Part 2
Day 2A pretty slow start for all those that had been celebrating the previous night. The Easterly winds were much lighter this morning, so the forecast looked good for an earlier Westerly Seabreeze today.
Around 1:30pm the wind swung around to the west, and the Raceboards, Techno and RSX were called out onto the course. The wind still looked very light, but Formula was called out after the other classes had completed one race.
Race 1
I must have been feeling the effects of the previous night still, as I'd placed myself in a terrible position on the start line. In such light winds you need clear wind, and a good space to accelerate in, but I had neither of these, buried in the third row.
At the gun, Chris Newman, and Leong Soon pumped and shot of the line, While I was left floundering. Eventually I got planing, and was in dirty air from Levi, Kit and PJ, and just about everyone else in the fleet. Towards the port lay line I tacked before the guys in front of me to try and get some clear air, and was able to climb out of the some the guys around me. At the topmark for the first time, Leong Soon was out in front, followed by Chris Newman, and I'd managed to claw my way up to third.
It was really light downwind for the first time, and I think Chris Newman and I had closed the gap to Leong Soon a little. Going up the second work, Leong Soon had great height and speed, while I was able to climb away from Chris Newman on the long tack to the Starboard layline. On the Layline I'd closed in on Leong Soon a little, and Chris Newman had underlaid, allowing me to sneak through into second place. Chris Newman, then caught the bouy rope compounding his problem. Levi, "I only sail once a year", was following in fourth, and also caught the bouy rope.
The second lap was a trapezoid, so I was chasing Leong Soon down the reach. Leong Soon gybed immediately at the mark, and I followed, when Leong Soon gybed back, I thought I would continue on to gain a better angle. When I gybed back, "AAARRRRRGGGHHHH" I realised I'd been heading for the wrong mark. Leong Soon had realised earlier and was able to maintain his lead over Chris Newman, but I'd wasted so much ground, Chris Newman was now flying down to the last mark well in front of me. We finished in that order with 1st Leong Soon, 2nd Chris Newman, 3rd Chris Ting, 4th Thye Hock, 5th Meng, 6th Ker Wan, 7th PJ.
The wind had now filled in to around 10 - 12 knots, so they decided to run a slalom race. I think all of the formula fleet decided to head for the beach, rather then expend energy manhandling their formula equipment around a slalom course.
I was pretty annoyed with myself after making some very basic errors, so I sat on the beach, re-hydrated, and tried to get my head back in the game.
Race 2After the Slalom had finished, all the classes were called back to the water. At the Techno start, I noticed that a class flag was flown immediately. Suspecting this maybe the Formula start, I headed toward the line. The tide had changed, and with the start boat facing the opposite direction, it was reallly hard to see the flags. Just in case I sync'ed my watch at the next signal, and Kit, and Ker Wan were also heading toward the boat. Once I got really close, I confirmed it was the Formula start, and pumped onto the plane with a few seconds to go. A full speed start, with Meng also on time coming in on port. I turned to see the rest of the fleet really late to the start. It's a little disconcerting when you're planing away from the start with nobody around you, never the less I didn't hear any extra sound signals, or see any flags raised, so I continued on.
Kit had some equipment failure earlier in the day, so he was really underpowered on an 11m sail. Meng was also struggling getting his sail working with the wrong mast.
I didn't see anyone during this race, so there's not much I can comment on. By the second upwind the wind was starting to get light, and once I got to the top mark the last time it looked like it was going to be a real struggle to finish the race. I had to pump and ooch all the way downwind to keep planing. At the finish line I was a tiny bit underlaid, so I'm little ashamed to admit I drifted across the line.
Leong Soon in 2nd place, and Chris Newman in 3rd were the only other finishers. With the wind completely gone now, we drifted back to the beach.
After the first day Leong Soon was leading with 3 points, I was in second with 4 points, and Chris Newman in third with 5 points. With the positions so close I was praying for wind on Sunday to give me a chance to catch up to Leong Soon.
Dinner that night was at the "Banana Leaf" Indian eatery. It pretty much ticked all the boxes for things you should steer clear of when travelling and eating. Tammy and I left there hoping we wouldn't be using the porcelain phone all night, fortunately there were no dramas.
The other important thing to report that night, is that Meng went on a blind Burger date, but late that night he was mistakenly messaging me!!! That's ok Meng, I think you're "Gorgeous" as well......LOL That's all I can say because as you know " What happens on Penang, stays on Penang"
Day 3We woke to an Easterly wind, this didn't look good for racing. During the day I could almost feel my chances of wrestling the lead from Leong Soon fading away.
Finally around 3:30pm we were sent out, I have to say, I still didn't like our chances of completing a race, let alone two races, which is what I would need to over take Leong Soon.
While we were rigging up, Leong Soon was bitten by some fire ants, and was already feeling an allergic reaction before the race.
Race 3The start line was very port biased, Chris Newman and Meng had recognised this, and came in from the pin full power. I had stayed with Leong Soon on starboard, and we slogged over the line. Chris Newman and Meng were powering away, it looked as though Meng had found a better tune on his sail today.
Leong Soon tacked over to port and I followed. The wind for this race was the lightest of all races so far, but to my surprise I was able to pump onto the plane. As my apparent wind built I was able able to start eeking out some height from the guys in front. Using all the tricks in the book like, front arm on the uphaul, back foot in front of the footstrap, and using the waves even upwind to keep the board moving. After a few minutes of sailing on port, Leong Soon and I had climbed away significantly from the rest of the fleet, and by the time we tacked onto starboard, there was a substanial gap back to third place. Leong Soon was able to pump onto the plane before me, and all I could do was watch as he sailed away from me. Fortuntely I got going, and ahead Leong Soon had stopped, I desperately worked every wave, and sceric of wind to keep planing and went past Leong Soon, I was able to work my way into some new wind on the left, and then tack back to port just below the port layline to the top mark. Leong Soon had sagged badly below me and when I tacked for the top mark, I had a good lead. From then on I pumped and ooched like my life depended on it. I had lost sight of Leong Soon, but in these conditions anything can happen.
On the second lap I was catching the raceboards and technos. Halfway up the upwind leg the wind had lightened so much, I was reaching just to keep on the plane. I was going down through the techno and raceboard fleet, ducking many boards so that I wouldn't interfere with them, this was my only option to keep planing. Fortunately by the time I got to the starboard layline, there was a little more pressure, and I was able to clear the raceboards and Technos before the topmark. Going down the reach and on the run, the wind was light again, and although I couldn't see anyone behind me, Tammy said from the beach it looked like I had the devil chasing me, because I was pumping so hard.
This time I planed across the finish line in first, and I had a fantastic view as Meng, Thye, and Chris Newman came down the run neck and neck for the finish. Meng crossed in second and was jubilant, but unfortunately Meng had missed the last mark, so Chris Newman was second, and Thye in third.
Leong Soon had super bad luck, the allergic reaction had become so severe, that his arms had become numb. Even two days later, his feet were still swollen.
We waited for another race, but the wind completely died and we drifted back to the beach for the last time.
That night a fantastic presentation dinner was held, all the organisers and sponsors were thanked, and finally the medals were presented.
I had won the 1st PSC/CSC Penang International Windsurfing Championship.
Overall1.Chris Ting
2.Chris Newman
3.Leong Soon.
I'd like to thank my wife Tammy, for letting me go to yet another Windsurfing competition while on holidays, the event organisers and sponsors, all of our friends from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand for making our time in Penang so great, and lastly my sponsors, WindSurfnSnow, Neil Pryde, StarBoard and VMG Blades.
Check the
www.facebook.com/Windsurfing.At.Penang page for all the results and photos
Chris Ting
AUS-5
!!!!!!!
