Platu Thailand Championships 2024 Series 3
by Guy Kennard 24 Jul 03:44 BST
19-21 July 2024
Platu Thailand Champs 2024 © Thammask Meeusamsen
Day 1
A great turnout, with seven boats racing and the anticipation of a Youth Team supported by TP52 Super Series Team Vayu joining on Saturday and Sunday. Five races were completed by the Ocean Marina Jomtien's RO Thamasak who did another fantastic job of getting each race off in perfect 9-15kts from 210 deg, with a gradual shift right as the day went on.
A few Aussie teams are here, which is pushing the competitiveness of the fleet to new heights. It's awesome racing with plenty going on at each mark rounding. Still another two days to go, and with the variable weather forecast there will be a lot of snakes and ladders.
Day 2
Variable breeze 5-12kts from 200-240 deg, with a few course changes to account for the shifts between races. The snakes and ladders came into play, with a few teams making gains and others falling off the edge. With 10 races now completed, a second discard has become available in the 13 race series. It's close now, with only three races to go tomorrow including a Double Points score for the last race. Lots to play out and good luck to all the teams competing.
Day 3
The breeze started at 12kts and backed off to 8kts from 200 deg, but the skies were blue and the grill temperature was 28-32 C. With only three races for the day, the last being double points (which cannot be dropped) there were only two points separating the top three boats.
The Overall winner changed three times down the last run. Easy Tiger threw every match racing trick they had at the other boats, but on the line Tony Miller's Close Encounters from Kettering YC in Tasmania took the Overall by just one point to local USA expat Nathan Masopust in 2nd - a great result with his recent upgrades clearly working - and Justin Brownbill in Easy Tiger taking 3rd.
A special shout out to the Middle Harbour Yacht Club (Sydney) entrants Tracey Richardson/Team Artemis and Garth Riley who both sailed exceptionally well.
Both local boats, Pine Pacific and Pim campaigned by Ithinai Yingsiri had their ups and downs, but we know they will bounce back to the top in the next event (19-26 October).
We would love to see them back and other potential teams attending.
Congratulations to all the teams: it's awesome to have these international teams compete in the Thailand Championships, and fantastic to see the level of racing increasing in quality at every regatta.
Standby for 2025 dates soon to book your Platu charter for some epic fun.
A massive thank you to Scott Finsten and Ocean Marina Jomtien for supporting the Thailand Championships.