Report By Scott Murray - Sea Yachting Magazine.

Day 3 of The Bay Regatta finally brought the wind for the Vacation Village Race day held off Ao Nang Beach, Krabi. Leaving the overall results for all classes open for the last day of the Regatta.

The evening celebrations was held around the pool at host sponsors Vacation Villages’ Pra Nang Inn. Daily prizes were given out for yesterday’s racing by James Haste representing Phuket’s local sponsors: Asia Catamarans, East Marine and Octopus Electrical Services. Followed by the Day three prizes, presented by The Tourism Authority of Thailand, Krabi office.

The five-boat IRC Monohull Class title is up for grabs as Peter Winter’s Aquarii, a Sydney 40 Mod, has a one-point edge going into the final day with Niels Degenkolw’s X¾ Ton Phoenix and Aleksandr Trofimenko’s DSA Venture, a First 40.7, tied for second with eight points each. Aliaksandre Racheuski’s Uminoko, a Farr One Ton, sits in third spot with Thomas Valentin’s Brisk, a Classe Mini 6.5, and the only single-handed entry in the regatta rounding out the class with 12 points.

The three-boat IRC Cruising Class saw a repeat performance of day two with Paul Merry’s Night Train, a Hanse 415, winning again and Andrey Arbuzov’s Birds & Bees, a First 44.7, coming second with Aleksei Brunov’s Moonshine, a Sun Odyssey 45, placing third. Only a minute on corrected time separated the three boats in this class. Night Train has this class all but wrapped up, but only a point separates Birds & Bees and Moonshine for second and third spot.

Meanwhile, the eight-boat Cruising Monohull saw Hans Rahmann’s sleek Yasooda, a JV Custom 70, cross the line two hours before its nearest competitor Steven Wong’s Snap Dragon, a Peterson 46, who placed second edging out Jack Christensen’s Lynda, a Bavaria 49. Next up was Duncan Fraser’s Gale Force, a Hanse 575 Shoal Keel. Sergei Dikanov’s Wind of Change, a Beneteau Oceanis 43, was fifth followed by Fons Wang’s Sumalee, a Sun Odyssey 49. Mayo Hood’s Chinnon 2, a Sun Odyssey 469, and Tony Byrnes’ Zingara rounded out the fleet. Yasooda still has a chance to catch Snap Dragon for top spot in this class, while Lynda and Gale Force have the edge when it comes to securing third place.

The seven-boat OMR Multihull class saw Dan Fidock’s Parabellum take off like a jackrabbit and they have this class pretty much sewn up with three straight wins, three line honours, and three points. John Newnham’s Twin Sharks, a Firefly 850 Sportsboats, sits in second spot with eight points. But then there’s a bottleneck with James Haste’s Bonza, a PH 1 1100, and Glywn Rowlands’ Twister II, a Stealth 12.1, tied at 12 points each while George Eddings’ Blue Noze sitting in fourth spot with 13 points. Dow Fidock’s Saffron, a Stealth 11.8, with 17 points and Dirk Weiblen’s No Fear, a VLVP YG25 MOD, with 19 points, round out this class.

And the three-boat All Aussie Cruising Multi class saw Bob McIntyre’s Allegro, a Stealth 13, take first on the day with Rick Fielding’s Mojo, a Fusion 40, coming second, followed by Bo Wharton’s Troppo, a Lagoon 410. Overall, Mojo leads Troppo by one point, who in turn leads Allegro by another point, so this class will go right down to the wire.

With only 3 races passage races completed so far, there will be no discard available to sailors so the final day will be an exciting race home to Ao Chalong tomorrow with three classes still up for grabs and the final awards party set for Kan Eang II.

A special shout-out to Dan Fidock/John Newnham for freeing up Matt McGrath and their supply boat to be the photography boat for the day, which captured many images of the stunning karst topography that Phang Nga Bay is so famous for.