20th Singapore Straits Regatta Day 1

Welcome to the 20th edition of the Singapore Straits Regatta, the third part of the Asia Sailing Circuit for the Perpetual Cup series, which includes the Raja Muda and Phuket’s King’s Cup. Sailors from Singapore and abroad will compete in 9 races over 4 days across two spectacular destinations — Singapore and Batam island in Indonesia. In Singapore the fleet was based at One degree 15 marina, a modern, fully equipped marina on Sentosa island where preparations began for the 16 nautical mile passage to Batam island in Indonesia. Nongsa Point Marina is hosting the IRC B and IRC C classes plus the one-design J24s over the next 3 days. The weather was tough with strong winds, choppy waves and strong current which all helped the boats reach their destination faster. Today was the first day of racing with ideal conditions forecast. The fleet was ready on the Nongsa Point marina for 3 windward/leeward races, and anticipation was intense amongst the crews looking forward to some great sailing ahead. With races schedule to start at 11am sharp, the crews checked over their sails and equipment for the strong weather conditions. The boats spread evenly across the first startline, and David Dimmock’s Blue Note quick off the line. Two windward marks were set, a short course for the IRC C and one-design classes, and one further out for the IRC B class. The wind increased halfway up the beat and the battles between the boats were close and exciting. Blue Note — the biggest boat of the fleet, was first to round the windward mark followed by Rekering Dream, while on the shorter course the J24 from SMU, Singapore Management University, was neck and neck with the Platu 25. As the fleet hoisted their spinnakers the wind picked up to 18 knots and the big waves made conditions trickier for the crews, causing a few boat handling issues.