PATTAYA– After seven very competitive races, Rolf Heemskerk, a Dutchman from Malaysia,
won the “Thailand Platu OPEN Championship 2010” that took place in Pattaya, Thailand, from the 14th o the 15th of March. He skippered “The Fox” to victory, fighting against very talented sailors like Thomas Sorensen, from Denmark, who arrived second on “The Stingray”, and Geof Kassidy from Australia, who concluded third skippering “Wikki”.
In its fourth year Kevin Scott - Thailand Platu National Class Association coordinator - organised the “Thailand One Design Platu Championship” sailed out of the Ocean Marina Yacht Club, Pattaya, a few Kilometres from Bangkok. The Thailand Platu OPEN is the first round and the main event of the Quantum Sails Platu Championship of Thailand 2010.
As Scott reported :“There were entries from Italy, Denmark, Russia and Australia compete with the best Asian teams to produce a truly international competition. Good winds, ultra competitive crews and plenty of sun made sure everyone enjoyed the fun. Sportsmanship was also at a high and although it was very noisey at some of the marks almost all the teams raced with racing, not protesting, in mind.
This year the organizers experimented with a full practice day, followed by a one day feeder event before the two day OPEN to give crews who travelled a long way, more value for money and four days on the water. The Blue Seas Marine feeder event turned out to be a big success with crews getting the benefit of serious racing but all with an air of camaraderie and international spirit“.
Edoardo Barni, the Platu 25 International President, wanted to underline the importance of this event, taking part in this prestigious regatta: “Sailing in Pattaya was a wonderful experience. Fantastic to meet the “people of the smile” as well as guys coming from Australia, New Zeland, Holland, UK, Malaysia, and so on. The technical level of competitors and the wind conditions were very good. All happened in a modern and comfortable Marina with inside a five star hotel. The only regret is that too many boats didn’t take part in the competition, despite Kev's efforts and skilled organization. So I hope to share the experience with other teams or crews coming there next year, taking care of a more targeted communication”.
FIRST DAY
As Kevin Scott reported: “In the fists day of regatta Rolf Heesmkerk showed why he was a previous National Champion and equal first for the Open Championship in a previous year by scoring 4 bullets. He was able to stay out of trouble and with a fast boat and excellent tactics he was able to control the fleet. The Russian team “The weasel” leaded by Alexei Buarya soon learned how to sail the courses and were well in with a podium chance with 5,4,6,6 .
The Australian boys were very fast but unfortunately an accident on board meant a dislocated shoulder and an enforced change of crew, giving them 11,3,4,3. However , The Ferret , the current OPEN Champions, suffered an even bigger blow ‘before’ the start gun when their skipper, Scott Duncanson, was unable to compete due to the actions of the Red Shirt demonstrations in Bangkok. A hurried search for extra crew included Eduardo Barni , the International Platu Class president who took over main from Jeremy Chase who took the helm. Results of 6,6,2,2 showed that they needed two races to get into the groove. Thomas Sorenesen came all the way from Denmark with his foredeck crew and built the rest of the team from scratch. Results of 4,2,3,5 confirmed the potential he showed us all during the feeder event .
At the end of day one Rolf on The Fox was on 4 ,Thomas on Stingray was on14, Jeremy Chase on The Ferret was on 16 and the Australians on 21 . With a drop to follow it was still all to play for if the Fox could be tamed” .
SECOND DAY
“In the second day” - Scott continued- “the wind was really picking up and was presenting massive unpredictable shifts which gave the RO plenty to do. On one occasion his course had to be changed 80 degrees within minutes of the gun . Only his experience and patience meant he gave us good courses throughout the two days and we congratulate him on a job well done.
Rolf started the day by continuing his unbeatable form and won race 5. Only when he saw the Championship within his grasp did he produce a 2 and a 10 and there was nothing any one else could do to beat him . The Australians produced a consistent 3,3,3 set of results which put them third overall. The Danes produced 4,1,2 to secure a very well earned second overall . The Ferret suffered a few handling problems on day two but got a consolation win in the last race narrowly beating Stingray to secure fourth overall . The Russian team suffered a main halyard loss and missed two races but were otherwise always in the top half of the fleet .Good to see three, all Thai, teams competing and although the organizers are working hard to continually lift the international element and raise the competitive level they also hope that Thai teams will continue to come and enjoy these events“.
Next event in the series will be The Top of The Gulf Regatta from the April to the 4th May at Ocean Marina Pattaya.
RESULTS OF 7 RACES WITH ONE DROP SCORE
PLATU 130 001 Team Fox THE FOX ROLF HEEMSKIRK 1-1-1-1-1-2-10 7 OPEN CHAMPION 2010
PLATU 117 002 Team Sorensen THE STINGRAY THOMAS SORENSEN 4-2-3-5-4-1-2 16 2ND
PLATU 108 003 Team Cassidy WIKKI GEOFF CASSIDY 11-3-4-3-3-3-3 19 3RD
PLATU 124 004 Team Ferret THE FERRET JEREMY CHASE 6-6-2-2-7-4-1 21 4TH
PLATU 103 005 Team Emma Matilde xx EMMA MORTEN JACOBSEN 2-5-5-11-2-6-4 24 5TH
PLATU 120 006 Team Russia THE WEASEL ALEXEI BUARYA 5-4-6-6-11-11-5 37 6TH
PLATU 131 007 Team SMU 1 131 SHAUN TOH 3-10-7-4-5-9-9 37 7TH
PLATU 257 008 Team Pine Pacific PINE PACIFIC K ITHINAI 7-7-11-8-8-7-6 43 8TH
PLATU 122 009 Team Le Vent 1 22 K POTE 8-9-8-7-6-8-8 45 9TH
PLATU 114 010 Team Puma PUMA KIKUCHI SAN 10-11-9-10-9-9-5-7 47 10TH
PLATU 118 011 Team Yachtfix 118 KIRATE ASUKUL 10-11-9-10-10-10-11 60 11TH
For more information: Kev Scott Thailand Platu National Class Association co-ordinator
NOR’s and full Championship information on
www.OMYCsailing.com