The DBS Marina Bay Cup is an annual match racing competition using a fleet of SM40 held from 15th-18th September 2016 at the Marina Bay coinciding with the Formula One weekend. This year’s edition sees eight teams battling it out with competitors coming from around the region including Australia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

Team Philippines defended their title in dominating fashion, finishing the round robin competition with a 6-1 win-loss record, adding to their title last year as well as their South East Asian (SEA) Games gold medal win. The only blemish on their scorecard came against Australia’s Team Alpha Racing but otherwise, it was a near-perfect regatta for them and they ended the day well with a win in the match against Team Hanuman.

“I have sailed here many times before and I think knowing this marina gives me an advantage,” explained Balladares. “I am very happy to have won this regatta because we did not expect to do so. From the start, we were aiming for the title but there were higher ranked teams ahead of us so we just took it one match at a time.”

In second place was the men’s Singapore Combined University Team, led by year 3 Singapore Management University student Clement Lim. They finished with a five wins and two losses and were perfect on the final two days of competition, winning their last four matches.

“I am very happy to finish second against such top international teams,” said Clement. “We came into this regatta hoping to finish on the podium but this result exceeds our expectations. We have not had much match racing experience and I am very glad we managed to work out the kinks early on to perform well.”

Together with their female teammates, the Singapore Combined University Team will now turn their attention to the World University Sailing Championships held later this month in Perth where they will hope to do Singapore proud. A podium finish would be their goal once again.

“Having this regatta just before the World University Sailing Championships provided us with a very good experience and the practice that we needed. We will learn from the mistakes we made over the last three days and see where to improve on. Finishing second also gives us more confidence and morale will be on a high when we go to Perth,” added Clement.

The highly ranked Team Sime Darby Foundation from Malaysia, helmed by world number 17th Jeremy Koo, were tied for third with fellow Malaysians Team RSYC-DNN, led by Rizal Mahadi, and Australia’s Team Alpha Racing, skippered by Will Boulden. Eventually, on virtue of beating the champions, Team Philippines on the final day of competition, Team Alpha Racing emerged as the second runners-up.