Signature Sunday Series - Felkin Buoy Race

What an amazing way to kick-start the North-East Monsoon Sailing Festival! A consistent 12-15 knot breeze filled in early in the morning, setting the stage for a wonderful day of sailing along the East Johor Straits.

The Signature Sunday Series consist of 3 passage races unique to our locale. They are the Felkin Buoy Race, Round Tekong Race and Round Ubin Race. It has grown in participation over the years, with this year’s Felkin Buoy Race having 26 boats in participation. A downwind start for all classes made it a thrilling countdown from the first warning signal, as boats scrambled to avoid each other in the heavy winds and set up their kites at the same time.

In the IRC Class, Waka Tere and Born in Fire kept us on the edge of our seats at the finish line – with the former pulling off an overtaking maneuver on the last stretch to cross with line honours 4 seconds ahead of Born in Fire. She went on to take handicap victory as well, ahead of Born in Fire and Jong Dee in 2nd & 3rd respectively.

Sangaree survived a protest and late surge by Defiance to secure 3rd in the PY Class. This was despite winning line honours ahead of the IRC Boats. The heavier boats lapped up the conditions, as defending champions Ikaroa started off their campaign on a good note – drawing first blood by winning the Felkin Buoy Race barely a minute ahead of 2nd placed Southern Light after corrected time. If the winds stay this way over the next 2 weeks, they will be the boats to beat.

Firefly was off to a flying start for 2019, taking line honours and 3rd place on corrected time in the Cruising Multihull Class. She was bested by the blistering pace of the chasing Corsairs, as Eeepai kept it close all the way to finish for a well-deserved victory. AbraCaDeborah completed the podium in a not-too-distant 3rd.

The fastest fleet yesterday did not disappoint, as 2018 Signature Sundays Champion Stray Catz completed the course in 1hr 38mins 41secs to take 1st place in the Beach Catamaran Class. It could have been Madfish II’s victory – if not for a very bad (wide) mark rounding at Felkin, allowing Stray Catz to overtake and slip into 2nd. 3rd place went to last year’s Felkin Buoy Race winner, Persian Cat. 3 Wetas raced with us as well – with R2D2 taking 1st place comfortably ahead of The Blue Bug. We look forward to seeing more of them over the next few weeks!

Thank you everyone for participating, we’re excited to conquer the Round Tekong Race with all of you on 13th January!

Results
IRC Felkin 2019
PY Felkin 2019
Cruising Multihull Felkin 2019
Beach Catamaran & Weta Felkin 2019