|
Ambassador's
Cup 2003
Text by Peter DUNLOP
This
was the fourth year of this race which is now firmly fixed
in the Singapore yachting calendar. Hosted by Changi Sailing
Club, the driving personality behind the race is keen yachtsman
His Excellency Guido Scalici the Italian Ambassador. The
fleet was divided into two classes with 15 boats shipping
ambassadors in Class A and 9 boats shipping other country
representatives, sponsors or simply joining the fleet in
Class B.
The luck of the draw brought Shoon Fung Too HE Rudolf Hykl
of the Embassy of the Czech Republic for the second year
running. He was again joined by his son Rudy and his colleague
Pavel Hajfler who had a fine digital camera in the most
impressive waterproof casing.
After a short ceremony when Ambassador's were introduced
to their skippers and CSC Commodore Jeffry Leow offered
a 50% chance of rain, everybody boarded the yachts for a
start on the club line at 13.00hrs.
On Shoon Fung Too we made a good start and were in the van
for a while in the gentle westerly until the 60 foot Swan
Irvmiren, shipping ambassador Kim Luotonen of Finland and
the slippery little 25 foot Platu with some representatives
from the Royal Thai Navy passed us. The wind was light and
variable and we rounded the first mark at Paku off the Changi
Airport fuel jetty in second position behind Irvmiren but
a clear first on handicap. Young Rudy thought that was great
and was clearly already thinking of climbing the victors
dais and had to be cautioned that there was still a long
way to go.
Soon after Paku the wind veered northerly as we sailed past
the now famous Chek Jawa nature site in the shallow waters
off the eastern end of Pulau Ubin (granite island). Approaching
the Nanas safe water mark we noticed Irvmiren had a 90 degree
header but were unfortunately placed and the boats on the
left hand side of the course managed to slip round the buoy
ahead of us. The order as we set off on the long leg into
the wind along the northern shores of Pulau Ubin was Irvmiren,
Jenny 3, Mata Hari and Jenny 2. No worries! These are all
bigger boats which should be ahead. Nearby were arch rivals
Next Page, Solarmax from RSYC and Platu.
We saw off Next Page, enjoyed the tropical greenery on both
the Ubin and Malaysian shores and noted the progress on
the new security fence on Pulau Ubin. As the channel turned
to the WNW the fetch became more of a beat and we entered
a prolonged tussle with Platu with the lead changing several
times. Solarmax also challenged but never came closer than
about 50 metres.
The fish farms were left behind at the western end of Pulau
Ubin and the scenery on the Johor shore changed to one of
oil rigs and the commercial port of Pasir Gudang. It was
a long haul, some in the cruising boats thought too long
since last year we had just rounded the end of Ubin, in
softening wind to the turning mark off Ponggol. This proved
to be something of a gate, it was now 3pm and high water
at Sembawang and the ebb tide would soon kick in to help
make up for the now very light conditions. Solarmax and
Platu rounded soon after us but the slower boats behind
now had to contend with a building adverse tide as well
as the light airs.
We broke out the tuna sandwiches made by the skipper's wife
and taking our cue from our guests, abstained, with disdain
- more on this later, from drinking our cold beer to maintain
the Shoon Fung Too tradition of being a dry ship while racing.
We held our own against our rivals, working hard to get
catch every little puff of air, now poling out our beautiful
big genoa, now close on the wind. It became a little boring
for Rudy who, despite seeing some herons fly by, managed
to fall asleep and slip through the guard rails and into
the sea up to his chest. His father's quick reactions with
some help from Peter soon had him back aboard. When questioned
he admitted that perhaps were sailing faster than he had
thought and revised his opinion on whether he could swim
as fast as we were sailing. Perhaps this was the final straw
for Rudolf's back, he had most gamely decided to race despite
having been offered a week's MC by his doctor, because he
retired below to lie down for the final 30 minutes of the
race before emerging to witness our finish with our large
Czech flag flying proudly from the starboard shrouds.
Having landed our diplomats we put Shoon Fung to bed in
her dry berth round the corner at Natsteel and returned
to a most welcome cold Pils Urquell premium Czech beer the
fully justified reason for our decision not to drink at
lunch time. This beer, brewed in the finest European tradition,
with its hoppy flavour was a most welcome change from the
blander offerings more commonly available in Singapore and
a welcome change for Peter who misses his UK ales.
Young Rudy was replaced by a much more attractive representative
in the person of his blonde mother Dasa who hails from Slovakia
which prompted a brief reprise of recent European political
change for the benefit of the skipper who had been referring
to Czechoslovakia and who still seems to find it all a little
confusing and obscure when viewed from his antipodean position.
We enjoyed more pils, the buffet provided by sponsor Indochine
and circulated around the other crews. When the results
were posted we found that we had achieved another second
place behind Ambassador Scalici and ahead of Ambassador
Nanovfszsky who had been our crew two years earlier in the
second Ambassador's Cup. More pils! Platu would have beaten
us into second place but they were relegated to Race B because
they were not crewed by a head of mission.
Results:
1st again! Lady Galadriel H.E. Guido Scalici of Italy with
skipper Nathan Richardson
2nd again! Shoon Fung Too H.E. Rudolf Hykl of the Czech
Embassy
with skipper Gordon Maxted
3rd Mata Hari H.E. Gyorgi Nanovfszky of Hungary with skipper
Chris Gee
Sailing
Yacht Shoon Fung Too is a Young 840, 8.4 metre long
epoxy cedar Frank Young design from New Zealand
Skipper and Owner
Gordon Maxted from New Zealand
Mainsheet
Arul from Australia out of Sri Lanka and UK
Foredeck and trimmer
Peter Dunlop from Scotland and UK
Genoa skirter and conversationalist
H.E.
Rudolf Hykl of the Czech Embassy
Commentator, optimist and erstwhile swimmer
Rudy
Photographer and boom preventer
Pavel Hajfler of the Czech Embassy
Peter Dunlop
20 October 2003
|
