Twilight Series II - Race 1 | Changi Sailing Club

6 days after a successful Sunday Series racing on 12th July, we conducted our first Twilight Race for 2020. Despite the lacklustre and shifty winds, it was still a fantastic day out on water – attracting 19 boats on the start line.

With the race committee putting up the Red Course Flag, it was a slow crawl for all classes eastwards to Changi Buoy. Winds picked up as the boats sailed pass Changi Creek, taking the fleet on a short beat to round Changi Buoy and commencing their long downwind sail to Squance.

Red Rum bounced back from a poor start to take the lead in the IRC Class, further increasing the margin over the subsequent legs to clinch the first bullet for the Twilight Racing in 2020! It was an excellent performance, finishing ahead of the Multihulls as well. Jong Dee struggled with the shifty and patchy winds on the upwind leg from Squance, but did enough to stay ahead of 2019 Twilight defending champions Waka Tere and take 2nd place. The Nelson 10 struggled to keep up with the 2 faster boats in the course, eventually having to settle for 3rd. New IRC entrants Adona made the best of a tricky course, and completed the race in 4th.

The difficulties were amplified in the PY Class, with 3 boats missing the time limit by a few minutes! With only 1 minute and 22 seconds to spare, Remington was the last boat to cross the finish line within 2.5hrs. At the top end of the fleet, Sangaree displayed some good boat speed in the remaining 2 legs to power ahead and secure 1st place both across the line and on handicap. Shardana took a distant 2nd place, trailing by 7 minutes on elapsed time. It was a joy to see the return of Bound to Please, skippered by Nick Jones. Though a little rusty, Nick and team managed a commendable 3rd place on corrected time, rounding up the podium finishers.

The Multihull fleet was represented by 2 Corsairs and 1 Weta – of which, 2 have recently been crowned champions:

Cicak – 2019 Sunday Series & Twilight Overall Winner
Itchy-Go – 2020 SailFest Regatta Winner

Despite not having raced for months, Jaza Too did an amazing job to catch up on the final leg to finish, nearly overtaking Cicak and eventually triumphing against her 2 more decorated competitors on corrected time.

Balqis II conquered a fleet of retirees, nearly ending up one herself, as she followed the initial 2 leading boats (Stray Catz & Nacra 5.8) to the beach. Thankfully she realised her mistake and continued the race; becoming the only beach catamaran which completed the course successfully.

It was another fantastic weekend out on water – great to see all participants keeping to the maximum number of 5 persons on board and maintaining safe distancing when possible. We would like to remind all boaters to follow this good example and do the same when you take your boat out with friends and family.

Congratulations to all the winners and see you next week (26th July) for Race 2 of our Sunday Series II!

Results

IRC Race 1_Twilight Series 2_2020

PY Race 1_Twilight Series 2_2020

MH Race 1_Twilight Series 2_2020

BC Race 1_Twilight Series 2_2020