Lindahl takes overall honours with La Samudra
[SAILING] Strong winds of up to 26 knots and heavy rain buffeted the big fleet of boats racing on the final day of the Top of the Gulf Regatta off Jomtien yesterday.
But the heavy going did not stop British sailor David Lindahl from taking the overall honours on his boat La Samudra.The Phuket-based Lindahl, who sails in most of Thailand's big regattas, won the keelboat class after winning the first four races, being disqualified in the fifth race and coming fourth and second in the last two races yesterday. Bangkok-based Frenchman Pascal Leray finished second overall on his boat Hi Jinx, while Pattaya-based Aussie Gary Baguly sailed Magic Roundabout into third place overall in the keelboat class. Martin Kaye on Pom Rak Khun edged out former world junior sailing champion Scott Duncanson on Lee Marine in the closely contested Platu boat class with the seventh and final race yesterday deciding the winner. Veteran Thai sailor Radab Kanjanavanit sailed his trimaran Cedar Swan to victory in the other hotly contested class, the multihulls, just beating Pattaya's Olaf Reese on Voodoo Child. Henry Kaye finished third on The Sting. Meanwhile, defending champion Benjamas Poonpat retained her crown in the Optimist National Championship for the second consecutive year. The 14-year-old Thai girl from the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand (YRAT) finished first in three of the six races against 73 other competitors. In second place was Navee Thamsoontorn, only two points behind after a very close competition. Thai national sailor Damrongsak Tongtim was in superb form in the beach catamaran class, winning six of the seven races and the overall championship. Second place went to Bob Garner while Narongrit Beakaew edged out Alberto Cassio by one point for third place. In the laser class, Thanakan Korkerp of Thailand won the overall title after nine races. Nicholas Henley came second and Sai Chimaswat third. Thailand's Chindanai Tanbuakee finally won first prize in the SuperMod class after leading all three rounds since Thursday. His compatriot Kit Buthsri was second and Surapong Witayaku third. Regatta organiser and founder Bill Gasson was pleased with the large number of entries in the regatta in only its second year. "Sailing is really taking off in Thailand and here at the Ocean Marina Yacht Club we have very good facilities and a great venue to hold these big regattas," he said. The next big sailing event in Thailand will be the Koh Samui Regatta at the end of the month, which Gasson also started several years ago.
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