With 6-8 knots of south westerly breeze the fleet got away on time for a 22 nm coastal course down to Ko Mat Sum and back. The early decision to be made was whether to tacking inshore looking for a lift or to take advantage of the shifts down the middle of the course.

It was not long before Frank Pong's Jelik took up the more familiar position at the head of the fleet and despite some correction to be made at the 'through' gate went on to claim the daily double and put themselves back in contention. Bill Bremner still has his foot on Foxy Lady IV's accelerator to score second place, and after discarding an eighth place puts himself into second overall and only one point behind the leader. Neil Pryde's Hi-Fi is back on the pace and snuck into third place by a mere one second in front of Ray Roberts Quantum Racing. By scoring fourth place, Ray Roberts' lead has dwindled down to one point, and depending on whether there is one or two races held tomorrow, this series could yet again go right down to the wire.

As the breeze faded early in the afternoon and switched direction the IRC 2 course was shortened at the Hin Ang Wang gate which allowed everyone to get a finish. Matt Allen's Beneteau 44.7 Ichi Ban seems to have got the measure of the rest of the fleet and scored their fourth win out of five races to take a healthy lead in the overall class rankings. This time Jonathan Mahony's Mumm 30 Happy Endings got the better of Jeff Davison's sistership Panic! who have been dogging them for the past year or so. This result has improved Happy Endings overall standing to third but has slightly increased the margin between first placed Ichi Ban and second placed Panic! who were hoping to reduce the gap coming into the final day.

Yachting Siam's Elliot 7 Ice Bucket managed to turn the tables on Kipsan Beck's Shaw 6.5 Pornstar in today's race. Mick Grover's Elliot 7 Moon Shadow dropped to third place and in doing so broke the overall tie for second place in favour of Ice Bucket. With four wins and a second place Kipsan Beck's Pornstar have placed themselves in an almost unbeatable position for this years Sportsboat title.

Once again Andrew Short's Constanza took out the daily double and by winning all races held to date has the Cruising Class title in the bag. John Stall's Sunsail Odyssey 35 Princess Sharda with sailors from the Samui Junior Sailing Squadron onboard have hung on to second place. Gulf Charters' Big Blue have had trouble finishing within the time limit but as there are only three boats in the class they are guaranteed a third place.

Talk about narrowing in the scores - the multihull class is a good example in more ways than one. Although Khun Radab's Farrier tri Cedar Swan finished more than 23 minutes behind Henry Kaye's Firefly 850 Sea Horse Interiors that took line honours, Cedar Swan won race five on handicap and firmly placed themselves on the top of the overall leader board. David Wales' smaller Corsair Sprint 750 The Sting finished thirteen minutes behind the leader to score second place by a mere one second which puts them within two points of Cedar Swan in the overall score. Despite Henry Kaye's Sea Horse Interiors line honours domination, they ended up in third place. Toby O'Connell's Firefly 850 Dhevatara Frog is now tied on nine points for second overall with The Sting and within striking distance of the leaders going into tomorrow's final day of racing.

PRO Tony Denham expects to use windward/leeward courses on the last day and is dependant upon the weather conditions if one or two races will be held to determine the final results.

by AsianYachting.com

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