Good gusts on first day of Six Senses Phuket Raceweek

PHUKET SIX SENSES RACEWEEK: Ray Roberts drew first blood in the race to become the 2009-10 Asian Yachting Grand Prix Champion.

Racing on Evolution Sails, formerly known as Quantum Racing, he claimed first place in both races in the IRC Racing class.

The 2008-09 winner, Neil Pryde, finished second and third on Hi Fi with Peter Ahern on Yo! 2, also securing second- and first-place finishes.

Peter Dyers’ Madame Butterfly won the opening race in the IRC 1 section with Stuart Williamson on Skandia Endeavour of Whitby winning the afternoon race.

Elsewhere, Andrew de Bruin on Awatea, won both races in the Charter Class.

David Thomson on Madame Cholet and Alan Carwadine on Da Vinci Niña shared a victory apiece in the Multihull class.

Hans Rahmanns’ Voodoo Child won both races in the Firefly 850 class, beating Moto Inzi to the line by a mere five seconds in the afternoon race.

For Peter Dyer, skipper of Madame Butterfly, it was a good start to the regatta. “It was good. Breezes weren’t too bad – somewhere around 15 knots, with good gusts. We did a nice figure of eight course in the afternoon, which made for some very close racing. Good competitive stuff,” he said.

— James Goyder