Sunday 28th March

Who is up for racing on Sunday?

March 28th
13:00 start
2X W/L
Prakash as RO

Causeway Race 2

Raffles Marina Causeway Race :Difficult Decisions for the Singapore SB3 Fleet

Singapore has been going through a dry spell, however the weather gods decided that it was time to unleash a torrent of water on the island, unfortunately this coincided with the running of the Causeway Race on Saturday 20th March. No doubt the grey, drizzly conditions kept some crews at home (the first decision), 5 eager and not so eager SB3's took to the water and joined the rest of the keelboats for a race from under the second link to the Causeway at Woodlands. With 2 husband and wife teams Bandit and Hullaballoo, the father and sons' team on Glasgow Kiss, and the fleet newcomers of Xoco and Pyxis, the racing was going to be tight.

Starting with the tide, the fleet got away in 8 knots of wind (and rain), with the big decision being whether to stay out in the tide or go inshore for the breeze, those boats who stayed in the middle of the river with the tide came out on top. For 2 hours the foursome of Glasgow Kiss, Bandit, Xoco, and Pyxis had a great race up the river, trading tacks, pushing into the banks and trying to catch the wind and tide, sometimes the left paid off sometimes it didn't and being out of the tide cost lots of distance. All four boats led at some point during the beat, having to deal with obstacles which included fish farms, tankers, local fishermen and Kellongs (floating villages), which all provide for an interesting sail. Hullaballoo opted for the inshore start, and were not seen again until the windward mark some 2 hours later, as they dropped into a different wind pattern at the back of the fleet.

At the top mark Chris and Claire on Bandit sneaked into the lead, having judged the tide correctly and managed to make it around the last fish farm, the remaining four boats had a tussle to decide who would be next with Jamie and Ella on Hullaballo making a surprise appearance having managed to catch up in the final few hundred meters.

With the tide now having turned, the planning spinnaker reach to the finish which everyone had been looking forward to evaporated, and a long light wind reach cum run back down the river ensued. Bandit stretched out her lead and managed to get into a different wind pattern, however a tactical error going too far to the right, and out of the tide in the last 500 meters, saw their lead disappear, with Hullabaloo capitalizing on the error and whilst sailing very deep, managed to stay in the tide. The final results saw Hullabaloo, performing a miraculous last to first performance, finish first, with the Cuthbertson family on Glasgow Kiss coming in second, Bandit finishing third, just head of Xoco in fourth and Pyxis in fifth. The first 4 SB3's all finishing within 3 minutes of each other, after three and a half hours of racing.

Thanks must go to Prakash for running the racing, in the rain. The planned BBQ for the evening was not greeted with enthusiasm by the sailors as it had rained all day, and the customary cold beers in the pool was replaced by hot coffee, under shelter. The cold and wet fleet then went home for a 'hot bath' with one sailor muttering 'I didn't come to south east Asia to sail in UK weather.'

20 MARCH 2010

PROVISIONAL RESULTS in PHS and IRC.

Sail Yacht Elapse time Elapse in Seconds PHS Corrected Time Points Hour Minute Second
HULLABALOO 3 30 37 12637 0.960 12131.5 1
GLASGOW KISS 3 32 05 12725 0.960 12216.0 2
BANDIT 3 33 36 12816 0.960 12303.4 3
XOCO 3 33 37 12817 0.960 12304.3 4
WATERMELON 4 54 00 17640 0.700 12348.0 5
PYXIS 3 36 39 12999 0.960 12479.0 6
ROO 2 3 21 54 12114 1.050 12719.7 7

Sail Yacht Elapse time Elapse in Seconds IRC Corrected Time Points
Hour Minute Second
HULLABALOO 3 30 37 12637 0.964 12182.1 1
GLASGOW KISS 3 32 05 12725 0.964 12266.9 2
BANDIT 3 33 36 12816 0.964 12354.6 3
XOCO 3 33 37 12817 0.964 12355.6 4
PYXIS 3 36 39 12999 0.964 12531.0 5
ROO 2 3 21 54 12114 1.077 13046.8 6

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Raffles Marina Causeway Race

Announcement from Raffles Marina

Good day all,

Next race on the calendar for all sailboats is the Causeway Race (last time we were 7 SB3). We did the first one sometime mid January and that was fun

Second edition is on the......

Date: 20th March, Saturday
Briefing: 1030hrs

Warning signal: 1155hrs

This time we starting the race at rising tide and hopefully we get to go further in to the river, closer to the actual Woodlands Causeway.

Please let me know if you are racing by the Thursday 18th March.
Visiting yacht will receive one night free berthing.

Thank you

Prakash Reddy
Sea Sports Executive
www.rafflesmarina.com.sg
Tel: +65 6861 9000
Fax: +65 6862 2280

Tiger Trophy March 6-7 2010

Hot Racing for the Singapore SB3 Fleet at the Tiger Trophy.
"The best racing I have had in Singapore"
The first regatta of the year for the Singapore SB3 fleet saw 80% of all the SB3's in Singapore take to the water for the Tiger Cup Trophy over the weekend of March 6th and 7th. With a planned 11 race series it was going to mean long days on the water. The marina was a hive of activity before the 11am briefing with boats cleaned, new sails unrolled, and sun screen applied.
The fleet launched on Saturday to make the expected start time of 12:00 noon, in a sweltering 35°C. A slight delay and the fleet got away in a pleasant 8 knots of wind coming from the north east. As the boats moved towards the windward mark, the wind began to drop and the tide kicked in, within the space of a few minutes, the speedos were reading 0.0, and boats going backward in the tide. After letting the crews sweat it out for another 15 minutes the race office abandoned the race, leaving the 13 boats to whistle for the wind. Fortunately the wind did come and filled in from the south west.

With the wind steadying at a pleasant 12knots, the race office acted swiftly and got race 1 away, with a short 2x windwar / leeward course. With this event having the largest number of SB3's on the water to date, getting a good start was imperative, so there was much jostling on the start line, and at the turning marks, with many boats having to complete 360 penalty turns. Race 2 and 3 saw the wind increase to 15knots causing a little more excitement when turning corners, with a number of boats seeing what tropical fish they could catch with their spinnakers. Compass Rising had to make a quick trip into the marina to replace a jib block, meaning they were carrying at 14th. A number of other boats incurred breakages, most notably Robin Young on Pyxis who broke the main halyard, putting an end to their days racing. The final race of the day saw the race officer decide to send the fleet 3 X round the course, catching Fabrice on Alidade out, as he was leading the race and heading fast for the finish when the rest of the fleet rounded the leeward mark and set off upwind. Saturday conclude with 2 wins for Alidade, 2 wins for Glasgow Kiss, 1 for Compass Rising and 1 win for Hullabaloo. Scumbag was showing bursts of impressive speed, as was Su Me, and the Dogs 3.
The fleet then made its weary way back to the marina, with many crews trying to get there body temperatures back to something sensible by drinking beer in the pool to try and rehydrate from a long day on the water. The drinks downtown was abandoned as the fleet sought to recover from a long, hot and tiring day on the water. Special mention must go to Sean Cox on Katana, who with 'direction' from the helm. Bill Lydens, went swimming 3 times during the day, once to wash the boat, once to free the spinnaker from the keep, and once to clear the windward mark tackle which they had fouled.

Sunday dawned another bright and pleasant day, with racing scheduled to start at 1:00pm and a briefing at midday the decision was taken to wait for the wind. The fleet launched at 1:30 and racing got away at 2:00pm. In a steady 10knots from the south west, with Race 7 completed, the discard kicked in and Bob Comstock on Compass Rising, discarding a 14th place, moved up the leader board.
Race 8, 9, 10 and 11 saw excellent close racing with tight fight for all positions in the fleet. Showing improved speed from Day 1 was the Dogs 3, and Bandit, who whilst fast in a straight line, were suffering at the turning marks sailing only 2 up. Somebody had had a word with the race officer and the final race of the day was kept to a standard 2 x windward / leeward.



On the conclusion of race 11 the fleet made their way back to the marina where the boats were put to bed, and the fleet cooled down with ice cold beer in the swimming pool. The prize giving was held in the swimming pool as the competitors sort shelter from the 35 degrees temperatures.
Overall results showed how tight the racing had been with just three points separating the first three boats, and a tie for overall winner, with Bob Comstock on compass rising taking first place on countback from Wallace Cuthebertson on Glasgow Kiss, and Fabrice Piard in 3rd place. Scum bag finished 4th, Hullaballoo 5th and SuMe 6th

Thanks must go to Prakash, from Raffles Marina and to Koobs and the Race team for running an excellent regatta with little wait between races, and excellent course setting.
An often heard comment after the event was that this was "best racing that I have has in Singapore", It is going to be a great year ahead for SB3 racing in Singapore. The Singapore SB3 fleet is going from strength to strength with an impressive number of boats on the water, the team from Tara sailing in the World Championships in Lake Garda in July and an active calendar of club and regatta sailing with the next weekend regatta will be held over the weekend of 22/23 May.

SB3 Tiger cup: a record breaking edition?

Dear Friends,


We may, repeat may break the participation record to an SB3 race in Singapore if all the below listed boats are turning up saturday for our SB3 Tiger Cup, Race 1 of our National Championship.

Have said yes sofar:

Bandit
Scumbag
Tara
Alidade
Hulluballoo
Katana
Slippery When Wet
Glasgow Kiss
Su Me
Compass Rising


Awaiting confirmation from (unless we did not see the email then sorry):

Pyxis
The Dogs 3
Vitra


Not sailing:

Dutchess
Pocapena
Komodo (?)
Over there


It's gonna be interesting and very tricky as winds are changing during the course of the day now.

Really looking forward to it!