Thai Team Shows Their Superiority

Day three concluded the Allied Pickfords Hobie Asian Championships with surprisingly light and shifting winds compared to the previous days of the event, testing both the competitors and Race Committee’s nerves over three races. In the Hobie 16 fleet, Damrongsak and Sakda VONGTIM (THA) again demonstrated their superiority by clinching two bullets and only letting up in the final race where they finished second.

Closest challengers Melcolm HUANG and Chung PEI-QUN (SIN) were out of their usual form during the second race of the day, only to come back strong and win the final race of the regatta. Likewise Bruce TARDREW and Sarah TURNBULL (AUS) recovered from an initial slump to finish in second and third place in the last two races. Hong Kong favourites Tong SHING and Kimberly LO got off to a strong start and finished second in the first race of the day, but sadly suffered setbacks in the subsequent races.

Thailand Also Take Tiger Title

Antony CHAPMAN and Nigel HARRIS (THA) again asserted their dominance over the Hobie Tiger fleet, winning two out of three races in the day. Peter DAVIES and John MCLENNAN (HKG) got off to a lacklustre start to recover strongly in races two and three. However this proved to be insufficient for them to retain their previous year’s title.

With eleven races completed, this year’s event belonged to Thailand as the VONGTIM brothers retaining their title as Hobie 16 Asian Champions in front of HUANG and TARDREW ; and Royal Varuna Yacht Club’s CHAPMAN and HKHC Commodore HARRIS were crowned Hobie Tiger Asian Champions.

The Hobie 16 competitors are already looking forward to the next major international regatta on the calendar with the upcoming Asian Games in Doha, Qatar in November.