A Final Race on a Classy Classic......

First, I'd like to say thank you to those who've commented that they liked the offerings in the newsletter this week. It is very much a team effort and we have worked hard to try to provide you with something interesting and informative. Regarding my spelling of some names, I have had some complaints. Apologies to Leka and Rod who were spelt 'Lenka' and 'Ron'.
Sum tymes my tryping is knot so god wen I come in after a tyred sale.

Today is no exception and I've stumbled 'tyred' into the office and begun to tap a story about my lucky ride on Eveline, the classy classic. I say lucky as I couldn't find any crew or skipper at last night's party to join. They must have left as there was no caviar (more of that in a moment). I was hoping to spice up today's story a little and would you believe it... Mark Pryke is just about to give a media briefing, so I've bent my ear to listen in.

It has been pointed out that I'd mainly jumped aboard Thai boats during the week and, therefore, I was keen to sail a Malay Boat. I've sailed many times on the 42-metre Classic Sylvia around Thai/Malay waters and thought it would be a good idea to join Eveline.

I met Jengi at the party at the Sheraton Perdana and at least managed to learn the meeting time of 8:00am, but no more than that. On arrival in the morning Fauzi, the permanent skipper checked with Trevor, the regatta skipper, and I was invited aboard.

We were late leaving as we had to wait for crew to arrive. It now became a 'race' to get to the start line on time!

Trevor put me on the helm all the way to the start which was a surprise - it must have been my sailing of Sylvia. According to the GPS we would arrive with 3 minutes to spare.

Trevor conducted a near perfect start as we arrived at the line with our 3 minutes used up on a few tacks! Before the first Spinnaker tack, however, the kite wasn't ready - reminding me of the 'Charro' (multihull) spinnaker problem earlier in the week. We had a long delay allowing the rest of fleet to sail away with all the best positions. However, we had a great sail on this beautiful classic.

Mark has just started his briefing with opening remarks about Eveline - and my ears burn! All the media folk are there. What luck! He mentions 'Eveline' first.

"...Id just like to mention the classic Eveline... as she was a wonderful sight and an absolute delight to see on the water today, heeled over and sailing as I'd not seen before..."

He's cut short as the TV crew aren't ready and then continues with the briefing. Amongst other things he mentions that it was a challenge to accommodate each class's requirements and couldn't always design each boat's preferred type of course. This year was particularly good as the wind gradually increased later in the week and we had spectacular breezes. Today we had as much as 23 knots of wind. Next year he hopes to have courses inside Kuah Harbour for the smaller boats. Some have suggested they would like to race every day without a layday and he is happy to do this. No lady teams competed this year and it would be good to see a youth team. He also states that he chose to go outside the harbour particularly for the participants! What, a disgrace; I thought this event was for the media! (Just Kidding!)

He asks if there are any more questions and I prompt someone to ask again about Eveline: He replies "...Ah yes, usually this Classic gently sails around with caviar and wine, but it was an absolute delight to see her being sailed wonderfully today heeling over in the strong breezes"

But time is up! See you again and have a great party tonight.