Once again the wind gods bypassed Koh Samui on there global tour. At least the race committee had the sense to hoist the postponement flag on the beach before the sailors went out on the water.

Patiently everyone watched zephyrs of breeze descend upon Chewang Bay from all directions as storm clouds brewed on the hills behind. It was not until after one o'clock when a steady breeze appeared to settle from the north and the crews were summonsed from the respective beach side bars and restaurants to attempt to get race two underway.

With full approval from all skippers PRO Tony Denham quickly got the starting sequence underway at 14:10 before the breeze decided to changed again. Most the racers gathered at the favoured pin end and Sam Chan's Ffreefire 52 won the start just in front of Frank Pong's Jelik. As the boats made there way up the first windward beat the breeze started to clock around to the right which turned the downwind leg into a procession. A strong northerly current played havoc at the rounding mark and the sailors that wisely gybed twice and kept the boat moving benefited from these actions. The top mark was moved to suite the new wind direction but as the breeze continued go right it favoured the mid fleet runners on the last downwind leg. Frank Pong's 75ft R/P Jelik took line honours but did not get the opportunity to save their time on the others. Ray Roberts DK46 Quantum Racing benefited from the wind direction change and sailed the last downwind directly to the finish and in the process managed to pip the bigger 50 footers at the same time to score first place. Andrew Taylor's Mills 41 Ambush also had the benefit of the breeze change to capture second spot. Chris Mead's Corby 43 Full Metal Jacket filled third spot and less than a minute separated the podium places.

In similar surroundings the smaller IRC 2 boats served it up to the bigger front runners. Jeff Davison's Mumm 30 Panic finished with speed and within a minute of the leaders to score first place and goto the top of the overall leaderboard. In hot pursuit Jonathan Mahony's Mumm 30 Happy Endings followed suite to score second place. Aussie Cruising Yacht Club Commodore Matt Allen on his race one winning Beneteau 44.7 Ichi Ban managed to hold their time to finish up in third place in front of Ben Copley's Club Swan 42 Katsu that took line honours.

Kipsan Beck's Shaw 6.5 Sportsboat Pornstar managed to blitz the fleet again and take the daily double for the second race in a row. Although Yachting Siam's Elliot 7 Ice Bucket is closing in on them to claim second place. Not to be disgraced Mick Grover's Elliot 7 Moon Shadow. is not that far behind there sister ship and ended up in third place.

Once again in the Cruising Class Andrew Short's Constanza took the daily double by a healthy margin. John Stall's Sunsail Odyssey 35 Princess Sharda with sailors from the Samui Junior Sailing Squadron onboard scored second place. Gulf Charters Big Blue took out third place and all three boats have ended up in the order they finished in both races.

Henry Kaye nailed the start on his Firefly 850 Sea Horse Interiors and lead the multihull fleet around the entire course. After handicaps were applied it is David Wales Corsair Sprint 750 The Sting that came out a little under a minute in front of Sea Horse Interiors. Khun Kirati's Top of the Gulf Regatta winning Lock Crowther 43 Sonic edged out the other multi's to claim third place. A mere twenty seconds separated second to fifth place.

Everyone seems happy that at least one race was completed after all this waiting around has severely tested their patience. What was supposed to be the lay day tomorrow will be used to try and get some races completed - weather permitting...

asianyachting.com/news/KohSamui08.htm

Koh Samui Regatta 2008 website at: www.samuiregatta.com/

by AsianYachting.com

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