Volvo Fireball Regatta: Britain Wins; Thailand Second

Peter Cummins reports from Pattaya

The British team of D.J. Edwards and Vyv Townend were unbeatable at Pattaya, winning by a big margin the Volvo Fireball International Week sailed off the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, the host of the event.

With three first and two third placings in the five races counted out of the six sailed, the visitors were unassailable at the top. Nevertheless, Thai Navy sailors Damrongsak Vongtim and Niwat Triyot also turned in a superb performance, finishing second - and the only boat to break the British hold on the first five places.

Volvo Fireball Worlds at Pattaya. Photo Peter Cummins

Damrongsak’s performance could be assigned to the “like father...like son” category, as the old clich้ has it. Three years ago, almost to the day, Damrongsak’s father, Vinai, stepped out of the Sattahip naval base, challenged a big fleet of visiting Europeans and became the first Thai ever to win a world yacht-racing championship: The Volvo Topcat Worlds.

There are some other similarities between the two events. The venue, the Royal Varuna Yacht Club is the same and Damrongsak’s crew Niwat Triyot also crewed for Vinai. The last - and certainly not the least - common element is that Volvo, pursuing its promotion of sports, under the motto “Volvo for Life”, sponsored the Topcat regatta and is sponsoring the Fireball World Championship.

Australian lady helm Heather Macfarlane, with her crew Chris Payne, sailed extremely well in a field dominated by the men, to finish sixth while fellow-Aussies Robert Inns/Jason Heritage were eighth.

Vyv Townend does some energetic ‘swinging’ on D. J. Edwards’ winning boat. Photo Peter Cummins

Thus, apart from Damrongsak, Heather and Robert, the British dominated the first 12 places, with Ian Pinnell/Mathew Flint, Steve Morrison/Richard Wagstaff and Kevin Hope/Simon Hextall, third to fifth, Steve Goacher/Nigel Walbank were seventh and the British rout was assured with Angus Hemmings/Steve Chesney, Michael/Ben Rayner, Dave Wade/Ian Morgan and Andy/Michael Smith, ninth to twelfth, respectively.

The Czech Republic team of Tomas Musil/Pavel Winkler was 15th. The first Irish team, led by Fireball International Commodore Louis Smyth and crew Francis Rowan, was 19th - a St Patrick’s Day treat for Louis and Francis. The Japanese contingent was led by Seiji Hara and Jun Kashiyama, in 35th place, the French team of Jean-Francois Novel/Andrew Wright was 39th.

A desperate struggle between the Scandinavians saw Jens Overgaard/Neil Semple four places ahead of Helge and Kina Alten, while this correspondent prefers not to print the actual places of these two former Fireball giants!

The International Week, which finished on Friday the 17th, comprised six races and was designed as an acclimatisation exercise for the more than 100 sailors, most of whom came from a northern hemisphere winter.

The pre-championship regatta also allowed the teams to tune their craft and “feel the waters”, so to speak. Nevertheless, although last week’s regatta was only a preliminary to the World Championship which started on Saturday the 18th, the organizers arranged a fine array of trophies which were presented at the splendid awards ceremony.

Volvo Fireball International Week top 25

Placings (points), first 25: 1. Edwards/Townend (GBR, 6); 2. Vongtim/Triyot (THA, 39.7); 3. Pinnell/Flint(GBR, 41.4); 4. Morrison/Wagstaff (GBR, 53); 5. Hope/Hextall (GBR, 57.7); 6. Macfarlane/Payne (AUS, 58.7); 7. Goacher/Walbank (GBR, 61.4); 8. Inns/Heritage (AUS, 68); 9. Hemmings/Chesney (GBR, 71.4); 10. Rayner/Rayner (GBR, 73); 11. Wade/Morgan (GBR, 76); 12. Smith/Smith (GBR, 76.7); 13. Young/Schwarz (AUS, 81); 14. James/Pendrigh (AUS, 97); 15. Musil/Winkler (CZE, 102); 16. Garner/O’Brien (AUS, 102); 17. Davy/Scott (GBR, 105); 18. Inns/Stallen (AUS, 113.7); 19. Smyth/Rowan (IRL, 114); 20. Potter/Gardner (GBR, 118); 21. Horey/Davies (GBR, 122); 22. Peverell/Jones (AUS, 125); 23. Rantanen/McDonald (AUS, 129); 24. Pothi/Thaiking (THA, 136); 25. Popple/Clark (GBR, 142).

Top Guns win St. Paddy’s Scramble

Guidelines for the Practice of Chi Gong & Tai Chi, Part 2: The “Don’ts”

by Patrick Stahl, NRG Center

* Don’t do too much. Tai Chi and Chi Gong are intended to assist you in self-healing and to help you become more enduring and vital. Take it very, very easy. Ease helps to activate the Chi. Extra effort and trying hard go against the natural benefits in all varieties of Chi Gong. Going too far too fast may cause discomfort and may result in you saying, “This is too much.” Then the profound benefit is lost. Achieve your goal of healing by allowing yourself to be free from the stress and rush that cause the organs, tissues and glands to become deficient. Expand your practice slowly and personal improvement is guaranteed.

* Don’t be fooled by the fact that Chi Gong seems like nothing much. The vigilant application of these simple practices has demonstrated, over thousands of years of careful refinement, the ability to mobilize the naturally occurring healing forces within you. An ancient Chinese proverb says, “That which appears great on the outside is weak on the inside, that which appears to be inconsequential on the outside is great and powerful on the inside”. Chi Gong is not an ever-complexifying chain of details and new innovations, it is an ever simplifying and deepening practice that is refined toward perfection.

* Don’t expect too much, too soon. Know that on occasion extraordinary results occur right away. Bring Chi Gong into your life delicately. Too much of such a good thing and you may say, “I don’t have time for this”. Then the remarkable possibility for self-restoration will be lost. Most often dramatic results come over time with vigilant practice.

1st Warning - Learning Chi Gong from a book, a video or even a great teacher is always frustrating, particularly because of your longing to perfect the practice, now. Please, go very slowly and intently; follow the directions the best you can. Give yourself permission to invent some things too. Remember it is not so important to do the practice just like the instructor suggests. More important is to do the practice just like it works best for you. The only way to be wrong about your implementation of these practices is to NOT do them or to not follow the rule of “go slow and easy”. Therefore, the most important rule in Chi Gong is - DO IT!

2nd Warning - Chi Gong and Tai Chi are hazardous to your health problems and they have the potential to alter the definition of health care. They help resolve many illnesses for no cost. They have no side effects. These practices may limit your doctor visits. They are dangerous to the conventional medical system and could have a radical impact on your personal life, your community, your society and the national debt.

Watch out for next week’s article!

Panthers give Gazettes a mauling

Adrian Sparrow, the recently married Captain of the Pattaya Panthers Rugby Club came up with a sterling idea of having his stag night as a Rugby trip to Phuket. In an act of total team selflessness and out of respect for their captain, the Panthers agreed to the trip and went on to take the Rugby match seriously. There were rumors of a curfew the night before the match and severe fines for those who dare break it. As a result, the on field performance of the team was only hindered by the fact that there are no posts on the Dulwich pitch, thus no conversions or penalty kicks.

Not again! Pattaya wins another loose ruck.

The following report of the match comes to us from the match sponsors, being the Phuket Gazette, and has been slightly altered for the sake of clarity.

Fluid passing and great teamwork by the visiting Pattaya Panthers frustrated the Phuket Gazettes’ attempts to make a face-saving try in their 10-a-side game on February 12 at Dulwich College. The Gazettes lost 0-40.

In the fifth minute, the more organized Panthers created an opening for (Wai) Barry (Serevi) Daniels, who dodged the last line of defense - Gazettes captain Patrick Cotter - to score the first try of the match.

Five minutes later, Andy (The Judge) Southgate benefited from a scrum near the Gazettes’ tryline to score a second.

The Gazettes, desperate to stop the rot, responded by kicking the ball upfield into the Panthers’ half. But the fitter Panthers outran the Gazettes for the ball, allowing an as yet unnamed Panther back line sheep to sidestep the tiring Gazettes defense to score a third touchdown.

After gathering for a quick conference, the Gazettes managed to pull together for a few attempts near the Panthers’ goal line.

In the twentieth minute, the Panthers’ Rob (not quite so jilted) Oldfield took advantage of the home team’s futile efforts to score, grabbed the ball and sprinted past the Gazettes to score again.

The massacre continued in the second half, with the Gazettes being confined to their own end of the field, desperately battling to keep the Panthers out. To little avail - four more tries came from Laurent (dix minute) Alzon, Oldfield and David (Forest) Garred scoring 2 tries.

Another touchdown by Oldfield five minutes from time was discounted by referee Richard Poole, but by that time the Panthers had made it quite clear they deserved the 40-0 victory over the Gazettes.

The Pattaya Panthers would like to thank their hosts, the Phuket Gazette Rugby Club, Lars, the hotel dude and Joe Lewis of Jungle Joe’s Bar & Restaurant for their warm hospitality.

The Pattaya Panthers Rugby Club’s next match is against the US Navy Seals at ISR on the 25th of March.

Following this, Panthers mixed touch football will be making a big impact in the Bangkok Southerners touch football tournament on the 2nd of April.

Watch this space for reports on these fixtures from your local team.

Snowman and Sandman scramble to victory

PSC TAGGS... golf from the Hare House

Monday, March 13 - Natural Park Hill Golf Club (Bogey)

1st: Brian Kelly, 4 Up
2nd: Claes Erlund, 3 Up
3rd: Jim Little, 2 Up

You might have noticed that TAGGS has started playing organized competitions on Mondays. This is another effort to offer Pattaya Sports Club members the widest choice of golf experiences. On a practical level, the abundance of “major” tournaments on Fridays has cut into the normal TAGGS schedule and offering competitions on Mondays helps to balance that situation. Stephen Beard, TAGGS Chairman, is also trying to place some of the more out-of-the-way golf courses on the calendar and Mondays offers ample opportunity to play courses like Treasure Hills, Noble Place, Century Chonburi, and Bangkapong.

It was expected that the Hare House Gang was going to play Burapra on Monday, March 13, and it was so scheduled. Scheduled or not, Burapra is not open on Mondays so Natural Park Hill was a last minute replacement. Bogey was the format and the winner was no great surprise. Brian Kelly won his fourth Bogey competition in recent months and beat the old dreaded Hill course by a score of 4 up.

With Brian doing so well in the Bogey format, it was a question of whether his first nickname would be “Colonel Bogey” or “The Bogey Man”. Unanimous decisions; henceforth, Brian will be known as “The Bogey Man”.

Claes Erlund showed up on Monday morning at the Hare House with Roy Kappel expecting to play Burapra. When they found out that Natural Park Hill was the substitute course, Claes was a little tentative. But Roy said he had won there before and he was all for going back. Claes came in second at “3 up” and Roy had a long, long day finishing “12 down”.

Wednesday, March 15 - Great Lake (Two Man Scramble)

1st: Malcolm Clare & Jim Little, 74, 64.4
2nd: Bert Guy & Wilf Latham, 74, 64.6
3rd: Michael Dige, Billy Russell & Gunnar Hedelin, 70, 65.5

In preparation for the St. Patrick’s Day Scramble, the gentlemen from the Hare House held their own scramble at Great Lake on Wednesday the 15th of March. “Scramble” is the right word for this donnybrook. There were a lot of good scores and a lot of close contests.

Malcolm “The Snowman” Clare paired up with Jimmy “The Sandman” Little for a solid 37/37. Each of these guys probably hit 74 bad shots, but they never once did it on the same turn. Their “brother-in-law” act earned them their first Knotted Putter trophy playing as a team. With Mal playing off 28 and Jimmy off 20 they were allowed a handicap of 9.6 and won the competition with a 64.6 net.

That was just two tenths of a stroke better than Wilf Latham and Bert Guy who also shot 74. This duo headed into Great Lake’s 17th hole at even par and the scramble was well in hand. But a disastrous bogey-bogey finish dropped them down a step on the leader board and they had to settle for second place.

The three-man team of Michael Dige, Gunnar Hedelin and Billy Russell were allowed only 10% of their total handicap instead of the usual 20 percent. They shot a scratch 70 and their net 65.5 was enough for the last spot on the podium. They edged out Al Keith and Mark Campbell who shot the day’s Low Gross with a sixty-nine.

Mr. Loy’s putter earns victory at Century, Ban Chang

Mick’s wins Mickey Mouse title

When the final dart was thrown this season in the Friday Night Mickey Mouse Darts League, Mick’s Place had won the league championship title.

Beer Put, meanwhile, had achieved the most “Under 10s” during the season, 105. Chon from Mick’s Place achieved the league’s highest check out, 130. And Palmer’s finished the season after having achieved the coveted “wooden spoon” for the league’s “strongest team”.

In the last week of matches, Steve from Mick’s finished in style, shooting a perfect 180 and checking on 107.

In the other last week’s games, both Pleasure Dome and Beer Put held on to their 2nd and 3rd places by winning both their games and beer legs. Cheers sneaked up 2 places by winning at Palmers.

This week (24-3-2000) sees the end of season party at Beer Put, a Lucky Draw tournament will be held and free food will be available. Everybody Welcome.

Final standings

	Won	Lost	Beer leg’s	Under 10’s
Mick’s Place Pleasure Dome  Beer Put  Rising Sun  Cheers  Yorkie  Devonshire  Palmers	11 9 9 8 5 5 5 3	3  5 5 6 9 9 9 11	10 11 8 7 8 4 2 5	67 77 105 92 87 80 86 86

Café Krongborg enters PSC March Fishing Tournament

Saturday March 11 the Caf้ Kronborg fishing team checked in with two large Pompano Fish and a very large Cuttlefish. Egon Nielsen, Christsen, Densen, and Geisnaes weighed in with a 15.5 lb. Pompano fish and a 6.6 lb. Pompano fish. And to everyone’s amazement they had caught a huge 3.3 lb. Cuttlefish - the largest anyone has seen around here. The team were fishing on Captain Ting’s boat out of Ban Suray.

Fitness Tips: Stress incontinence?

by David Garred
Club Manager Dusit Resort Sports Club

G’Day Pattaya.

This one is aimed at the ladies out there but it is an important a consideration for men as we have the same problem but to a lesser extent than the ladies; it usually manifests itself later in a man’s live also.

The pelvic floor muscles are frequently overlooked, even though they are one of the most important muscle groups in the body, contributing significantly to the role of sexual response, child birth and support of the bladder, womb and bowel. Weakness in the pelvic floor muscles can lead to the development of stress incontinence, a particularly devastating condition that occurs in more than one in three women between the ages of thirty and sixty years.

Pelvic Floor Muscles

The pelvic floor is a layer of muscle that stretches from the pubic bone at the front to the base of the spine. The pelvic floor muscles are classified as postural muscles, which means that they need to be active when the body is in the upright position. Without the support of a healthy floor, the ligaments that hold the bladder, bowel and the womb in place can become damaged. The pelvic floor muscles need to be slow to fatigue, enabling them to cope with everyday occurrences like a sneeze, cough or jump. All these ‘events’ create a rise in pressure that will squeeze the bladder. The muscles must be strong enough to respond efficiently to this rise in pressure with short bursts of power, in order to prevent urine from leaking from the bladder. If the muscles are unable to respond in the efficient manner required a condition called stress incontinence occurs.

Many women are unaware how weakness of the pelvic floor muscles originates, but it is commonly associated with pregnancy, childbirth, menopause (when changes in hormonal production affect the pelvic support) and strenuous or vigorous activity, like lifting a heavy load. Although these muscles do weaken with age, teenage girls can also display the symptoms of pelvic floor weakness.

Locating the pelvic floor muscles

Many people find the pelvic floor muscles difficult to locate and do not exercise then as part of their daily physical activity. Test the location of the pelvic floor muscles by contracting them when urinating, which will stop the flow (note that this is not an exercise and should not be performed on a regular basis). Another way of finding the location is through touch. Place a finger just behind the vagina and try to tighten the muscles around the water passage. You will be able to feel this if you are doing the procedure correctly.

Exercising the pelvic floor muscles

Many women wrongly believe that they are strengthening the pelvic floor muscles through everyday workouts, i.e. general exercise, walking, cycling, etc... However, this is not the case so it is of paramount importance to incorporate the exercise (see below) for the muscles into daily activity. Frequently exercising the pelvic floor muscles will also raise the awareness of this part of the body, enabling you to detect any weakness or change in condition.

Basic exercise

Sit or lie comfortably with the knees slightly apart, concentrate on the pelvic floor muscles. Attempt to lift and squeeze the muscles. Imagine that you are trying to stop a flow of urine. Breathe naturally throughout, without squeezing your buttocks or tensing your abdomen.

Endurance exercise

Use the same protocol (method) as explained in the basic exercise above. Contract the muscles for at least 2 seconds, but as long as possible would be preferable. Then after resting for the same amount of time again repeat the exercise.

Strength exercise

Repeat the same exercise again, this time making the contractions faster and stronger.

The frequency that the exercises should be performed is dependent on the level of weakness discovered, but as with any exercise routine, workouts should be a gradual build up of duration and strength contractions. If you find the exercises demanding, aim to achieve ten contractions. However, if you suffer from stress incontinence and find these exercises do not improve your condition, you may wish to seek professional advice.

Carpe’ diem.

Auto Mania: Motor Racing This Weekend - Part 1 - Bira

by Dr. Iain Corness

The 1st Round of the All Thailand Touring Car Championship 2000 will be held this weekend at the Bira International Circuit. Practice is on Saturday with the races on Sunday from around noon. This is actually billed as part of the preliminaries for the Pattaya Festival.

I have been asked by some people just where the circuit is, so here’s the easiest way to get there (but not necessarily the shortest, OK?) if you are unsure. Head north towards Chonburi along Sukhumvit Highway, turning right at the traffic lights at Km 137. This is the start of Highway 36 and head towards Rayong. You will pass the ISR school on the right and keep heading towards Rayong, do not take the left to Bangkok or the Motorway. About Km marker 14 you will see the Circuit on the right hand side.

You can cross over the circuit by the overhead foot bridge, and stroll through the pits. Watch out for race cars that do tend to drive faster through the pit area than you are probably used to!

My favourite area to watch from is at the first chicane at the back section of the track. You can reach this easily from the pits. Most action happens around here - especially if it rains! Come over and have a chat.

Motor Racing This Weekend - Part 2 - Brazil

The F1 circus has arrived at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil for the second round of the Eff Wun World Champs, so don’t expect McLarens and Ferrari’s in action at Bira. After the debacle in Australia, with the exploding Mercedes engines, there has been a great deal of work at Ilmor Engineering. The same can be said on the other side of the world, where the Mugen Honda engineers have been analysing broken bits of the two Jordan engines. If it is not fixed by this weekend, expect ritual Hara Kiri at Mugen Honda.

Meanwhile, the Jaguar executives will have had more than their tails tweaked by their lord and master, FoMoCo. Melbourne was a complete disaster for Johnny Herbert, whose car was lucky to be able to complete three laps in succession at any time, while Eddie Irvine experienced brain fade in his new lairy helmet and lost it. Much work there will have been done to make the cars reliable. As for Eddie? Well, a slip-over brain cooler might help, along with a zip fastener for his mouth. As I said the other week - when the flag drops, the bullshit stops.

Autotrivia Quiz

Last week we asked about the front-engine sports coupe proposed by the Porsche design team for Audi. The car was built and put into production - but it wasn’t called an Audi in the end. What was it called?

This design exercise ended up being the fairly well unloved Porsche 924. Unacceptable to the Porsche purists it was hurriedly given a turbo to try and get some half decent performance figures and then bits of the running gear from the 911 series and ended up as the 944, by that stage reluctantly accepted as a “real” Porsche.

And so to this week. We mentioned the new Cosworth race engines being used by Jaguar, so here’s a dead easy one. Where did the name Cosworth come from?

For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first to fax 427 596 or email automania@pattayamail.com with the correct answer.

Zafira Number 17

Just happened to be dribbling down Soi 7 and what did I espy? The new Zafira fresh out from GM’s new factory at the Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate. This one was the 17th I am led to believe. The vehicle is actually a fair bit larger than I expected and looks like a big version of the A Class Mercedes Benz, complete with steeply raked front and cut off rear.

This one was a stick shift, twin air bags, 1.8 litre and really had a fabulous paint job. I’ll tell you more about them when I actually get to drive one. You can get me through the Pattaya Mail Office, Mr. General Motors. In the meantime, here’s some pictures!

A weighty problem

In any racing car that has to compete at a designated minimum weight, there is a great advantage in having a basic vehicle that is much lighter than the regulation and then add ballast to bring it up to the required minimum weight limit.

The reason this gives an advantage is that you can place the ballast where you want it. Generally this is done to balance out some handling characteristics of the vehicle.

In a Formula 1 car, one of the heaviest items is the engine; this is why the engine manufacturers try to design the lightest, as well as the most powerful, engine. Of course, this will necessitate the use of space-age materials like “no-weightium” to do this. And they are expensive!

I came across the comparison of engine weights for this year’s crop of F1 cars, and it is interesting to see the differences - 25 kg between the lightest and heaviest. So here they are - Cosworth (Jaguar) 97 kg, Mercedes-Benz (McLaren) 98 kg, Ferrari 100 kg, Peugeot (Prost) 109 kg, Honda (BAR) 110 kg, Petronas (Sauber) 114 kg, Mugen (Jordan) 115 kg, Supertec (Arrows and Benetton) 118 kg, BMW (Williams) 120 kg, Fondmetal (Minardi) 122 kg.

What is even more interesting is the development that can be seen by the engine makers. For example, the Fondmetal is in fact the old Ford V10 which ran in the Stewart Fords, while the latest from Ford, a “Cosworth” in the Stewarts (now called Jaguar - gets confusing, doesn’t it) is the lightest. Where and how did they save 25 kg? One thing is for certain, that weight loss would have cost thousands of dollars.

The Cosworth people actually run a fantastic racing service for their customers. I ran a four cylinder Cosworth BDG in one of my race cars in Oz and you could ring Cosworth in the UK, give them your Visa card magic numbers and the parts would be on the next plane. In the box would be a hand written note hoping that everything was satisfactory and a Cosworth sticker for the boot lid. I have even had emails from them hoping we got the engine back together in time for the weekend. That’s service with a capital S.

Copyright 2000  Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand 
Tel.66-38 411 240-1, 413 240-1, Fax:66-38 427 596; e-mail: ptymail@loxinfo.co.th