19th Singapore Straits Regatta - Day 3
by Icarus Sailing Media 1 Feb 2013 19:16 GMT
30 January - 2 February 2013
The third day of the 19th Straits Regatta was the last day of the athletes' stay at Batam Island. But before the boats could make their way back to Singapore, another inshore and a coastal race were scheduled for this morning. Once again, the inshore race started on time, and conditions were excellent for racing – with a breeze of up to 18 knots, and some satisfyingly big waves. This made the last Batam race, one of the highlights of the Regatta so far.
All teams vigorously pursued a good result in today's largely stable weather. Overall performance depended primarily on building up boat speed, as well as in handling. Tomorrow however, in Singapore, the wind is expected to be quite shifty. Things will certainly become all the more challenging for sailors; yet students from the Singapore Management University (SMU) expect to do very well, no matter what the weather conditions will be. The institution has no less than 5 boats competing at this regatta, but the SMU's strong showing, in recent competitions especially, is not one attributed to numbers, but to overall planning. There is an exceptional sailing component within the university's sports activities. Following not only significant interest by very many of the local students, but also intense, year-long training, the very best are then chosen to represent the University. The past two days indeed testified to their incredible skills and consistent performance. At the very least they're equals to the professional crews competing here.
Back in Singapore: the SB20's and trimarans completed a total of 4 inshore races today. These categories include boats that can achieve quite impressive speeds, and in fact the SB20's were involved in some of the fiercest battles of the Straits Regatta so far. The small size of these boats is the reason they could not participate in the crossing to Batam Island in the earlier stages of this Regatta. Yet even though these two new categories only started competing today, they still managed to swiftly reach the same number of races as the other boats, largely because of the small duration of these inshore races.
The 19th Singapore Straits Regatta reaches its final day tomorrow with two more races where many of the top spots will be decided, in what has been an extremely successful year for this world-known event, hosted in Singapore for nearly two decades.
www.straitsregatta.com