Pattaya’s Royal Varuna Yacht Club has long played a role in the development of Thai sailors, but this year, it may play a bigger role in nurturing some of the nation’s top youth talent.
At the end of last month the club hosted Chusitt Punjamala for a last week of high performance coaching before he flew off to Malaysia on February 2 to attempt to secure a spot at the Nanjing Youth Olympics at the Byte CII Asian Championships in Langkawi, which runs February 5 to 10.
Kamolwan Chanyim was presented with a Magnum ice cream instead of the usual wine after winning the 31st Great Laser Island Race last month.
The dinghy club also saw aspiring Olympian, Kamolwan Chanyim return from her latest youth world championship in Oman to steal gold from an all mature male fleet in the 31st Great Laser Island Race in mid-January. The 18 year old, who has honed her skills at several international events in the past six months courtesy of sponsorship by Pattaya real estate developer Kingdom Property, caused race organizers to scurry for an age-appropriate prize to accompany her trophy, the others all winning a bottle of wine for their efforts.
The Great Laser Island Race is just one of many special races held at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club each year. At this year’s event, sailors kicked off from the beach in 30 second increments to round Koh Larn, returning in approximately 2 and a half hours. The sailors reached the island in a group with former Dart world champion Gareth Owen and Kamolwan in front, both in Standard rigs usually reserved for men. They lost boat speed when they passed into a wind shadow behind the island, allowing Chris Dando to maneuver around them in a better breeze and slip into the lead.
The three battled up the beat on the far side of the island, with Gareth covering Chris closer to the shore as they neared the far end of the island. Both RVYC based sailors expected the wind to bend around the island and give them a lift on starboard. Sattahip’s Kamolwan took the risk of heading further away from land, going for a stronger, steadier breeze and benefitting subsequently from an unexpected shift that gave her a lift on port, putting her well ahead through to the end of the race.
Past winners include Sydney Olympian Veerasit Puangnak and top national sailor, Royal Thai Navy sailing coach and aspiring Nacra Olympian Damrongsak Vongtim.
Two time national Laser Radial champion Kamolwan will return to the RVYC for the Laser National Championships February 22-23, and then plans to use the club as her training base for the 2014 ISAF Youth World Championships which will be held in July in Portugal. In addition to training, she will be assisting the professional international coaching team at the club with their impressive schedule of 2014 sailing courses for beginner, intermediate, and advanced sailors of all ages in English and Thai. To learn more about the RVYC’s Junior and Adult Sailing program, go to website: http://varuna.org.
The young aspiring Olympian prepares her laser craft at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club.
Kamolwan is seen in action at the Oman Laser Radial Worlds. (Photo courtesy Mundher Al Zadjali)
