Sinking brings drama to Race Week

PHUKET: Westerly winds of eight knots provided exciting sailing on the first dayof the 2005 Evason Phuket Race Week, producing some thrills and spills among the fleet of 29 boats competing – and even a sinking.

Ava, in the IRC 2 Class, was trying to get out of dirty air from La Samudra when she hit a rock, holing the hull and forcing the crew of four to put out a Mayday and head immediately for shallow water. She sank in 1.5 meters of water. No one was hurt in the incident, and work on salvaging the 20-year-old wooden yacht was quickly under way.

Provisional results for Race 1 in the five classes, with corrected times, are as follows:

IRC 1 Race 1

1. Securicor Somtam Express skippered by Scott Duncanson. 3 hours, 12 minutes, 43 seconds.

2. Ruby Tuesday. John Vause. 3:16:03.

3. La Samudra. David Lindhal. 3:23:59

4. RPM Switchblade. Andy Stephens. 3:38:51

5. Image Asia Attitude. Mark Horwood. 3:41:32

6. Vino by Watermark. Josh Lee. 3:43:08

7. BeauX Esprits. Keith Garry. 4:00:43

8. Big A. Horst Lakits. 4:16:35

IRC 2 Race 1

1. Minx. Mick Kealy. 3 hours, 41 minutes, 27 seconds.

2. Cinders. Stuart Crow. 3:44:26

3. Simba. Paul Kendall. 3:48:20

4. Tag. Mike Downard. 4:18:43

5. Lee Marine Suk San. Mike Bean. 4:45:09

6. Ava. Joost van der Post. Did Not Finish.

7. Ma Du Zi. Viroj Nualkhair. Did Not Start.

Club Race 1

1. Gator. Matt McGrath. 3 hours, 6 minutes, 39 seconds.

2. Maddalena. Mark Trupp. 3:07:26

3.Rastegaisse VI. Christine Caufman. 3:18:07

4. Four Winds. John Fenn. 3:41:57

5. Blue Moon. Al Boone. 3:56:39

Multihull Racing Race 1

1. Charro. Henry Kaye. 3 hours and 32 seconds.

2. Cyrene. Sue and Michel Arnulphy. 3:03:31

3. Ceberus. Youth Team. 3:30:01

4. Chimera. Damian Kimbell. 4:27:28

5. Firefly. Olaf Riese. Did Not Start

Multihull Premier Division Race 1

1. Chameleon. Bob Mott. 3 hours, 14 minutes, 16 seconds.

2. Mozart. Wolfgang. 3:27:07

3. Chakra. Frank Cusack. 3:30:13

4. Kilo. Chris Sieber. On course side.

Racing continues until Sunday.