| SINGAPORE-(16-1-2003) Today we sailed in the north east monsoon with winds pushing 20 knots out of the nor’ east which with the spring tides made for the fastest passage we can remember to Nongsa Point Marina and the Riau Yacht Club in Batam. The early arrival combined with the one hour time difference allows an extended afternoon of drinking cheap beer. Tomorrow we may see who can take their drink without impairing their on the water performance.
Not everyone appreciated the strength of the ebb tide and a number of yachts were running by the lee before they rounded Senang for the fetch up to the mark boat off Gusong and the leg across the separation zones of the Singapore Strait.
The two PY Class yachts elected to start with Racing Class B and I am happy to record my bias for the looks of Dondang Sayang who looked really fine as she powered down to the turn at Senang ahead of all but two Class B yachts.
From the point of view of Class B the big boats soon disappeared over the horizon but we understand that they had no difficulties at Buffalo Rock and that most of them went outside Batu Berhenti. Yo! enjoyed the breeze to take line honours with, provisionally, Karakoa taking first place.
For the benefit of our visitors, Batu Berhenti means “halt rock” and one can readily imagine sail trading ships dropping anchor there to wait the change of the tide. Batus Berhenti can be found all around the Malay-speaking world.
A number of Class B yachts misjudged the tide at Buffalo Rock and had to gybe before they rounded however this year nobody tested the water depth too closely. The race was then a beat up to the gate beyond Berhenti with most yachts opting to avoid the chop by sailing inside the rocks, and a few, I will leave it to Gordon to reveal their names, changing their minds and losing.
Once through the gate it was a close fetch down the 80-degree rhumb line to the finish off Pulau Nongsa, and congratulations to the race officers for laying the finish line in the place stated in the instructions. If my memory serves correctly, in the past the finish has been only approximately 1 nautical mile north of the island.
We noted one or two difficulties with sails on the long, and for the smaller boats, bumpy fetch as several crews were sticking patches on sails in the marina so it seems that the fresh conditions took some toll on gear.
It is easy to relax after the finish, but that is not always wise, one blonde Australian flipped over the side during sail furling but managed to hang onto the guardrail. Perhaps she should have let go because she suffered a number of minor wounds and a lost sailing shoe. Talking of spring tides, Foxy Lady’s crew report that their instruments recorded 4.5 knots of favourable tide at the finish.
Tomorrow it is back round the cans and if, as we hope, the fresh conditions continue we can expect some exciting racing.
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