Sentosa Optimist Open Championship in Singapore - Day 4
by Sean Lee and Daniella Ng 12 Jun 2009 15:54 BST
9-13 June 2009
The breeze came in early today, with pretty good but shifty winds. The AP flag was flown but not for long! The flag came down at about 11am, with all the sailors raring to go, praying for more races today, to better their score.
However, our high hopes for the day started to disappear as the wind slowly faded away as the first race went on. In the later part of the same race, a huge storm cloud swept through the course bringing in some wind and changing the direction that it was coming from at the same time, affecting the results for some participants.
The race committee reacted quickly by changing the course to try and start a race while the wind was still good. Unfortunately, the wind died again, just as the first start went off. The current was too strong given the current wind, and the race committee was left with no choice but to postpone the second and third starts. They sat there hoping that the wind would pick up, hoping that the sailors in the first start could reach the top mark, but it was to no avail.
Eventually, the first start was abandoned with sailors struggling to get back to the start line and drifting all over the sea. Many of them tied their Optimists to the coach boats, taking a dip in the cool waters in an attempt to escape the heat of the scorching sun.
The race committee made a decision not to send the sailors back to shore. Thankfully, that decision paid off. A light breeze started to fill in slowly, allowing one more race to be squeezed in.
Soon, a large storm cloud formed over the race course, bringing the wind to an average of 17 knots! No time was wasted in starting the races which were battled right under clouds that were ready to burst out into rain any moment. The winds left as soon as it came, three races alike, but the wind for the last race managed to last till the last boat finished.
With six races done, the Malaysians are in the lead; with Mohamad Faizal B Norisah currently first overall followed by Ahmad Latif Khan B Ali Sabri Khar, Thai sailors Noppakao Poonpat and Tosapon Mahawichean, and Greek sailor Alexander K.
Sailors will be grouped into Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets tomorrow, the last day of fleet racing. This is one step closer to the deciding of the Singapore’s 2009 Optimist World’s Team, where the younger generation of Optimist sailors will strive to do Singapore proud. They will be following the footsteps of their more experienced seniors like Darren Choy, Nathan Tang, Najwa Jumali and Natasha Michiko Yokoyama who have moved on from the Singapore Optimist National Squad to the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) squad.