Story by REDintern Christa Tan. Photos by REDintern Benedict Teo
Bernie Chin won the Laser 4.7 category convincingly by 30 points. (Photo 1 © Benedict Teo/Red Sports)
National Sailing Centre, Tuesday-Saturday, March 19-23, 2014 — The 2nd Fish & Co National Youth Sailing Championships was more than just a regatta to most competitors. This regatta is part of the selection trials for a spot in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Nanjing, China later this year for the Techno 293 windsurfers and the Laser 4.7 sailors.
Furthermore, 56 sailors from Malaysia, Thailand, Finland, Korea and Hong Kong raced in the regatta, providing a timely comparison for Singapore’s sailors. The Malaysians asserted their dominance in the Byte and Optimist category, while the Thais came to the fore in the Techno 293 category.
In the Techno 293 category, both Mildred Phang and Ynez Lim, who are vying for a place in the YOG, faced strong competition from Thailand and Malaysia. After five days of intensive racing, it was Thanatip Seubyubon, Duangkamon Phongern and Mohamad Daniel Bin Fauzi who finished first, second and third with 27, 37, and 44 points respectively. Mildred finished as the best Singaporean in fifth place with 80 points. Ynez Lim finished seventh with 92 points.
In the Laser 4.7 category, Bernie Chin finished a convincing first with 46 points and a 30-point lead over the second boat. The Raffles Institution sailor said, “Everyone did their best. Winning is not everything.”
Coming in second was the NSC Cup Series 1 champion, Matthew Scott Lau, with 76 points. After a a poor finishing in the 13th race, Matthew won the medal race and finished with 76 points. Koh Yi Kun came in third with 87 points.
The 420 pair of Kimberly Lim and Savannah Siew have yet another championship title added to their names. The pair got off to a good start and maintained their performance throughout the five days to finish with 26 points after 12 races and one medal race. “It feels good because the competition was really long,” said Savannah.
While the pair was delighted their efforts paid off, it was not all about winning. The competition from the Korean and Malaysian sailors acted as exposure to countries the pair do not usually spar with. They were also that the other Singaporeans did well. The Singapore fleet remained dominant with Loh Jia Yi and Jonathan Yeo finishing second with 36 points, Yukie Yokoyama and Samantha Neubronner were third with 57 and Ryan Teo and Joshua Lim were fourth with 58.
In the Laser Radial category, Ryan Lo was happy his training had paid off as he won the championship title for the second year in a row with 37 points. Ryan said, “It was a very close fight and the conditions were very shifty, so it was anyone’s race.” The sailors are still in the midst of their selection trials and Ryan feels that it is still anyone’s game.
Jevyn Ong finished second after a disappointing medal race with 41 points. “The medal race was very tricky. The wind was all over the place,” said Jevyn. Jillian Lee won the medal race after reading two win shifts to finish third overall with a total of 43 points.
Chua Jia Wei dominated the Laser standard category and won first place with 14 points. Ahmad Daniel Umar took second with 39 points and Lee Jun Jie was third with 54.
In the Byte category, Andre Chew faced fierce competition from the international sailors. Although he was contented with his individual performance, competing with international sailors was “challenging” and he hoped to gain experience from “more competition with other countries”.
Nur Shazrin B. Mohamad took home the byte title with fellow Malaysians Muhammad Hariz Safwan B.Ismail and Asri B. Azman in second and third respectively. Andre finished in fourth with 101 points.
In the optimist category, the Malaysians claimed the gold and silver medal positions. Muhammad Fauzi B. Kaman Shah finished first with 82 points and Muhammad Dhiauddin B. Rozainin settled for the silver with 106. Coming in third was Singapore’s Raynn Kwok with 108 points.
In the RS:X category, Ruth Mow took home the championship title with 23 points. Coming in second was Ng Tsz Leung from Hong Kong with 27 points and Nicole Lim took home the bronze with 34.
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[…] Sailing Centre, Tuesday-Sunday, March 19-23, 2014 — 369 young sailors raced in the 2nd Fish & Co. Youth Sailing Championships. The event attracted four Finnish, five Thai, nine Korean, 15 Hong Kongers and 23 Malaysian […]