2022 Sunday Series I - Race 1 | Changi Sailing Club

After concluding over 2 months of back-to-back racing during the CSC Sailing Festival, we resumed the alternate weekend Club Racing Series on Sunday, 20th March. This year, the Club introduced a split of the Keelboat PY Class, into A & B. The PY A Class is eligible for boats with a handicap score of 110 or lower, and The PY B Class is for boats with a handicap score of 111 or higher. With the Keelboat PY Class enjoying a tremendous growth and seeing stable participation numbers every weekend, the primary objectives of the split was create more opportunities for more sailing boats to win, and increase the competitiveness of boats within their respective handicap range.

In the IRC Class, it was great to see Simba return to race in her natural habitat, amongst boats of similar pedigree. Fresh from this year’s sailing festival achievements in the Keelboat PY Class, Simba has now committed to a full Sunday Series season (I, II & III) of racing in the IRC Class, pitting her skills against the likes of Waka Tere and Jong Dee. She sailed well despite not hoisting her spinnaker, and even managed to stay ahead of Red Rum One for a short period. When the numbers were crunch, the dominant dehler claimed the first win for the season, taking victory ahead of Waka Tere and Jellico in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

After the split, 4 very fast boats made up the Keelboat PY A Class – Invictus, Silhouette, Birregurra and Shardana. Citing the lack of available crew, Invictus and Birregurra made great efforts to sail the course solo, both completing the race comfortably. The Hanse 415 was the quicker of the 2, sailing well to place 2nd on the podium. Despite a botched spinnaker hoist at the mark rounding, Silhouette managed to recover well and finish the race strongly – scoring her first bullet for the series. Shardana completes the podium in 3rd.

The Keelboat PY B Class in participation consists of an eclectic mix of boats – from the grand S & S 42 (Remington) to the 2 little Catalina 22s (Nevis & Montserrat), all rated 111 or higher. With the light airs and strong outgoing tide, 2 of the 5 boats retired before the start, reducing the fleet to a 3-way contest. Remington emerged on top, sailing well to beat arch-rivals Marut by 2 minutes on corrected time. The Jeanneau Fun’s result was commendable despite her limited sail wardrobe options, and will be looking to make amends next weekend. Nevis made few mistakes to earn a well-deserved 3rd place finish. Scoring a near-perfect start, coupled with decent boat speed on the course meant that the Catalina 22 was not far from the 2 leading boats.

2 Beach Catamarans and 1 Multihull represented there Classes respectively – glad to see Balqis II, Red Riot and Miss Visayan continuing to race despite the poor attendance. Kudos to Red Riot – Skipper Jasper made the effort to get a quick lesson on the race visual and audio signals from the race committee while waiting for wind. Great to see new faces on the race course!

Results