The Official
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In third place in the series was Toby O'CONNELL and Neil HALLIWELL's Yo!, the most international of all the crews, with British, Portuguese and Russian, representation. Yo! was well helmed by Richard MERRIWEATHER.
The Yo! Team went into the final race on the Asian Yachting circuit with a chance to snatch the overall series win from Hi Fidelity but the competition proved too strong.
Ulumulu and Jelik finished with an amazing tie on corrected time today, handing the overall series to the Sarawak boat.
Ulumulu is carefully optimised for the light winds that predominate on the Asian circuit and has excellent boat speed, time after time. Her Sarawak colours of yellow, red, black and white were visible at the first windward mark, ahead of larger rivals in the lightest of winds.
With the very experienced Steve MCCONAGHY calling tactics, Ulumulu started well in most of the races, finding pressure off the startline and was rarely on the wrong side of a wind shift.
ROBERTS commented this afternoon, 'It was a lot of fun today. The Koh Samui regatta is getting more competitive every year. It's a very challenging place to sail.'
'With land and sea temperatures so close together, the wind shifts can be considerable. You can be looking like a rooster, then 30 minutes later a feather duster.'
'This series has been a great all round team effort, Troy YAW, the owner and team director, has the boat in perfect condition. It's been a great effort from the Sarawak team, they are very enthusiastic, a pleasure to sail with. '
'They have done every race on the Asian circuit since they started campaigning at the first Borneo Cup, except for the Hong Kong series, so that is the next target.'
As YAW explained today, 'we are exposing talented young Malaysian sailors in the country to high-level competitions. We want to show these boys, who come from different states like Kedah, Perak and Sarawak and also Langkawi, that sailing is a sport but can be enjoyed by everyone.'
'We are out to prove that our Sarawak crew can win top honours across the Asian circuit and Ulumulu is moving in the right direction to achieve this. '
Singapore based Sydney 36 Foxy Lady, of Bill BREMMER, dominated the IRC second division.
After a first race disaster, when she was becalmed late in the race, BREMMER has strung together five wins in a row.
Behind her, another light weather expert John VAUSE sailed his Buzz 8 into second place ahead of Saranya MAKISON's Magic Roundabout, the Top of the Gulf winner.
In the multihull class, the two Schionning designed Radical 8000's dominated.
The well-known Hobie 16 sailor and now Koh Samui boat builder, Kim THOMAS, who won the 2004 Kings Cup, sailed Coco Blue's into a narrow lead going into the final race ahead of Pierre FORSAN's Coco China House but was beaten in the final race and lost the series.