Team SMU Champion in Singapore Laser SB3 Fleet Match Racing Regatta 2008

For those who don't know what match racing is about, it is basically equal boats sailing one on one with each other and whoever finishes the race in front of the other wins the match. Format is slightly different from fleet racing that we usually do. It starts off usually with one or a double round robin with many races in it, and the top four ranked boats at the end will be entered into the semifinals, and the winners will face each other in the final. in the knockout stage, it will usually be in a best of 3 or 5 races format. One thing to note in match racing is that there is a pre-start elemient to it. Meaning before the start gun goes, the 2 boats will engage with each other to try and gain an advantage to start ahead of the other team on the start line. This is usually the most exciting part of the race and requires very good communication among the whole crew.

This time around, six teams were invited to take part in the 1st ever match racing regatta organised by the Singapore SB3 fleet. Our school was one of the six. The other teams included, Vladimir Borstnar's team our old J24 namesis, a german team skippered by Hannes, an olympic level sailor, Team NUS skippered by SEA Games Medalist, Alvin Hong, a team from Changi Sailing Club skippered by James Cole (winner of our WCSR multihull division), and the last slot was taken by John Heng with our very own Vivian Neo (Just graduated) in his team (lets call them the Singapore Press Holdings team, coz john and the other guy are working for SPH, i think). The boats used are SB3 (like duh...) and are sailed 3 up. Our team: Me - Helm, Maxi - Main, Justin Wong - everything else.

The event was held over 2 days. Sat and Sun. Unfortuantely for me, my stats mid term fell on saturday and i had to get my best friend Xu Yuan Zhen to stand in for me. Maxi took over the helm and on day 1, topped the round robin series with 5 wins against the other 5 boats, putting us in 1st place.

Day one round robin series ended in this order:
SMU
Germs
Borstnar Brownies
CSC
NUS
SPH

In this regatta, the format is slightly different, and it's like this:
1st vs 2nd
3rd vs 4th
5th vs 6th
Best of 3 races will be sailed.

So, we were up against the the germs today to fight for 1st place....

Race 1:
Started at the starboard end, entered the pre-start area bang on time. the germs were late and we tried to keep them from entering (if we manage to do that for 2 min the get a penalty). we failed, and after that the sneaky germs slowed their boat as we were hunting them, and we went overshot to the wrong side of them. they eventually managed to start infront of us, and tried to cover us tack for tack in a tacking duel. midway up the 1st beat, rain engulfed us and the wind picked up significantly. we managed to split tack from them eventually and head to the favoured side. when we crossed paths again, we were ahead, and lead them all the way to the finish to make it 1-0.

Race 2:
Wind strength dropped and we started at the port end and entered the prestart area about 2 seconds late. met the germs in the middle of the start line. we eventually forced them to round the big committee boat with one minute to go, and we chose to head for the pin end (which was the favoured of the starting line) for the start. the germs started at the starboard end and we started in a strong position at the port end. we lead throughout the course and made it 2-0 to wrap up the victory.

There was free beer after that as usual sponsored by brewerks. we filled the huge perpetual trophy we won with beer and passed it around. oh yes overall results:

1st: SMU
2nd: Germs
3rd: Borstnar Brownies
4th: CSC
5th: NUS
6th: SPH

Last but not least, special mention has to be given to both Priscillia and James who volunteered their time to help out in running the regatta. And Lizzie Maxted for helping us take photos. Thanks guys!! Ok Back to my BGS and MA project...

Cheers
Captain Jack Sparrow