As the curtain rang down on the first-ever Top of the
Gulf International Regatta at a splendid sea-side awards presentation and
closing party on Coronation Day last week, it did so in an ambience of
great feeling of achievement, good racing and fine camaraderie.
A
delighted Opti sailor receives her award from Adm Krayim.
And, an international event it certainly was. For
example, the five teams that won the Platu Coronation Cup come from five
different countries. Luckily, they had English as the “lingua franca”.
Sailed out off the host venue, the Ocean Marina Yacht
Club, in four days of perfect conditions, with the south-westerlies and
relatively flat sea, this new regatta is clearly on the way to becoming
what founder and regatta chairman Bill Gasson views as a “hugely
successful event, combining multiple racing classes from dinghies to
keelboats.” It is an event destined to join the ever-increasing number
of first class regattas being conducted throughout Thailand, Asia and,
even, world-wide.
The
Nualkair family, led by father Viroj, receives the third place Platu
trophy from Admiral Krayim.
In fact, one of Bill’s principal objectives for the
regatta is “to expand the popularity of sailing of all classes and
like-minded sailors, both Thai and expatriates, as well as to cultivate
and develop young skippers’ sailing skills so that they will participate
in an ever-increasing number of international regattas and programmes such
as the SEA and Asian Games.”
Khun
Nusara Banyatphiyapod, Director of Ocean Marina, opens the Regatta.
This, as a casual observer of the Optimist fleet would
agree, has been singularly achieved. For, while, as noted, there were
eight divisions comprising the regatta, much of the focus was on the
junior sailors. Racing the Optimist dinghies in a 70-strong fleet, tiny
Thai dynamo, 13-year-old Sattahip sailor Benjamas Poonpat, sailing under
the aegis of the Junior Sailing Squadron of Thailand, left no doubt who
was “Top of the kids in the Top of the Gulf”. Winning six first
places, a second, a third and a fourth, for a total of 15 points, counting
her best nine out of eleven races sailed, Benjamas left second-placed
Navee Thamsoonthorn wallowing in her wake, on 28 points.
It
was “all go” at the parties on ‘terra firma’ as well.
Another diminutive - but equally-formidable - Thai lady
sailor, admittedly just slightly bigger than Benjamas, Saranya (Pouk)
Makinson likewise dominated the premier Class One Keelboats, with seven
straight wins, having the incredible ‘luxury’ of being able to discard
a first placing, to count the best six out of seven sailed.
Strong supporter of keelboat racing and the Ocean
Marina particularly, David Pollard was quite philosophical about being
second. “We are a team of somewhat seniors anyway,” said David
afterwards, “and there were some very close finishes, such as nine
seconds in the Raimon long-distance race, after five hours of protracted
struggle.”
The
“two Bills” - Gasson and O’Leary made quite a team.
Pascal Leray finished third on his “Hi Jinks”.
Dick Sanders managed a one-point win over George
McCready in Class Two Cruising Keelboats, while John Vause skippered Bill
Gasson’s “Buzz 8”, to take home the silverware in Class Three
Sportsboat Division, from fellow-Ocean Marina sailor, David Bell.
Then came the prestigious Coronation Cup, supported by
HRH Princess GalyaniVadhana to raise funds for the Thai Kidney Foundation.
The Royally-supported Platu Coronation Cup, on the fifth of May this year
- the last day of the regatta - honoured the 55th anniversary of His
Majesty’s accession to the Thai Throne as the Ninth Rama.
The
Ocean Marina: a quantum leap into future marine infrastructure
development.
It was, indeed, a “Thaitanic” struggle between five
of the Kingdom’s best Platu sailors, with Royal Varuna’s Neil Semple
and his crew holding off a strong bid from Sattahip skipper Wiwat Poonpat,
with Royal Varunians Alex Skaria, David Race and Viroj Nualkair third to
fifth respectively.
The
victorious Coronation Cup team (L to R): Morton Jakobsen, Chatupol
Phongkamnead, skipper Neil Semple with the coveted Coronation Cup, Markus
Maher and Olaf Schoenicke. It can’t be more international than this:
five sailors; five nations.
Five teams from Singapore who had come to participate
in the Class Four Platu Division, specifically, were no match for the
“home-towners”.
Ocean Marina host Kirati Assakul’s “Sonic” was
never in doubt as the winner of Class Five, the Ocean Multihulls, with his
big Cat “Sonic” holding off Radab Kanchanavanit’s “Cedar Swan”,
Trevor Walley’s “Treasure Trove” and Frankie Brancaccio’s
“Vivace”.
First
keelboat skipper, Saranya Mackinson receives her North Shore Award from
Nigel Cornick, Raimon Land Plc CEO.
Elsewhere, Sattahip sailor Damrongsak Vongtim, racing a
super-fast Taipan 4.9 (spin) in the beach-launched Catamaran Division,
defeated a trio of Varunians: Les Nyerges, Alberto Cassio and Stefaan de
Vos, while Thai Navy men dominated the monohulls and single-handed Laser
Division, led by Manat Pootong, with multiple national champion and a
Sydney Olympian, Veerasit Puangnak.
Benjamas
Poonpat receives her Optimist National Champions award from Admiral
Krayim.
Principal sponsors Raimon Land and the Ocean Marina
Yacht Club were joined in this superb promotion of Thailand’s
magnificent coastlines, beaches and waterways, by Heineken, Thai Airways,
Creative Inhouse, Gulf Charters Thailand, Hawaiian Island Creations, Hyro
Consulting Thailand and the Pattaya Mail Publishing Company. “And we
will be back for more next year,” Raimon Land and the Ocean Marina Yacht
Club chorused in unison.
Supported by co-organizers the Tourism Authority of
Thailand, the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand, the Ocean Marina and
the Royal Varuna Yacht Clubs and the Sattahip Naval Base, it was yet
another example of the co-operation and collaboration between all these
principals, dedicated to the advancement and promotion of all water sports
and marine activities which, with this type of regatta management, seem
assured of an exponential growth well into the future.
Ocean
Marina’s Kirati Assakul was also in the winners’ circle, winning the
Ocean Multihulls.
This has been well summed up by Admiral Taweesak
Somapha, the regatta honorary chairman and president of the Yacht Racing
Association of Thailand, under whose authority the event was held. “We
have been delighted with the huge entry, the venue and the management
which has reflected,” the Admiral said, “great credit to Thailand and,
through a massive media campaign, will help promote the marine
infrastructure, including tourism, real estate and the hotel industry
throughout the Kingdom.”
Even as many of the keelboat sailors prepare to race to the next venue,
the Fourth Koh Samui Regatta, to be held May 22-29, it will be hard to
even imagine a better week than the one which has just passed: a great
location, good winds and a sparkling social and entertainment programme,
due, almost entirely, to the generous sponsorship.
Radab
Kanjanavanit drives “Cedar Swan” windward.
Saranya
Makinson and her team drive hard on Gary Baguley’s “Magic
Roundabout” with a little help from the Raimon Land spinnaker.
Anthony
MacDonald scudding along in “CU Later”, a sportsboat.
Optis
head for home: eleven races later!
Sompoch
Intranukul (left) and Nigel Cornick (right) perform the ‘topping off’
ceremonies by pouring cement from golden buckets.
Nigel
Cornick, CEO of Raimon Land has every reason to be proud of his
achievements.
Chanyuth
Hengtrakul (right) MP of Chonburi province enjoys a moment with Chavarat
Charnvirakul of Sino-Thai Engineering & Construction.
Khun
Panga is congratulated by Pracha Hetakul, Head of the Daily News newspaper
and Anthony (Ashok) Sharma MD, Time Inc. & CNN.
