10th Singapore Catamaran Nationals

What a great event, 8 races in 2 days is something of a record in itself! Twenty four cats signed up and hit the waters off Changi Sailing Club for what has to be the most successful regatta in recent memory and certainly way better than last years event!

Thanks do go to the sponsors as without them things would be a little bit harder to organise. Those who “do what werkz,” Brewerkz sponsored the good brew for all the sailors , those who “do what hurtz,” Pro Sail Asia came up with some prizes as did Evolution sails… so a big round of thanks to these companies.

On Saturday it looked as if the NE Monsoon had disappeared as a low level haze created a grey backdrop – not a good sign! At least the departing aircraft from Changi International where still taking off to the North and that was a good sign!

A new bunch of race courses were drawn up for the event with varying degrees of ‘difficulty’ so that the differences between the Sport and Race Divisions could be accounted for. As Changi sits right on the side of a busy shipping lane, the Club is not allowed to anchor any temporary markers to the seabed. As such, racing courses therefore consist of using combinations of navigation marks. Each of the six different courses was enjoyed by all competitors.

Entrants and the overall winners in the Sport Cats (platforms without dagger boards) was the Singapore National Sailors on their Hobie 16′s. Meanwhile the Race Cats had a special entrant as well in the form of Wearn Haw who recently returned to Singapore after a successful Extreme 40 Campaign aboard Team China plus Wearn Haw is one of Singapore’s Olympians and adapted quickly to the Taipan F16 with a great result in the first race. Unfortunately, the Taipan is rather shorter and narrower than the X40 and so Wearn Haw had a little bit of a nose dip! Naturally, if you give a platform to a skilled sailor they’ll settle in rapidly… We’re now looking forward to having Wearn Haw jump on a Viper in two weeks time for the Monsoon Regatta!

Racing off Changi is superb during the NE Monsoon. Good winds plus some strong tides make for interesting racing. Saturdays races were in medium airs while the Sunday races were in slightly fresher breezes around 14 – 16 knots.

The Sport Cat division was a walk in the park for the Singapore National Sailors who have been coached on a fine diet of racing for some time now. So much so that with seven bullets, they could afford to sit on the beach for the last race. Naturally they have their eyes set on entering into the Race Division at the next opportunity.

The Race Division cam down to a David and Goliath battle between the towering Nacra 20′s and the omnipotent F16 Viper. Upwind the Viper would stick onto the hip of the N20 and then downwind, the N20 spread of 50 square metres of sail would just power over the top of the Viper.

Points were tightly stacked as there was a tie for 2nd and 3rd places as well as 4th and 5th! At the finish line it some times only seconds separating the leading boats, so good racing by all the crews. One thing for sure, the modern catamarans have much more emphasis placed on crew work than ever before!

From a Club perspective, it was great to have 24 boats lined up. This translated into a small crowd of people in the Club and well, the ambience was terrific. Seems as though the Club is back on track and focusing on sailing again.

For all the Cat Sailors, a “lessons learned from the Cat Nationals” is up, read it if you want some high end sailing tips and techniques!

Results

Sport Class

1. Wee Chin / Justin Hobie 16 “SEND IT SIDEWAYS” 7 points

2. Jen-U / Peter Hobie 16 16 points

3. Stuart Birbeck / Barnaby Nacra 5.0 ” BAD CATTITUDE” 26 points

4. Alan Hodges / Linus Nacra 460 “KNOWS NO EQUAL” 26 points

5. Nicolas / Thierry Nacra 5.0  32 points

6. Dominique Smit/Justin Twincat 15 “BLACK MAGIC WOMAN” 37 points

7. Patrica / Dara Nacra 5.0 “CATASTROPHIC CATASTROPHE” 45 points

8. Anthony Lim / Remco Nacra 500 “FEELS SO GOOD” 53 points

Race Class

1. Scoot McCook / Alice Lim F16 Viper ” SYCORAX” 7 points

2. Guy Markham / Kelvin Holdt Nacra 20 “RED ROCKET” 18 points

3. Cornelius / Damien Nacra 20 “BIG SISTER” 18 points

4. Uli Braun / David Sverre F16 Taipan “YABBADABBADOO” 31 points

5. Nicolas Gillier / Jeremy F16 Viper “ISDOO” 31 points

6. Wearn Haw / Roshan F16 Taipan “RAPP STARS” 41 points

7. Clive Van Olsen / Ben Slack F16 Taipan “ROXANNE” 49 points

8. David Lee / Raymond Taipan 4.9 59 points

9. David Stanton / Jeremy Nacra 20 “SUPERGOOON” 60 points

10. Brian Turner F16 Blade “GROOVY BABY” 61 points

11. Joo Kim / Rhett Taipan 4.9 “ABRA-KE-DEBORAH” 80 points

12. Henry / Jody F16 Taipan “JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH” 92 points

13. Michael Chia / Michael Teo F16 Viper “XNG KAO SONG” 94 points

14. Douglas / Jon Taipan 4.9 94 points

15. Flavio / Enzo F16 Blade “WASUP!” 101 points