Fish & Co. Singapore National Youth Championships 2014 - Day 1
by Icarus Sailing Media 18 Mar 2014 20:58 GMT
18-22 March 2014
Held for the second year running, the Fish & Co. Youth Sailing Championships 2014 kicked off its first day of racing today in beautiful clear skies with winds of approximately five knots. This year's edition, which features a total of 357 sailors, has been scaled up to include both Asian and International competitors.
The race management was initially worried that the hazy and humid conditions that have been plaguing Singapore for the past two weeks might affect the racing conditions. Thankfully, a change in weather conditions offered the competitors clear skies and decent winds.
The sailors gathered at the National Sailing Centre early this morning, as they looked forward to a full day of sun, breeze and racing.
Four races were held for the Byte, RS:X, Optimist Gold, Laser 4.7 and Laser Standard fleets, while three races were held for the Techno293, Optimist Silver, and Laser Radial fleets. A regatta that gathers some of Singapore and the region's best sailors, each of races held witnessed close and spectacular action among the sailors – with everyone battling hard to cross the finishing line first. Onshore, spectators cheered on enthusiastically for their favourites.
The current sailors dominating the 420 leaderboard after the day one are the regular names including Kimberly Lim and Savannah Siew in the 420, with Yukie Yokoyama and Samantha Neubronner chasing closely behind the pair in 2nd place. The 3rd place is currently taken up by the newly formed duo of Ryan Teo and Joshua Matthew Lim.
The class with the largest fleet – the Optimist – saw mixed results at the end of the day with everyone having a fair share of the top spots on the leaderboard. After four races in the Gold fleet, Muhammad Dhlauddin B. Rozaini from Malaysia is currently leading the Gold Fleet with 14 points, while Park Sungbin from South Korea and Muhammad Fauzi. Kaman Shah from Malaysia are 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Dominating the Optimist Silver Fleet is Max Victor Teo who scored two bullets out of the three races held, while the 2nd and 3rd places are taken up by Sarah Tan and Sui Xin Yu respectively.
In the RS:X, Ng Tsz Leung from Hong Kong and Ruth Mow from Singapore are currently tied with nine points, while Nicole Lim is chasing closely behind with 12 points. Clearly, the points separating the current leaders are not that far apart – which means that it is still anybody's game.
In the Laser 4.7, defending champion, Bernie Chin, continues to impress the crowd with his outstanding performance, recording a 1,6,4 for the three races held to take the 1st place on the leaderboard, ahead of Koh Yi Kun and Justin Chew who are currently 2nd and 3rd respectively.
In the Laser Radial fleet, Ryan Lo enjoyed a stellar day with two wins and a 3rd place out of the three races, earning himself a safe lead in the 26-boat fleet. Ryan is currently 10 points ahead of Danial Norman Tan who is in 2nd place with 14 points, while Jillian Lee is holding on to 3rd place with 16 points.
The Laser Standard fleet witnessed extremely close and challenging racing in all three races. Despite getting a DNF for the third race, Chua Jiawei, who scored two wins for the first and second races, managed to pocket the 1st spot on the leaderboard with 11 points, while Ong Jing Heng and Lee Jun Jie are tied with 14 points.
What a day it has been! With four more intense days of racing left to go, the Fish and Co. National Youth Championships 2014, which also serves as a qualifying platform for the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships 2014, will surely serve up a lot more action-packed racing.
Spectators and supports can be assured that it will be an exhilarating week ahead as the excitement mounts!
Racing resumes tomorrow, with another day of pleasant sailing conditions forecasted.
www.sailing.org.sg/fishnco