5th Singapore Regatta – Day 1 Report
Fifth Singapore Regatta Sets Sail
Article by Scott Murray, SEA Yachting Magazine
Thirty-six boats across six classes, with skippers representing fifteen different countries, took to the waters off the picturesque Changi Sailing Club (CSC) today for the opening day of the Fifth Singapore Regatta. Competitors were greeted with classic East Johor Straits conditions for the Passage Race, with sunny skies and a healthy northeast monsoon breeze setting the stage.
CSC General Manager and Principal Race Officer Choy Yi Hong ran today’s race from the Crow’s Nest on the club’s pier. Club members were hopeful that the strong northeast monsoon winds that had dominated the past few weeks would hold—and they did, delivering excellent sailing conditions throughout the day.
Sailing in Singapore requires constant vigilance. As one of the world’s busiest ports, it is not uncommon to find a container ship on port, an oil tanker on starboard, and a passenger ferry charging straight ahead—none of them inclined to slow down. Fortunately, CSC’s seasoned sailors are well accustomed to navigating heavy commercial traffic and handled the challenges with their usual calm and competence.
The seven-boat IRC division delivered an early upset. Lee Yimin’s Jolt, the 2024–25 Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge Trophy winner and defending Singapore Regatta champion, claimed line honours but was beaten on corrected time by Adriaan Smit’s Adona. Thomas Reckefuss’ Born in Fire finished just over three minutes behind Adona to take second, relegating Jolt to third overall in the class.
In the ten-boat Club Racer Portsmouth Yardstick (PY) class, one boat stood well clear of the fleet on the water—Kesini. The Beneteau First 40.7, with a strong pedigree from previous IRC campaigns, demonstrated her pace convincingly. However, on corrected time it was Simon Connor’s Sapphire Star that claimed victory, edging out Ramasamy Menon’s Skybird by just 00:01:25. James Sharpe’s Southern Light took third, a mere 21 seconds behind Skybird. Slim margins indeed.
The six-boat Multihull class was won by Alice Lim’s Ding Hao, who finished 00:02:42 ahead of 2025 champion Freddy Fam’s Phoenix on corrected time. Gary Curtis’ Miss Visayan claimed third, a further seven minutes behind Phoenix. Despite the apparent gaps on paper, the racing was tight on the water, with fluky conditions keeping tacticians busy throughout the race.
Two one-design classes were in action: six J24s and four Platu 25s. In the J24 fleet, Cedric Declercq’s crew aboard CSC’s Jellico claimed first place, followed by Norman Yip’s RSYC Tiga, with SMU’s Lo Tian and crew on Quarterdeck rounding out the podium.
In the Platu 25 class, Ng Ai Li’s Team MAS (Notus) held her nerve around Pulau Ubin, successfully fending off Ivan Boudioukine’s SMUMad to take the win. Jun Zhang’s Jiangsu Tianyi High School team aboard Boreas finished third.
The Beach Catamaran class had four boats registered, though only two competed today. Zaheera Hashim’s Gremlin emerged victorious, defeating Jesse Treharne’s Chop-Chop by 00:14:30 on corrected time.
While there were no serious incidents on the water, a few light-hearted moments added to the day’s colour. Forever Young attempted to protest all the boats ahead of her for allegedly missing a mark—only to discover that what they thought was a mark was, in fact, not a mark at all. One Platu, SMUSC’s SMUve, while rushing to rig, accidentally packed and flew a J24 spinnaker instead of their own. And finally, Black Baza began her race with fenders still deployed—fortunately with no harm done.
Notable figures from the regional sailing scene were also on the water, lending their support to the regatta. Irsyad Ismail, Chairman of the Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta; Commodore Ramasamy Menon of the Royal Selangor Yacht Club, racing aboard Skybird; and Prakash Reddy, former organiser of the Nongsa Neptune Regatta, sailing on Kesini, were all among the fleet.
Racing continues tomorrow with a series of windward-leeward races, followed by the prize-giving and awards dinner at Changi Sailing Club. In addition to honouring the winners of the Fifth Singapore Regatta, the evening will see The Next Factor crowned as the latest holder of the 103-year-old Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge Trophy.
Results
- SR26 IRC Passage Race Results_amended
- SR26 PY Passage Race Results
- SR26 Multihull Passage Race Results
- SR26 Beach Cats Passage Race Results
- SR26 One-Design Passage Race Results
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