CSC Felkin Buoy Race 2022

We kicked off the 2022 CSC North East Monsoon Sailing Festival with one of the 3 iconic passage races in our Signature Sunday Series – the Felkin Buoy Race. The route takes sailors westward past Coney Island and Marina Country Club to eventually arrive at the turning point which is Felkin Buoy, situated in the middle of the channel with the very familiar backdrop of the Pasir Gudang Port Operations. The weather conditions outdid 2021’s – with records being broken and titles retained in 3 out of the 4 classes. Records were not the only things broken this weekend, as we later found out that new entry Silhouette suffered a broken halyard, and the sailors on Viper F16 Babe had their hearts broken by a broken tiller.

Interesting fact: all boats which participated in both 2021 and 2022 editions of the Felkin Buoy Race registered quicker times this year. Red Rum One‘s timing of 02:23:06 was nearly 16 minutes faster than their 2021 attempt, claiming line honours yet again in the IRC Class. However, her efforts were not enough to prevent the chasing pack from winning on corrected time, as she eventually slipped to 6th. Waka Tere commenced her Signature Sunday Series Plate defence with a new best time and a cool victory on handicap. Born in Fire fared much better than her 2021 attempt, but still fell short – retaining her first-runner up position. Jellico‘s first Signature Sunday Series ended on a winning note, as she registered as the 3rd boat on the podium on corrected time. The little J24 struggled in the gusty conditions, and will definitely appreciate kinder winds in the following weeks.

23 minutes – that was how much quicker Remington was compared to last year. A strong contender for the overall Signature Sunday Series PY Title, the S&S 42 is off to a good start – placing 1st just 2 minutes ahead of Simba. Although Sangaree performed much better than 2021 where she was first runner-up, the Holland 44 could not break into the top 3 on corrected time – just 3 minutes shy of 3rd placed Olmeto. Other notable mentions – congratulations to Silhouette & Rebel Rebel for completing their first Felkin Buoy Race! Some of you may recognize Silhouette – a Beneteau First 40.7 previously named Sy. Endeavour from the now defunct Keppel Bay Sailing Academy. She was recently refurbished and sports a new set of black cruising-racing sails. Despite the halyard malfunction, she finished the race in a very respectable time of under 3 hours. Also worth mentioning is Sequin, who eclipsed her 2021 performance to finish 6th out of 10 boats – an outstanding improvement! We look forward to seeing these boats racing more often in the coming weeks.

In the Multihull Class, Jaza Too, had a record-breaking achievement, scoring a personal best 24 minutes quicker than her last. Kaze put her poor performance in 2021 behind her, sailing well to claim a close 2nd. All hopes were dashed for the Corsair 970, as Buay Kao La‘s performance was not enough for her to breach the top 2, settling for 3rd.

The only Class where the defending champion did not return to contest, the Beach Catamarans crowned a new Felkin winner for 2022, Blue Bomb! The Nacra 5.0 were sailed by not-so-new sailors Scott McCook & Alice Lim. The pair were unmatched on the course, at times putting pressure on the line honours winner, Nacra 20. The Nacra 20’s efforts were just enough to fend off her smaller cousin, the Nacra 15, which completed the podium in 3rd. While the Nacras sweeped the podium spots, the F16s struggled in the gusty conditions, resulting in some capsize action throughout the course. We are glad all sailors returned safely with minimal injuries.

Congratulations to all the winners, we’re so excited to be back racing in this glorious NE Monsoon weather! See you next week for the Round Ubin Race.

Results

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