During the skippers briefing a big guy called Nick stood up and said he was looking for a ride. At the opening party, at the brasilian restaurant Zico's, we met again and he was recruited by our tactician Aey. This proved to be to everybodies satisfaction and hopefully Nick will crew again on Thairaver.
Racing started with a "BANG".
5 Seconds after the start of the first race, the line was set in such a way that a port tack start was favorite, we had a collision with Lunch Cutter II from Singapore. Since we were on port tack and they on starboard, Lunch CutterII protested us for obvious reasons. We presumed we were wrong so took our 720 penalty as soon as we had room, and proceeded with the race. Damage at first sigth to Thairaver was loss of the bowsprit, loss of the wind meter and cosmetic damage. So we lost the use of our Asymmetrical spinnakers at the start of the regatta.
After about 15 min into the race we heard via the VHF that Lunch Cutter II was retiring from the race, somebody had hit the deck with the head and they wanted make sure nothing serious was wrong, which it later proved to be. We offered our help, but were told they would manage, the commitee had already dispatched a fast rescue boat.
We still managed to finish 3 in that race, a passage race with a northerly course. Immediately after the race I went looking for the skipper of LC II, Keith, and offered my sincere apologizes and help if any required. We were all relieved to hear that the girl who was medivaced, was doing fine. She got away with the shivers. We all raised a glass and a solid friendship was born.
Next day the course was set for windward - leeward, around the cans. 2 Races were scheduled. Moonshadow, an elliot 7 sportboat in our class, wanted to take advantage of our misery on the first day and protested us for using a spinnaker pole when flying a spinnaker. However we again finished 3 for the day. There was a brief hearing of the protest Moonshaddow held against us. During this hearing I offered them the price of the second race, so they didn't have to waist the jury's and my time. But they choose to keep the protest up. Very childish and un-sportsmanlike.
Both protest hearings were scheduled for the lay-day.
The third day was another beautifull passage race, this time with a southernly course. We tried succesfully to use the spinnaker pole as a bowsprit. It was quite exciting to see the pole being bend, but it didn't break ( a little bit bended, but that raise its value as an aftermarket part). Again we finished 3 for the day, giving us a solid 3 overall. We were quite happy with this as the leaders were a brand new Elan 340 and a X-372, a bit out of our league.
On lay-day both protest hearings were planned at 17.00. First one was the protest of Moonschaddow, who by that time were the joke of the regatta, since that was to be a brief hearing. The international jury had discussed with the IRC official if it was legal for Thairaver to use a spinnaker pole, and was advised it was. The night before Phil, our IRC official measurer, had gone to Thairaver to measure the pole and verify if all cushions and batteries were in place, which ofcourse was the case.
Therefore the jury chairman, Mr. Howard Elliott, advised Moonshaddow to withdraw their protest, as there was no ground. After 10 min discussion between Mr.Howard and Moonshaddow, they reluctantly did withdraw their protest.
The hearing for the protest Lunch Cutter II was quite serious, as there was serious damage to both vessels and possible injury. The hearing took 2,5 hours in total, in which time the rest of the crew was enjoying the BBQ offered by the management of Tradewinds. A special thanks goes to Mr. John Vause, who helped me trough my first serious protest hearing. To everybodies surprise Thairaver was put in the right by the jury. A complete jury report can be found at the protest results page of the regatta website. Ofcourse many a glass was cheered on this, but on returning to our hotel the party mood quickly vanished as we found out our dinghy had gone.
The fourth day the race commitee had another passage race for us. The course was the same as the first race, a port tack start. We were OCS but the commitee didn't mentioned us in the first recall. Only after being almost 10 min in the race we were notified we had to re-start. This didn't get us demotivated, as we the press onboard, in person of Mr. Chris Howarth of the magazine Fragant Harbour. We managed to get back to the fleet and slowly took over our, by then main, competitor, Moonshaddow. But only after the second mark, which was later used as the finish due to lack of wind. The wind almost completely died but the current remained very strong, so Moonshadoow overtook us again. Since we were not real clear where the finish was, we kept on sailing, maybe drifting is a better word, until we finally found out we had finished already. So in we went on our beloved 5 hp, We arrived after dark and after Happy Hour. Arriving at the party, our host Andy came to me asking if we had any problems. I explained we lost our dinghy and had to find a ride ashore. With a smile he advised me that the guys on HiFi had found a dinghy floating, which matched the discription of ours. What a relieve that was, and reason for a good party.
Ofcourse our bosun Sean was more then willing to give the commitee a hand during the prizegivings, as he had be doing the previous days, to everybody's amusement. However Andy asked me to keep Sean away from the stage during the closing party, as there were a lot of official guests, who all had a word to say.
Upon returning to our hotel we saw a few crew of HiFi , on their return to their boat, and asked if they indeed found our dinghy, which they confirmed and said they kept it safely at their boat. I asked them to wait a minute, ran to our bungalow, grapped the champagne we won on the second day, ran back to the beach were the HiFi boys were waiting and offered them my blessings and champagne. THANKS AGAIN GUYS!!!!!!
Next morning when we came for breakfast we were very pleased to see our little dinghy back on the beach.
The last day, 2 more windward-leeward race were planned, to ensure everybody was in well in time for the closing ceremony.
First race we were 3 again, securing us a 3 overall place. Moonshaddow didn't start the last race, they couldn't accept their poor preformace in a sportsman way. We therefore decided to stay well clear of the fleet, and start on port tack. After the start we all took it easy and yours truely went for a nap on deck. I was woken up by excited voices around me, and was pleasantly surprised when Aey told me we were in second position, even tough the wind was dying fast.
The race commitee informed us of that we had the second place, and it was our decision if we wanted to finish or take it as it was. We gladly accepted their offer as the wind was completely gone by then and were drifting towards the finish. Most of all we had ran out of our beloved Heinekens, so were very eager to get in.
We still had to get the boat ready for the trip back.
The closing ceremony started well, setted in the beatiful garden of the regatta main sponsor, Central Samui. Until the weather gods decided to play a little bit and blessed us with a tropical downpour.
The management of Central Samui were well prepared and had a back-up plan ready.
Everybody and all was moved inside and the pricegiving was held in the spacious lobby, in a different format but still worthy of a splendid regatta.
We were very pleased with overall result, especially since we were the only Ocean Marina based yacht with a prize. Discusions started about what the out come would have been, if we hadn't lost the bowsprit and could have used the big "red one". I guess we will have to wait until next years regatta to find out.
Next day saw us flying homewards again. Due to time constrains I wasn't able to join my little beauty on her trip back home, but left this in the capable hands of Aey and Nick. They took a day and night off at koh Toa to relax from the strains of yacht racing, enjoying local ...................
Hopefully next year I will be able to sail back and see why they had a smile on their face when returning. Until then, my guess is as good as yours.....
All in all a great regatta and we hope to be there again next year!!!
until they filled a childish protest.
