07°48'44.48"N 98°23'26.45"E PHUKET, THAILAND
Eight children from Phuket Yacht Club, six of them from the Phuket Sunshine Village Foundation, travelled to Pattaya to compete in the Top of the Gulf Regatta earlier this month. The children have been learning to sail at Phuket Yacht Club for the past year.
While they are all accustomed to regularly racing in the Optimist division at the club, the conditions in Phuket tend to be mild and there are seldom more than a handful of boats on the water. The Top of the Gulf Regatta, by contrast, was much windier and there were 129 boats on the water in the Optimist Class alone.
Katy Gooch form Topper Sail Phuket accompanied the children, along with Paul Firmin. She said the experience taught the young sailors much about sailing and racing. “They found the racing in Pattaya more challenging and exciting with stronger winds than Phuket. There were sailors from all over the world: Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Belgium and the USA as well as Thailand.
“Not only were there 129 sailors on the start line, but storms bringing winds up to 20 had -25 knots (Force 6) and they all just taken this in their stride Some did very well in a few of the races with our best placing 38th from Philip Johansson, she said.
Philip has raced before in Sweden and tends to do well in the regattas at Phuket Yacht club, but there was one surprise success story. Teerapong Trokartaok started sailing in January and has been sailing only once a week every month since then. Despite his limited experience, he managed to consistently come in the top half of his field, finishing, 44th, 47th and 53rd. He also capsized during a couple of races, but righted the boat, bailed out and continues racing. “I really enjoyed the racing; it was very windy, very exciting and challenging. Now I know I can solve almost any problem when sailing and I am very proud to have taken part”, he said.
The trip was made possible by the support of several sponsors, including Tsu Thai Association (France), Six Senses Phuket Race Week (Image Asia), Phuket Yacht Club and Topper Sail Phuket, with other contributions from Steve Wood and Leigh West Trefoil Guild, (UK).
Long the most proactive yacht club on Phuket where junior sail training is concerned, Phuket Yacht Club (PYC), based at Ao Yon
near Cape Panwa, recently ran an intensive 10-day beginners Optimist sail training course. The course was free of charge and open to all Thai speaking children living on Phuket between the ages of 7 and 15.
The course marked a new milestone in the club's achievement. It was the first time a yacht club in Phuket had worked together with the Royal Thai Navy and the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand (YRAT) to bring a professionally run intensive sail training course to Thai youngsters.
To bolster the PYC fleet, additional Optimist dinghies were loaned to the club by the YRAT and the course was led by Thai National Optimist Champion, Jaray Tipsuk, supported by experienced instructors and Thai national sailors who flew in to teach the intensive programme. PYC provided all the logistics, including safety boats, as well as volunteers to administrate and assist with the programme.
The last two days of the course incorporated a mini-regatta, testing the skills acquired by the kids over the previous eight days.
Following the success of the intensive course, PYC is putting together a Sunday sail training programme to give the kids who completed the intensive beginners' course the chance to continue learning more about sailing. Too often the skills gained on these courses are lost through lack of opportunity to continue, said PYC Secretary, Katy Gooch, adding, One of PYC's goals is to train local youngsters to enter the National and World Optimist Championships and bring the trophies back to Phuket.
For more info contact Club Secretary, Katy Gooch (English speaking) on tel. 085 215 9185 or email phuketyachtclub@gmail.com or go to www.PhuketYachtClub.info
