Scott Duncanson skippered The Ferret to victory in last weekend's Thailand Platu Open Championship. This was the first of a series of four events comprising this year's Raimon Land One Design Platu Championship. This series is fast becoming THE regional series for all top yachtsmen to take part in, and the quality of the entrants is rapidly increasing as word spreads.
11 identical Platu yachts took part, and the quality of the entrants was very high. Rolf Heemskerk, a Dutchman from Malaysia, is the current National Platu champion and Nils Rasmilovic is a world class Etchells sailor. Also, the Malaysian Navy sent over a strong team as did the Singapore Management University. The rest of the teams were local entries including three all-Thai crews.
There were four races on Saturday, and changeable winds kept the tacticians very busy. As predicted, racing was close. After 6 races and going into the last race, Rolf Heemskerk was leading Scott Duncanson by one point only. It was all to play for now between these two champions. But disaster for Rolf at the start when he crossed the line early and had to turn back and restart. This let the fleet get away and although he got back to finish fifth, Scotty Duncason took the last race and therefore the Championship for the second year in a row, by just one point.
The winds were strong and the racing fast and furious. The Singaporeans showed that it does not take 20 years experience to have a chance of winning by coming third overall, and the Malaysian Navy team, although new to this area, put up a good fight to take fifth. Nils Razmilovic had never sailed this type of boat before and showed his talents by coming fourth overall. Magic Dragon, Steve Dover was not so lucky as the strong winds brought down his mast and ended his racing for the weekend.
Watch out for the next race in the series, The Top of The Gulf Regatta in Pattaya 30 April-4th May. -- Kevin Scott in Sail-World.com
Final results:
1. The Ferret, Scott Duncanson, 10 points
2. The Stingray, Rolf Heemskirk, 11
3. The Fox, Christopher Lim, 18
4. Yachtpro, Nils Razmilovic, 18
5. The Weasel, Mohamed Rozali, 33
6. Emma, Morten Jackobsen, 36
7. Gulf Charters, Ray Waldron, 39
8. Pine Pacific, Ithinai Yingsiri, 40
9. Platu 122, Pote Suyasin, 43
10. Magic Dragon, Steve Dover, 58
11. Puma, Kobayashi, 62