Two races were scheduled for the larger boats, but organisers called off the second race when the wind died.

The big keelboats raced in light winds about a kilometre off the Ocean Marina Yacht Club on Jomtien Beach and Lindahl's La Samudra took line honours and also won on handicap.

Bangkok-based Australian David "Kading" Bell on boat Pink Pussycat finished second while Frenchman Pascal Leray on Hi Jinx was third.

After three races in the keelboat class, Lindahl has a big lead, followed by Leray and David Pollard on Foreign Exchange II.

In the hotly contested Platu class, Martin Kaye on Pom Rak Khun leads overall after winning yesterday, with former world junior sailing champion Scott Duncanson sailing Lee Marine into second place overall.

The Ferret, sailed by Marco Belonje, wiggled its way into third overall, while Thai veteran Viroj Nualkhair, who was expected to mount a strong challenge in the Platu class, dropped back to a disappointing sixth overall on his boat Wikki.

The other hotly contested class is the ocean multi-hulls, featuring three very fast catamarans built in Phuket by Australian Mark Horwood.

However, Henry Kaye took the sting out of the new boats to win on The Sting, with Thai veteran Radab Kanjanavanit sailing Cedar Swan into second place.

The best result among the three new multi-hull boats was a third place by Phuket's Roger Kingdon on Moto Inzi, with local Pattaya sailor Olaf Reese finishing fourth on Voodoo Child, an identical boat.

Reese's Voodoo Child leads the class overall from local sailor Kirati Assakul's Sonic and Kingdon's Moto Inzi.

In the beach catamaran class, Thai Asian Games and SEA Games sailor Damrongsak Tongtim grabbed the overall lead after five races, while Bob Garner finished second and Alberto Cassio was third.

Montreechai Lumyongsathian,

Alan Parkhouse

The Nation

Jomtien