It's double joy for Bremmer and Foxy Lady crew

While Bill Bremner and his crew on Foxy Lady VI had essentially sewn up IRC One the day before, barring any major mishaps, the final day battle was for pride and the not-so-easy-to-get final win and point they needed to secure the 2013-14 Asian Yachting Grand Prix championship.

Marcel Liedts’ Elektra, playing bridesmaid so often this week, was eager to score their first win of the series and lead from start to finish. First over the line by more than two minutes, it wasn’t enough for the handicap win and Elektra had to settle for fifth place in Race 1.

Quietly improving race-by-race has been Jessandra II, skippered by Roland Dane, principal of Red Bull Racing Australia. With a pedigree crew onboard, they have worked their way up the rankings following a slow start and scored a second place in yesterday’s first race, just two seconds on corrected time behind leaders and class winner, and now 2013-14 Asian Yachting Grand Prix (AYGP) Skipper and Yacht of the Year, Bill Bremner and Foxy Lady VI.

Elsewhere on the course there was still plenty to play for. With Jelik and HiFi tied, and Oi! just one point back coming in the final day, IRC Zero was open for the taking.

Set-up for light-wind racing, Neil Pryde’s HiFi put in an excellent performance in Race 1 to beat Peter Ahern’s Oi! across the line and secure the handicap win by 15 seconds. Frank Pong’s Jelik, while taking line honours, couldn’t put enough space between themselves and the rest to convert it to a handicap win, and had to settle for third.

With just one race to go, HiFi leads with Jelik and Oi! tied two points back.

At first glance, IRC Two has been dominated by El Coyote this year, but on closer inspection, the margin between the fleet has been small, and yesterday in Race 1 the smallest boat in the fleet, Mick Grover’s Moon Shadow threw up a surprise placing second, just 15 seconds behind El Coyote. Patinyakorn Buranrom’s Sansiri, however, struggled and had to settle for third. Lining up for the second race, the wind was wavering and after getting IRC Zero off the wind died, leaving the boats looking more like they were in a parking lot than on a race course. The PRO had no option but to cancel the race and ultimately call off racing for the remainder of the day, and with it, bring the curtain down on the 13th Samui Regatta.

Samui Regatta will go down in the history books as one of the toughest. Not only were the conditions tricky and varied, but the racing was extremely close. When winning margins are in seconds, it’s tight, but when those seconds are single digits, it’s almost unheard of.

To cap it all, the 2013-14 Asian Yachting Grand Prix championship came down to the last event, Samui Regatta, the last race in IRC One, and it was decided by just two seconds in favour of Bill Bremner and Foxy Lady VI.

 

Overall Series Results (top three)

 

IRC Zero: HiFi, Neil Pryde (16); Jelik, Frank Pong (18); Oi!, Ahern/ Bailey/ Wilmer (18).

IRC One: Foxy Lady VI, Bill Bremner (8); Elektra, Marcel Liedts (22); 

Jessandra II, Roland Dane (26).

IRC Two: El Coyote, Gary Baguley (8); Sansiri, Patinyakorn Buranrom 

(13); Moon Shadow, Mick Grover (19)