Royal Varuna Yacht Club - Hobie Championship
Richard/Dave & Damrongsak/Sakda win Allied Pickfords Hobie Championships
by Peter Cummins
Maverick sponsor of yacht racing in Pattaya, Allied Pickfords, was rewarded with a first-class event last weekend at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club. The Allied Pickfords Hobie Championships of Thailand 2007, sailed off the Royal Varuna Yacht Club last Saturday and Sunday, featured two fleets evenly divided into eight craft each of the Hobie Tigers and the more-traditional Hobie Cat 16’s.
The Antipodean Tiger roared and the “new kids on the block”, Richard Eyre and Dave Littlejohn left no doubt who was the number one Hobie Tiger team. New Zealander/Canadian Richard and all-Kiwi Dave proved an ideal weight-strength ratio, to win the 2007 Hobie Tiger championship with a total of six penalty points, six clear of second-placed Jerome Collin/Xu Ming. Third, on equal 12 points was Thai entry Aroon Ruengcharubgpon/Kitsada Vongtim.
In the other event being held concurrently, Hobie Cat 16 National Champions of Thailand, Damrongsak and Sakda Vongtim from the Sattahip Naval Base, fresh from their yachting Gold in Doha, won all their races to finish on five penalty points, five ahead of Graham Southwick/Titaporn Khaipho, with Paul Renall and Kendra Norton third on 15.
Principal Race Officer Richard van den Heuvel racked up maximum flying hours out mid-stream in the Gulf, with well-organized and good courses sailed in excellent, light-to-moderate conditions.
This event represented the first time that Allied Pickfords, “the careful movers” had sponsored a yacht race and the company’s principals were well pleased with the outcome – both on and off the water.
Although there were not as many competitors as expected, there was nevertheless much close competition between the Thai-based expatriate sailors, Royal Thai Navy personnel and Sattahip sailors, New Zealanders, Australians and Hong Kongese. Furthermore, the 2007 Nationals presage the World Championships to be held later in 2007 in Fiji and, for the first time, the Asian Hobie Championships, to be held at Royal Varuna Yacht Club in early 2008.
Full results (points) are as follows:
HOBIE TIGER. 1st Eyre/Littlejohn (6); 2nd Collin/Ming(12); 3rd Aroon/Kitsada (12); 4th Antony Chapman/Alberto Cassio (21); 5th Stefaan de Vos/Morton Jakobsen(24); 6th Saranya Makinson/Peter (27); 7th Patrice Lesage/Xavier Terrien (30); 8th Andy/Caroline Wells (35).
HOBIE 16: 1st Damrongsak/Sakda (5); 2nd Southwick/Khaipho (10); 3rd Renall/Norton (15); 4th Sebastain Lehmann/Jan Eckstein (23); 5th Suwan Poopoksakul/Pairod Matturanont (25); 6th Stuart Scott/Brennan Haland Smith (27); 7th Budd/Gaile Rockey (27); 8th Ashley Lamb/Rick Delaney (40).
Pattaya Mail
