Sunday, 9th August 2026
As usual with the Skybird races, Malcolm Elliott kindly volunteered to act as race officer, and we now have an established procedure for these races. That means Lan and his assistant are placing marks downriver on the north and south banks.
Malcolm has designed a course card, which gives many course options. For the race start and finish, we use a center set of marina poles, with Malcolm calling the time over the radio and adjudging. This works well and gives great racing.
On this occasion, we had a disappointing three-boat entry. But what it lacked in quantity, it more than made up for in quality, with three top-class crews.
Entry 1: Emily, sailed by Evan with his son, Eugene, as crew.
Entry 2: Jerry, sailed by Thomas with Alessandro as chief crew and assistant, and the ever-enthusiastic young sailor Riri, with a great smile.
Entry 3: The Commodore’s Cabaret 7, crewed by instructor Lan, filling in for a late-cancelled crew.
Race One
After a torrential rainstorm as we arrived, the weather cleared as it usually does at Pulau Indah. By the time racing started at 12:30, we had a fair wind from the southwest.
The racing was made interesting partly by a negative tidal stream, but more particularly by the wind from the south of the tree-lined Carey Island, varying in strength from nought to 15 knots and in direction by 15 degrees. This explains some of the interesting situations which developed during the racing, particularly affecting the rounding of the windward mark.
The course for Race 1 was a triangle with buoys one and two, followed by the finish.
Cabaret 7 was adjudged to be over the line and had to return, whilst Emily and Jerry sailed towards the first mark. Starting as a reach, it was becoming a beat to windward.
Emily reached the buoy well in front, while Cabaret 7 on the south shore caught up with Jerry and, on a very difficult approach to the mark, sailed through.
On the next leg, spinnakers were hoisted, in some cases more successfully than others. With a gybe at the second mark and a broad reach home, Cabaret fought off the challenge from Jerry and the finishing order remained:
- Emily
- Cabaret 7
- Jerry
Race Two
The second race had an interesting course: a double triangle with a sausage in between, including an interesting downwind rounding of the outer post to the marina.
Cabaret won the start and led round the first three marks.
On the first reach, Emily had a problem lowering their spinnaker and dropped behind. However, on the close reach/beat back to the first mark, Cabaret crossed to the south shore, as seemed to have paid the previous time, whilst Jerry took a direct course which proved much more successful.
On the reach across to the last mark, Cabaret was very close but could not overtake Jerry, who sailed on to win.
The finishing order was:
- Jerry
- Cabaret 7
- Emily
This meant each boat had six points, so it was all to play for in the third and last race.
Race Three
A close start saw Jerry lead with Cabaret inches behind, catching up and then falling back according to the conditions.
Emily, coming from the other side of the river, joined the melee, and the third race was the same course as the first.
The start saw Emily cross the line first, closely followed by Cabaret, with Emily on the north shore.
All the way up to the first mark, Cabaret attempted to overtake Jerry without success. At the first mark, all three boats converged together.
Cabaret was lucky to get a shift, which enabled her to sail past the buoy and come back on starboard, rounding first.
On the reach across, Emily hoisted a spinnaker, whilst Cabaret and Jerry continued under jibs.
At the final mark, the three boats were in line across, with Cabaret on the inside. Executing a good gybe, she managed to stay in front but was pursued all the way to the line by Jerry and Emily.
The three finished within 51 seconds of each other, and it had been a great race.
Nominally, Cabaret won the day’s series. But the rules provide for all races to count, so we will wait with interest for Malcolm’s calculation of the current situation.
Three Boats, Three Race Winners
WOW—three boats each won a race!
It was a close and competitive day of racing, with all three crews showing that quality can certainly make up for quantity.
The next Skybird Series is on 29th September, and we hope for a better turnout because this is yacht racing at its finest.
Great fun. Personally, I can’t wait.
Jeremy Camps
Acting Class Captain, Squib Class