CSC One-Design Keelboat Championships 2019

The latest edition of the annual CSC J24 & Platu Championships sees a significant increase in participation, largely due to the inclusion of Maxi-77 Class for 2019. First designed and bulit in the 70s-80s, the Maxi-77 was a very popular boat in the early days of sailing in Singapore. Now limited to mostly cruising owners, the fleet will have another good reason to take to the waters for a weekend of fun racing.

Day 1 of sailing presented us with beautiful sailing conditions, a south-southeasterly breeze from a brewing storm, sans the rain. Mix in the occasional down draft of landing aeroplanes and differing currents on the race course – you get an interesting challenge for the team tacticians.

Defending Champions RSYC Dua, sailed by the NUS Varsity Sailing Team escaped a pre-regatta scare of a faulty winch, to secure 4 bullets from 4 races in the J24 Class. Their dominance on the downwind leg left competitors struggling to keep pace. Shengli was the best of the rest, skippered by SMU Sailing’s Alumni, Alexi Lim. A 3rd was their only blemish, as they sit comfortably as 1st runner up. 3rd placed Jangan Main Main also hails from SMU Sailing, but they were kept on their toes by Zaheera Hashim’s Balqis in 4th. only sperated by 2 points, these 2 boats will be keeping tabs on each other for the remaining 3 races on Day 2.

In the Platu 25 Class, SMUSC’s SMUMad survived a ripped spinnaker in race 4 and fended off stiff competition from NTUSC’s Boreas and Notus to emerge top of the table with 4 points. Usually accompanied by SMUve, SMUMad had to fly their school flag solo this year due to unresolved maintenance issues on the former. SMUve also happens to be the winner of the 2018 edition – and after Day 1’s performance, it looks like SMUMad is on course to do the same in 2019.

The newly introduced Maxi-77 Class was represented by Ambindi, Fusion & Baby Beluga. Ambindi looked the most polished of the 3, as their teamwork and experience led them to a clean sweep of races 1 to 4. Fusion came really close to pipping Ambindi over the line in Race 2, crossing only a split second after. In race 3, Fusion relinquished a considerable lead due to a poor spinnaker hoist and some confusion on board. All things considered, it was a strong first attempt by challengers Fusion & Baby Beluga – lets hope they continue to keep leaders Ambindi on their toes!

Stay tuned for the final report after Day 2 of racing!

Results Day 1

2019 CSC One-Design Day 1 Platu
2019 CSC One-Design Day 1 J24
2019 CSC One-Design Day 1 Maxi 77