Last week, the inaugural BAY Challenge saw 16 regional teams
of three-crew members competing in high performance Laser Bahias in a match
race at the Marina Bay. A highlight of this year’s Boat Asia show, the race was chockfull of
tense moments and near-misses for the teams, with Team Kukukerchu pulling
through as the champions. 

The tricky wind conditions of Marina
Bay figured prominently in sorting
out the champions from the runners up, as Team Kukukerchu rode all the right
wind shifts to surge ahead to a commanding 2-0 win in the best of three matches
final.

“We just had to keep the boat rolling all the time and keep
it moving through the water, this was the strategy we kept throughout,” said
team leader David Ross. Picking the right wind shifts helped them to edge out initial
frontrunners Team Royal Selangor Yacht Club, which led off the line in the
first match of the finals, only to be overtaken by Team Kukukerchu just before the final upwind mark, where they
were left behind on the subsequent downwind run.

In a gracious statement regarding their defeat, Royal
Selangor team leader Rolf Heemskerk said: “It was an interesting
challenge. The winds were a little flukey but that also made it interesting,
and I think the better team won today.”

The battle for third and fourth placing was just as close,
with second runner up Team Performance Sail from Keppel
Bay Sailing Academy
having to fight hard for their position. Lots of scraps in the pre-race maneuvering
hit them with three penalties and a disqualification even before the race
started in the first match of the petit final.

“Nobody has ever done match racing in Marina
Bay where people can watch from Marina Bay Sands, Fullerton Bay Hotel or just around
the bay. This really brought sailing to the heart of Singapore,”
said BAY Challenge organizer, TMX Show Productions’ managing director Herman
Ho.

Guest of honour Singapore Sailing CEO Tan Wearn Haw also noted
the good turnout from both regional as well as local sailors for the event, and
expressed his excitement at raising the scale and scope of the event next year.

Final and Petit final
results

1st Place: Kukukerchu (Skipper Jonathan Rankine)

2nd Place: Royal Selangor Yacht Club (Skipper Rolf Heemskerk)

3rd Place: Performance Sail (Skipper
Zhang Yong Qiang)

4th Place: Eriksson (Skipper Jon Eriksson)

Boat Asia

Tmx