So the world's biggest F16 fleet has the first of many regattas this weekend. One this month, then in March and then April. With 17 Taipans, 7 Vipers and 1 Blade I don't think anyone else can rival our size for F16s (yet).
22 boats in all have pre-registered as of today, with more turning up on the day, so could have 30 to 35 boats in all ranging from A-Cats to F16s to Inter 17s to Twincats and the Singapore Sailing youth team are also competing in Hobie 16s.
Certainly a diverse field, and a competitive one with Greg Goodall sailing the Viper, and local guru Scotty McCook also competing.
Wind has been great lately with 12 to 15 knots each day for the past fortnight, but forecast for the weekend not looking great. But being so close to the Equator, anything can happen, especially with 3 knot tides and potentially high storm activity.
Sat is a race around the local island Ubin. And Sun is a passage to the Johor river in Malaysia followed by 3 windward/leewards.
Got the A-cat going nicely lately, but with potentially flukey breezes who knows. Been plenty of races where I have had a big lead only to see Scotty and Louis (and others) come down with kites up on the new breeze line whilst bobbing around in the old breeze waiting.
Details will be at:
Are the F16 sailors going to get an association going?
Probably not. All the boats are at the one club. There is Rear Commodore for Sailing who refers to the more active sailors for best direction. This is essentially what an Association would cover in many ways.
Well that was a disappointing weekend. The NE Monsoon decided to crap out on Friday so we were left drifting on Sat/Sun. 6 races were scheduled, but only 1 was managed to be completed.
Sat started with a passage to the racing area. Started with 4 to 5 knots with outgoing tide. Managed to get to first turning mark relatively quickly, only to have the wind die. We all tried to round up and head to the next mark which was 90 degrees to the tide, only to be dragged out to sea by the tide. A few boats were able to get out of the tidal zone, but the wind they got was from overhead planes.
Sunday was a little better with an incoming tide. Had enough breeze to get to first turning mark against the tide, and then tide was finally helping you. Again they had a 1hr time limit and I managed to get there in 46 mins. But with a limit of finishing 1/2hr after first boat, half-way were DNF.
So F16 conclusion of the Viper and Taipan, both drift at the same rate in the tide. But at least we had a front row seat of the air show and the air acrobatics.
Result of a single race are here:
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And if you want to see boats on the glassy Changi waters, they will posted soon on:
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Links to pix of F16s and other catamarans drifting about in the hot sun and big tides with a crazy lack of wind.
Looks like a great place if only there was some wind. Where you rig up, what happens if it's windy looks pretty tight and NO beach just car park. Also is this where you would like to host GC?
The weekend before this regatta was awesome. 12 to 15 knots, flat water. Couldn't ask for a better day. But being just north of the equator, wind can be really crap as well.
There is a beach, the pictures were taken at high tide. At low tide the water is close to 2m in straight height lower, or about 30m of straight beach. And the carpark/rigging area faces the NE which is our predominant breeze, so not too much risk there.