Royal Varuna Yacht Club hosted the Laser National Championships on 21st and 22nd February at Pattaya Bay, with the objective to promote and support sailing activities in Thailand and as a stimulus for the tourism industry in Pattaya. With around 40 Thai and international sailors aged from between 14–75 attending the competition, the three Laser classes of Standard, Radial and 4.7 were contested.
Among the Thai stars, Olympian Keerati Bualong, 22, secured his sixth national title in the Laser Standard event while Asian Games medalist Kamonwan Chanyim, 19, secured her fourth title in the Laser Radial’s event. Additionally, a new star emerged in the shape of Arthit Romanyk, 14, who was a first time winner in the Laser 4.7 class representing Royal Varuna Yacht Club.
Olympian Keerati Bualong races in the Laser Standard class at the Thailand Laser National Championships held Feb. 21-22 at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club in Pattaya. (Photo/Alberto Cassio)
In special recognition, RVYC’s Rear Commodore, Chris Dando, announced the first Varuna Legend as Malcolm Humphreys, 75, who finished the races and left younger men in his wake.
On Saturday, the moderate winds increased to over 15 knots resulting in three attempts to get the Laser Standard fleet away for their first race. Spirited competition resulted in a surprise win for Korean sailor Kim Sang Kyu and Keerati won the remaining races on the day. In the Laser Radial, Kamolwan reveled in the strong wind, making no mistakes to score four straight first places. In the Laser 4.7, the youngest competitors showed excellent boat handling skills in the rough conditions.
Kamonwan performs at top speed in the Laser Radial fleet.
On Sunday, the course was quite close to the shore, which meant that the waves at the leeward mark were giving difficult conditions and led to many thrills and quite a few capsizes! Again it took several attempts to get the first start away.
In the Laser Standard fleet there was no stopping Keerati as he continued his sequence of unbeaten races with four further wins to take the overall win for the weekend. Behind him the name of the game was consistency. Natthawut Paenyaem showed his tactical ability by finishing third in all the races of the day and this proved just enough to take second place overall from Lee Kwang Yeon from Korea.
Arthit showed superior boat handling skills in the Laser 4.7 class.
In the Laser Radial fleet, Kamolwan was challenged by Youth Olympian Apiwat Sringam, 16, who won the first two races, and Chusitt Punjamala, 16, who managed to win the third race. Despite being the last off the line, Kamolwan recovered to finish second, and was back at the front in the final race to take the title. Chusitt came second, ending the day with a three points lead over Apiwat.
Legend Malcolm Humphreys (centre) with Chris Dando, RVYC Rear Commodore (left), and Jordan Rumsby, RVYC Sailing Director (right).
In the Laser 4.7 fleet, Alex Frefel won the first race and was looking good for the top spot overall. However, Arthit fought back with two wins in the final two races and this left them tied on points, with Arthit’s final race win determining his overall triumph as decided by regatta rules. Phumpraphi Thampthim, 14, of RYVC, finished third overall.
The Laser fleet winners and runners-up pose for a group photo.
The Royal Varuna Yacht Club’s next major events are the Matchrace Thailand Championships in March and the Byte CII World Championships in July. For further information, sail to: www.varuna.org.
(All photos courtesy Alberto Cassio)
