Australian skippers Scott Duncanson and Chris Way have taken 1st and 2nd
places in the 2014 Platu 25 One Design Championship held at Ocean Marina,
Pattaya, Thailand. The Platu Cup, the final event of the four regatta series
for the 2014 season was held last weekend with Phuket based sailor Scott
Duncanson and his crew consisting of Alfie Rowson, Trent Pedersen, Tony
Harman and Paul Burke winning with a 1 – 1 – 2 – 1 -(5th) – 2 score line
for a total of 7 points. The Kingdom Property crew were driven hard by Chris
Way's Easy Tiger (10 points) from Sydney and Colin Symods Nataya who brought
his team all the way from the United Kingdom to compete and finish in a
credible 3rd place in only their second outing in the class.
Day one started in perfect sailing conditions with 12-17 knot North Westerly
winds that saw some crews changing down to the smaller Code 2 jibs. As
expected the racing was extremely close with Easy Tiger and Kingdom Property
locked in a head to head battle that saw winning margins range from only 5
to 25 seconds. At the completion of racing on day one only two points
separated the two boats with Race Officer Kevin Scott commenting “it was
more like watching a catamaran sail around the course than two separate
boats”
The start of racing on day two was delayed for thirty minutes as the breeze
was slow to build. Finally a light but variable 5 – 7 knot wind arrived and
as expected the start of race five was a little aggressive with Kingdom
Property engaging Easy Tiger and The Ferret, sailing them the wrong side of
the committee boat. This proved to be somewhat of a blessing in disguise as
both these boats then sailed off to the right side of the course and in
phase picked up favourable wind shifts that quickly erased the lost distance
to the leading boats. Conditions remained light and large wind shifts saw
numerous lead changes. Colin Symonds aboard Nataya read the conditions well
to finish 1st The Ferret 2nd Easy Tiger in 3rd and Kingdom Property back in
5th. The breeze freshened for race six with Easy Tiger and Kingdom Property
starting well but sailing to the left side of the course in their own
private battle while Nataya and The Ferret elected to again go right. As the
four boats converged on the windward mark it was clear Nataya had made the
right choice and took a commanding lead with The Ferret in second and
Kingdom Property further back in third. The chase was on and by the end of
the first lap Kingdom Property had climbed into second place and had one
hand on the trophy. Nataya continued to sail well and won by just two boat
lengths from Kingdom Property, The Ferret and Easy Tiger. The final race of
the day was eventually abandoned due to a severe lightning storm and heavy
rain that caused flash flooding in Pattaya city, fortunately all the boats
and crews returned soaked but unscathed from the quite spectacular tropical
storm common in September and October.
“On paper it may appear we won easily but it couldn't be further from the
truth”, said Scott. “Easy Tiger are a formidable crew and they never give an
inch, I expect them to come back even stronger in 2015″. “This caps off a
fantastic year for our crew and I'd like offer my sincere thanks to our
primary sponsor Kingdom Property for their help in making it possible”.
The presentation ceremony was held in the magnificent Ocean Marina tower and
prizes awarded by Thailand class president Kevin Scott who announced that
the Platu 25 Trans-world Championship will be held in March 2015 and form
part of the overall 2015 championship. The 7.5 metre Platu Class yacht was
designed specifically for Thai waters by Bruce Farr in the early 1990s. A
total of 22 different crews from Europe, Russia and throughout Asia Pacific
raced at different times throughout the four regatta, 2014 Thailand
Championship that incorporates the Coronation Cup / Top of the Gulf Regatta.
– Supplied by Scott Duncanson
