World Titles For Thailand And Singapore

At just 14 years old Keerati BUALUNG (THA) sailed to victory on his home waters in Pattaya, Thailand to claim the 2007 Open Byte World Championship title. Valerie CHIA (SIN) won the Women’s World title.

Young Thai sailor BUALUNG, a 14 year old sailing with the maturity of someone twice his age, captured the seventh Byte World Championship with a score of 22 points from the ten-race series (with two discards), seven points better than second place Herman NURFENDI (SIN). NURFENDI won four of the ten races but had a third bad race which he could not drop. The Thai team were the surprise of the regatta, sailing the Bytes for the first time and putting three in the top 12. However, it is fair to say that, between BUALUNG and NURFENDI, they dominated the regatta.

Fabio RAMOS (BRA), part of the new and upcoming Brazilian Byte Class being built by builder Armada Boats in Sao Paulo, came in third, with CHIA fourth overall and top women. Behind CHIA, Joanne TAY (SIN) came in fifth overall and second woman. Singapore rounded off a clean sweep of women’s podium with Katja BORSTNAR (SIN), who finished seventh overall.