s Black Baza won the final race, five seconds ahead of Nick Burns/Fred Kinmonth’s Mandrake III, whose second place helped them finish second overall ahead of Fujin. A third place for Ramrod in the final race saw them improve their overall standing in fifth, while the glory went to Loco.
Bringing an end to Lady Bubbly’s Cruising class winning streak the day before, Tim McMahon’s SailQuest Hi Jinks continued in their groove, winning the first exchange by almost two minutes on corrected time. However, Lady Bubbly capped off their series victory with a win in the final race.
In the Multihull Class, Mick Tilden’s Pixalux added their second series bullet in the first race, beating Multihull Solutions H3O, who bounced back in the final race with a final victory.
The Samui Regatta closed the 2016/17 AsianYachting Grand Prix season and after 12 events throughout Asia, Anthony Root and Steve Manning’s Black Baza reigned supreme and were confirmed as the Skipper(s) and Yacht of the Year for the second consecutive year.
