After enjoying three days of relatively strong winds which brought some electricity to the races, it looked like the annual tournament, one of the country's top sailing events in the Gulf of Thailand, was heading towards an entertaining finale.

It proved to be an anticlimactic ending, however, as light winds, which dropped to as low as five knots, came at the worst possible time, resulting in the course being shortened by half and only one from the day's scheduled two rounds completed.

While most of the sailors struggled to contend with the toughest conditions in the tournament so far, Thai captain Vivat Poonpat at the helm of Naiad, maintained his good form to sail home in third place which was enough to clinch the prestigious Coronation Cup in the Platu class, leaving Marco Belonje, on board The Beaver, who won the day's only race, and Kenichi Takahashi of Japan, on Motornet, in his wake.

Although the light air took its toll on David Lindahl, on board La Samudra, which saw him finish in the fourth place, his worst result, the British captain was still able to seal the top honours in the Racing division thanks to his excellent performance on the previous days.

Another British captain, David Pollard, on Foreign Exchange II, and Frenchman Pascal Leray, on Breakaway, finished second and third respectively.

Big boats like Sonic skippered by Kirati Assakul should have had big problems trying to reach their potential under the conditions, but the Thai captain showed exceptional navigating skills to cross in second, which was sufficient to win the Multihulls category.

Kitipong Khambang, on board THA 6, claimed the title in the Super Mod division. Second place went to Piyapong Chantara on THA 11 while Sutee Poonpat claimed third.

In the Optimist class, Doha Asian Games silver medallist Navee Thamsoontorn, on board THA 4R, added the National Championship Cup to his trophy cabinet.

Kitinan Sanguansak

The Nation

Pattaya