Day 2 of racing took sailors on the Tiger Challenge, sending participants on a beautiful passage to Harimau and back. With it being the longest course available, the race committee needed the wind gods to cooperate to ensure sailors returned to the bar before nightfall. Luckily for everyone, the winds delivered, blowing strong and true from the South-West for the whole day!

Acing the start was Southern Light, whose nimble manoeuvres at the pin-end resulted in a well-timed start right by the yellow buoy. Both Shardana and Southern Light took an early lead, pulling away from the fleet. Despite being sandwiched between Shardana and Windancer right after the start, Rainbow Dream sailed extremely well on the downwind leg to Harimau, overtaking everyone to clinch the day 2 double.

In the PY Class, Defiance defied all odds to clinch victory on handicap, thus keeping overall leaders Minx on their toes going into the final day. An excellent move to sail on a long tack towards mainland on the upwind leg paid off handsomely, keeping her in pressure all the way to the finish line, overtaking Southern Light in the process. The latter sailed a strong downwind leg, but struggled with the lighter winds on the return beat. Despite that, she was consistent, making it a second 3rd in 2 days. The decision not to fly a spinnaker and sticking close to Besar Island on the downwind leg could have been the main reasons behind yesterday’s 1st-runner up Windancer‘s (or now affectionately known as “Angin Joget” by the locals) poor result, trailing behind the rest of the fleet. We are certain Angin Joget will make a roaring return tomorrow!

With the shortest and longest course ticked off the list, we can expect the contest tomorrow to be a race around Rawa and back, completing the 3 signature passages of this Regatta!

IRC Day 2 Besar 2019
PY Day 2 Besar 2019

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The 6th CSC@Besar Regatta’s Passage Race up to Pulau Besar could be renamed “A Series of Unfortunate Events” – as the event ruthlessly takes many casualties in various forms. Starting with an early surrender from the mighty Sangaree, her campaign ended even before the start of the Passage Race – due to a lost propeller on her trip to the start line. This was followed by double trouble for Shardana, who not only survived a scare from her anchor dragging during immigration clearance at Tanjung Pengelih – but also had to tackle an engine issue enroute to Pulau Besar.

Joining Sangaree on the retiree list were Windrose and Defiance, both retiring at different points after the start. Lack of crew and insufficient training were some of the reasons brought up by the defeated – an indication of how the seemingly harmless 90Nm overnight coastal passage can bring misfortune if you are not prepared.

It was not all gloomy for the fleet, As Zanzibar once again breezed to a 3rd consecutive Line Honours, together with victory in the IRC Class. New entrants Rainbow Dream hugged the mainland for most of their passage up north, capitalizing on Shardana‘s woes to take 2nd place after corrected time – a great start for their virgin Besar experience! Amongst all the participants in the PY Class, Minx was the only surviving yacht. Not only did they win, but they sailed superbly – reading the wind and tide conditions well to finish ahead of Rainbow Dream and Shardana from the IRC Class!

With the South-Westerly Monsoon slowly but surely settling in, we are quietly hopeful for some good breeze over the next 3 days of round-island races. Southern Light and Windancer returned from their cruising adventures and arrived earlier this afternoon to join the party, boosting the PY fleet by 2. Looking forward to a week of great sailing 🙂

2019 CSC@Besar Regatta Passage Results