Having spent two days trying to fit in as may match races as possible in the disturbed weather pattern, the race committee's aim was to complete the round robin today. The day may have dawned bright and sunny but by the end of the day some teams will be eliminated and can catch the early flight home. After a brief postponement the sailors were eager to rig and hit the water to take advantage of the bright sunshine and 8 knot northerly breeze. The forecast is for the breeze to build during the day. The RC have re-arranged the previous day's pairings list to ensure that all teams will complete at least 5 races - the minimum required to make any deliberations if they need to cut straight to the semi-finals.

The good weather allowed the race committee to fire the races off in quick succession. The results for Flight 15 came in thick and fast. Race 1 Hamdan beat Nasser, Race 2 Masyuri beat Rais, Race 3 Rolf beat Nasser, Race 4 Hamdan beat Rais. Going into Flight 16 the breeze steadily built to 10-12 knots and the early leaders Jeremy Koo and Elia Anuar, each with 7 wins, went head to head in Race 1. After a close encounter Jeremy beat Elia, Race 2 Masyuri beat Nasser, Race 3 Elia bounced back to beat Rais, Race 4 Hamdan continued to rack up three wins in a row by beating Rahim. Jeremy commented on his match with Elia "She is really good. During the pre-start she was controlling and I managed to get out and gain control. She just took a breath to think and then she came right back and had control again. Every moment was a challenge and we had a penalty at the windward mark!"

PRO Kevin Wilson quickly launched into the sequence for flights 3 and 4 and planed to spend a full day on the water. The sailor's have been asked to fit lunch around the flights. Everyone here is race-ready, eager to take advantage of the steady breeze and clear skies. Rolf Heemskerk's - Viewpoint Team complained about sitting around for hours on end before losing 2 races yesterday, made up for it today by beating Masyuri in Race 1, Race 2 Razali beat Rahim, Race 3 Nazreen beat Rais and in Race 4 Hamdan claimed his fourth scalp by beating Rizal who until today has had a dream run.

The breeze held steady, a healthy 8-12 knots, still from the N/NW, entire RC assisting with boat swap overs between Flight 4 and Flight 13. Maintenance was busy repairing damage aboard some boats. Everyone worked together to push through as many flights as possible. Results for Flight 4 Race 1 Rolf beat Rahim, Race 2 Razali beat Rais, Race 3 Masyuri beat Rizal, Race 4 Hamdan beat Nazreen. Umpire reports from Flight 4, Race 2 Rais v. Razali. Rais received two penalties during the pre-start, one for Port-Starboard, the second for Windward-Leeward. In both cases Rais was the “give-way” boat and failed to keep clear.

RESULTS Flight 13 Race 1 Razali beat Rizal, Race 2 Rolf beat Nazreen, Flight 13a Race 1 Jeremy beat Hazwan, Race 2 Razali beat Rolf. A slight change to the course made the racers face a challenging windward leg, as the the top mark was placed near the mouth of a river carrying the week's heavy rains - 2 knots of current running from left to right across the course. Starboard tack is dramatically favoured, so getting to the left side of the course was essential.

RESULTS Flight 14 Race 1 Nazreen beat Rizal, Race 2 Jeremy beat Sharizali. Rizal and his RSYC crew, came off the water after loosing 3 races. Sheet hand translating for Rizal, "There is good breeze, so the sailing is really good. So much current, our game plan is to get to the left. We just lost 3, so it is hard. But is is our first time here and we are learning a lot. Hopefully we win our last race!"

RESULTS Flight 14a Race 1 Razali beat Nazreen, Race 2 Rizal beat Rolf. Crew member Munwai Lee of Team Viewpoint explains their pending exit from the event, “We arrived at the event on the first morning of competition and did not have time to practice. The first day we only had two races and then our next three were up against the top teams. It was tough to pull it all together without the practice!” Team Viewpoint has finished for the day. Unless Hazwan of Taring Pelangi loses all three of his remaining matches (two of which are against the two lowest seeded in current standings) Team Viewpoint will not advance to tomorrows Semi-Finals.

RESULTS Flight 17 Race 1 Sharizali beat Rais, Race 2 Masyuri beat Rahim. Maintenance reported a leaking keel, which was fixed by tightening the bolts.

RESULTS Flight 17a Race 1 Elia beat Hazwan, Race 2 Rahim beat Rais. Tired sailors are met on the dock with cheers from their fellow competitors who are finished for the day and eagerly watching the final matches. High fives and encouragement are exchanged between crew change overs. There is a sense of shared accomplishment for getting through the entire round robin.

RESULTS Flight 18 Race 1 Rahim beat Nasser, Race 2 Masyuri beat Hamdan. Upon hitting the dock after their final race, skipper Hamdan of team Club Marina Terengganu with a score of 5 wins 7 losses was asked if there were any exciting moments on the water today: “YES! We beat Rizal!”

RESULTS Flight 18a Race 1 Nasser beat Rais, Race 2 Hazwan beat Sharizali. The big movers and shakers today that did not make it to the finals are Masyuri Rahmat - MAF 2, Hamdan Yahya - Club Terengganu and Rolf Heemskerk - Viewpoint.

RESULTS Flight 19 Race 1 Razali beat Nasser, Race 2 Hazwan beat Rais. Skipper Razali Mansor of MAF 1 (10W-2L). “We did very well today and are undefeated today. I like these conditions – more wind. We have the most weight of all the crews!”

RESULTS Flight 19a Race 1 Nasser beat Nazreen, Race 2 Elia beat Sharizali. Nazreen Ghani's - AsianYachting Team battled on throughout the event and won 4 races despite not having the power to fully sheet the sails and weight to hike out and balance the boat. The race officials have stated that there has been an enormous improvement in all the teams boat handling skills and race tactics since Day 1.

RESULTS Flight 20 Race 1 Jeremy beat Rais, Race 2 Nasser beat Rizal. Unfortunately for Mohd Rais Hashim - Duyong Heritage that were considered favourite coming into the series but failed to win any races.

The race committee and officials must be commended today for running 42 races and completing the full round robin for 13 teams. The finalists for the Semi Final in order of ranking are Jeremy Koo - Koo Racing Team AC Law, Nurul Elia Anuar - Sail Putrajaya, Mohd Razali Mansor - MAF 1 and Hazwan Hazim - Taring Pelangi. The selected pairings are Koo v's Hazwan and Elia v's Razali. The teams that did not make it to the finals have been on a steep learning curve and thanked the officials for completing the round robin which gave them the full experience that they will never forget.

Many thanks must go to Elizabeth Roundtree for providing most the text and expert analysis by Skype to selected media and officials. As it is almost impossible to watch and write about the racing at the same time, without Liz's contribution the media would be left completely in the dark.

Captain Marty

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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 25 November 2009 )