DECISIVE SAILING, DISCARDS, AND DISQUALIFICATIONS IMPACT RESULTS ON DAY TWO OF THE ASIAN SAILING CHAMPIONSHIPS

It was a day of highs and lows on the second day of racing at the 2023 Asian Sailing Championships in Pattaya, Thailand. In steady wind of 7-8 knots building to 11-12 knots, the Thais saw siblings reach top performances in two fleets, the Malaysians stuck stakes in the leaderboard of another two fleets, while the Chinese offset disqualification in three fleets with enhanced leads in three other fleets.

 

In the 49er, Thai dynamic duo, brothers Don and Dylan Whitcraft found their wings and won the last two of three races on Thursday. In the ILCA 6 class, Thai sisters Grace and Sophia Montgomery took second and third in the first race of the day, Grace’s result extremely impressive given her youth and relative inexperience in the fleet. After a discard, Sophia remains third ranked overall behind two Chinese sailors, still in contention for Paris 2024 qualification, allowing her to be proud of her sister who is now eighth overall.

 

The Malaysians have reason to be proud as well. ILCA 7 star Khairulnizam Afendy, the only three-time Olympian at the event, overcame his less than stellar first day results to place third in both races of the day. He is now ranked eighth but expected to continue climbing the leaderboard. Hong Kong’s Nicholas Halliday and India’s Vishnu Saravanan, sharing a first and second place finish each on Thursday, will be keeping one eye on each other and another on the Malaysian working his way up the fleet.

 

In the 470 class, the Malaysian team snuck in a third in one of the day’s races, and the Korean team a second, both seeking to penetrate the Chinese leads in the fleet.

 

The Chinese however are reinforcing their leads in three fleets. In the 470, after one discard, China’s Ming Xu and Yahan Tu move forward with a three-race win lead. The Chinese also top the leaderboard in the 49er with two teams tied, and in the 49erFX, although Singapore’s Kimberly Lim and Cecilia Low were able to drop their black flag finish and are now positioned second overall in the class.

 

The Chinese did take a few blows on Thursday. In the Nacra 17 fleet, a crash gybe on the finish line the first day of racing resulted in two capsizes, a torn sail, and the overnight deliberation by the jury ending in the disqualification of a Chinese team for not making room. In the 49er fleet, a collision at the top mark in Race 5 forced an Indian team to sail with a broken back line and dragging tiller for the rest of the race, resulting in another disqualification for China for not avoiding contact or keeping clear. Meanwhile, on the ILCA course, an eagle-eyed measurer confirmed a rule-breaking GPS enabled smart watch on a Chinese sailor.

 

The 2023 Asian Sailing Championship and Asian qualifier for Paris 2024 is organized by the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand and the Royal Thai Navy, with the support of World Sailing and the Asian Sailing Federation. Sponsors include the Sports Authority of Thailand, Chonburi Province, and Pattaya City.

For results, see https://www.pattaya-olympic-qualifier.com/results/

Report by Nima Chandler

Photographs – SARANYAPIX