Day 1 - Thailand Platu Open 2010

Hi guys,

I had a great sailing day for we won all our races today! Wind was blowing about 10-15 knots.

Race 1, we didnt had the best of start as we were luff up during the start and we thought we were over the line, we came back, and by then we were the second last boat.
We caught up during the upwind, and manage to take the lead at the leeward mark!


Race 2,

We didnt have a good start, was sandwiched by 2 to 3 boats during the start ,hitthe top mark in 3rd, then we managed to steal the lead in the downwind,

Race 3,

Was the best start of the day, we lead from the start to finish.

Race 4,


Had a good start, half way through the course, had about 4 boats crossing us, so we were about fifth or sixth, but managed to recover and rounded the top mark second, and took the lead again in the downwind.


Thats all !!!


Sean

Thailand Platu Open OD Champioanship 2010

We had a strong showing last year 2009 finishing 2nd overall!. This time we will try harder!
Its going to start tomorrow I am taking my laptop there this time around,
will post updates at the end of everyday =)

11th March (Thursday) - 08:00-20:00 Registration, weigh in and practice course

12th March (Friday) - One Day Sponsors Regatta -

08.00-09.15 Registration

09.15 Skippers' Briefing

11.00 First warning signal of the day (3 races planned)

17.00 Reception and Awards at Ocean Marina Yacht Club

13th March (Saturday) - OPEN Race Day 1

08.00-09.15 Registration

09.15 Skippers' Briefing

11.00 First warning signal of the day (4 races planned)

14th March (Sunday) - OPEN Race Day 2 -

11.00 First warning signal of the day (3 races planned)

17.00 app. Awards Ceremony at Ocean Marina Yacht Club

November 2009 till Now March 2010 - RMSIR , RLYC, Straits Regatta, ETF

dear blog, ppl

I apologize for not updating enough, especially year end and start of the year is always full of sailing events!

Frankly I was disheartened, for sailing result isn't up to the standard we set. so this is going to be short.

I left out some posts, They are

The Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta 2009 -November
It was just before the Monsoon Cup qualifier,the regatta just got tougher this year, the sea was pretty rough this time around and the wind was blowing up to 30 knots, had a good regatta competing against kukukerchu the eventual class winner, EOW skandia and Happy Endings.


The Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2010 - January
Not much entries this year, but nevertheless a great regatta where on Mata Hari we didn't sailed with our regular crew, We had new crews and also shifted some of the regular crew around, it brought in some enthusiasm to our Team but it wasn't enough to win our class, our new crew includes Elena Tan , Tom(Rizal) , Bulat (Izzad), Syed. They did a fantastic job despite sailing first time on the boat.

The Singapore Strait Regatta - January
This was my first Singapore Strait Regatta, and it was held in Batam island, Indonesia.
Was invited by Yazid and Jun to join them on Rip Jaw, a beneteau first 42.7. I definitely had a great time there, had my first cigar, and plenty of white wines. The crew are a good bunch to sail with.
Manage to also gained some carbon fibre knowledge from Jeremy. And despite the freak accident I had there. I was really glad, I took time off work to join them.


Everything that Floats (ETF) - March
This is one of the fun regattas that my club Royal Selangor Yacht Club throws every year to invites new sailor into the club. This time I brought some friends ! I had Lindsay, Ronan, Sheila , Tien ,Dansyee with me. Now I am warmed up before heading to Platu Open tomorrow with Rolf ,David , Ai li and Yew!

Sean

Malaysian Match Racing Championship 2009 Monsoon Cup Qualifer Day 4

Day 4

We lost the semi-finals in straight sets to Hazwan, with this lost natuarally comes the question of how we did we lose it?

Before the answar ,we won the petite finals and came in a reputable 3rd in the Malaysian Match Racing Championship.


We were complacent I guess, the semi-finals were one of those days where you just couldnt keep up with the boat speed of your opponent. I believe all sailors have expericen in that, that your boat just couldnt keep up the pace.
Besides boat speed and boat handling I do attribute part of our lost to a bad strategy.


What could we had have done differently?


First mistake was picking Hazwan as our semi-finalist opponent, for reason we know that the first part of the day at Pulau Duyong is going to be light wind, and still we chose an opponent lighter than us.


Second was picking the wrong boat, the boat did served us well in the Round Robin 1, but we did reported a leaking keel then, and the result do shows it was a bad idea to use it again.

On the Petite Final we chose a different boat and we felt less vibration compared to the first boat and won the race without having too worry too much about boat speed.

And another mistake on boat picking, was that in these event, sponsors comes and goes, new sponsors do means new spinnaker.



but a big congratulation to Hazwan for winning the Malaysian Match Racing Championship 2009, their boat speed are fast with very good boat handling skills by the crew,


Big Thanks to

AC Law (http://www.aclaw.my/) our Main Sponsor

Gareth Cooke/SubZero Images, for all the amazing picture taken of us!

T-Best and RURRUM Commnunications for forwarding us an invitation and organising such a great event that places a dream on young sailors of Malaysians.

Royal Selangor Yacht Club - Sailing Committee and all members of the yacht club!


With this lost, We are very detemine to come back stronger next year!


Cheers
Sean

Malaysian Match Racing Championship - Monsoon Cup Qualifier Day 1 to 3

We are through to the semi finals!!!
Koo Racing Team - AC Law are in the Semi Finals!

Day 1,

Having not sailed together as a team before, there is some concern how we will work as a Team.
In fact we only got our first team photo on day 1 ! and we have been out of the match racing scene for 2 years now.

We only managed a match on day 1, where we go against putrajaya 5 O. They are a relatively a new team. Therefore we managed to win comfortable with them having a blag flag after they failed to do the second penalty immediately after the start.

The black flag gave us lot of time to work on our boat handling,moves and team work, which we needed very badly.


Day 2.

We were quite confident at the end of the first day but we were put firmly back to the ground on the first match of day 2 against Team Navy 1. We lost the match, but I personally see it as wake up call for us. This is how they beat us to the line, pre start we gave them a penalty, then they started in front of us, a few tacking duels, we kinda screwed up one of the tack, they surge ahead.

No spinnaker allowed, so it was basically a tight reach back to the mark, after that match we felt were very disappointed and very restricted of not having a spin to fly.

we went back to the drawing board, rectifying all our mistakes after the defeat and then bounced back immediately to win all the remaining matches in day 2 and joint top the leader board with Sail Putrajaya.

Day 3,

We carried the momentum from day 2, continuing winning all our races convincingly and finish top of the round robin 1 leader board!





We will face Team Taring Pelangi in the Semifinal tomorrow!

out
sean

HELP Sailing Club - Sailing Day !

Last Saturday 17th October was fantastic day for me, I was invited by Ai li to go sailing with her bunch of Help Sailing Club members and that kinda gave me a reason to wake up on a Saturday Morning.


It was a great day! For the sun was kind and the wind was blowing. There were lots of them,like around 15-ish people, and the lucky three who managed to go onboard with us are Jeff, Fred and Wei Wen.

We are suppose to instill sailing interest into them for this is their first time on board a sail boat! And what better boat to do just that than our Platu where everyone have to be involve to sail the boat.

All three of them didn't take much time to learn the basics of tacking and jibing maneuvers. Wei wen was on the main sail trim, while Fred and Jeff were taking care of the front sail.

On our way back we even managed to spot some dolphins,
and that really made my day, for all the time that I have sailed at port klang, this is actually my first time spotting a dolphin here.

Sean

Built up to the Malaysian Match Racing Championship 2009 - Monsoon Cup 2009 Qualifier

I have been thinking..

Ever Since we completed our registration for the Malaysian Match Racing Championship I have been trying to fill in the remaining 11 slots of Teams, trying to figure out who is going to compete with us the get the qualifying slot for the Monsoon Cup 2009.

For Teams that I am certain we will see..

1. Team RSYC/99°/View Point - Skippered by Rolf Heemskerk ; I will rate Rolf's Team as one of the favorites. I personally sailed with Rolf before, and he is a very a good helmsman, whats lacking in the Team are the Match Racing Experience, other that than that I am sure they will have a great time at the qualifying

2.Team RSYC- Skippered by Tom(Rizal) - I have known Tom ever since I started sailing and that was 14 years ago, and I can tell you guys, that he is good, he was the Malaysia's Sea games Representative for platu in 2007 ; and I will say he definitely have a chance at the Championship.

3 & 4 .Navy1 & Navy 2-I am not sure about Navy2, but I am very sure that Navy1 will be skippered by Razali, Razali's Team was the finalist in 2007 and the semi finalist in 2008.

Teams that we could see,

5. Perak Sailing Team- Skippered by Nurul Ain. Last Year Winner! Ayin, have told me that she intends to compete, but nothing is confirm yet, but if she turns out, as the reigning champion, she is automatically one of the favourites.

6 MYA KFC Team-Skippered by Razman. Last Year finalist, I have not much info on this guy but after some google'ling I found out he is quite active and have been winning some platu races. Since he was a finalist last year, and he was quoted as the team to beat by the Navy in a recent Newspaper cutting, we will just put him as a favourite.


Other Teams we may see.

7.Sail Putrajaya skippered by Elia, She was crown the most promising sailor in the recent Monsoon Cup Sailing School at putrajaya, I rate her as having a chance at the championship.

8.Team Asian Yachting skippered by Ayin from RSYC!. This year Asian yachting.com is sending a team and will be skippered by Ayin form the Royal Selangor yacht Club!.I rate her as having a chance at the championship.

9. Duyong Heritage Sailing Team - Since they were one of the teams who went for the Monsoon Cup Sailing School at putrajaya, I believe we may see them

10&11, Team Johor and Team Terengganu, these 2 teams have been part of the Malaysian Match Racing Championship since 2006, lets hope we see them too.


Finally our Team
12 Koo Racing Team-Ac Law, Skippered by Jeremy Koo.

thats all =P
more posts coming up

regards
Sean