Sailing the High Seas

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The third Wonderful Indonesia Nongsa Regatta was a three-day event held in strong winds in late January. Staged at the Nongsa Point Marina & Resort in Batam, Indonesia, the regatta has replaced the Singapore Straits Regatta, which was held in mid-January annually. Moving forward, regatta organizer Prakash Reddy says the regatta will be held annually during the final weekend of January.

Nine keelboats competed in regatta, all from Singapore with four of them coming from Singapore Management University (SMU). Many of SMU’s sailors are female and in this regatta two of the skippers were female as well. No university in Southeast Asia has a more active sailing program than SMU and it proved it once again with four entries, and a group of ex-SMU students crewing on another boat as well. It’s too bad universities in other Southeast Asian countries don’t follow suit and give SMU other university teams to race against.

Three J24s and two Platu 25s were entered in the keelboat division along with a Nelson 10, a Young 88, a Mumm 30, and a Lauranus L34. When the wind did die down on day three, the weather did favour the Platus and J24s.

Five first-place finishes gave Kurt Metzger's Nelson 10 Waka Tere the overall championship with 21 points. Waka Tere was followed by the dueling Platu 25s: Bernice Foo Ling Li's Platu 25 SMUVE followed by Koh Ling Ying's Platu 25 SMUMAD, who battled back and forth all regatta. An OCS that SMUMAD didn't respond to, was the difference giving SMUVE 2nd spot overall with 23 points, while SMUMAD settled for third with 25 points.

Fourth spot, went to the top J24 in the race Christian Mark Chang Kah Fai's J24 Shengli, while Gordon Maxted's Young 88 Shoon Fung Too took 5th place. Zaheera Hashim's J24 Balqis was the second best J24 during the event; finishing in front of the bigger Rebecca Goh Su Min's J24 Quarterdeck, in 7th. Justin Lean's Mumm 30 Invictus and Simon Piff's Lauranus L34, Rainbow Dream, rounded out the fleet finishing eighth and ninth overall.

The individual J24 Class saw Christian Mark Chang Kah Fai's J24 Shengli capture the division with a 6-point overall total, winning six of the nine races sailed. Zaheera Hashim's J24 Balqis came in second on 12 points, with two victories, and Rebecca Goh Su Min's J24 Quarterdeck finished in third with 14 points, winning one race.

When the northeast monsoon blows, and it really does at this time of the year, there’s no lack of good wind and that’s what the participants saw, for the most part-continuous strong wind.

The regatta also saw 20 optimists and 10 Laser 4.7s completing over two days of sailing on a short course within the marina confines. Young Indonesians from the Riau Yacht Club competed in the tree classes it was amazing to see the composure and confidence they showed on the water. Optimist Boys saw 16 entrees race eight races with one discard. They must be putting something in the water in Terengganu because their lads dominated the Optimist Boys Class with Muh Faizuddin Bin Mohd Fauzi, Muh Luqman Hakim Bin Mansor & Muh Afiq Hakim Bin Razali finishing 1, 2, 3, overall, in that order; while Sarmila from Kaltim, Putri Farid from Kepri & Cinta Bella also from Kepri were the highest finishers in the Optimist’s Girls, going 1,2, & 3. In the Laser 4.7 class it was Umar Al Farouk and Asmawi Bin Azman from Terengganu in first and second spot respectively, and Ramadhan Tito from Kepri in third spot.

There was also a radio-controlled boat race, featuring six boats, and the winner was Geoff Shepherd from the UK with Bart Ouwerling from the Netherlands taking second spot and Australian Mark Biggs placing third. The same win, place and show finishings as the previous year.

This was the third regatta that the Nongsa Point Marina & Resort has staged in its 27-year history, though it does play host to the Neptune Regatta on its way out and back from the equator and in the past, it also hosted the Singapore Straits Regatta.

Regatta organizer and Marina Manager Prakash Reddy again did a superb job of making sure that all ran smoothly. Race officers came from Indonesia while support boats came from Raffles Marina, Marina@Keppel Bay, and Focus Adventure. Rona, a 123-year-old classic sailing yacht was the spectator and local media boat while Tan Thong Meng, the Marina Manager for Marina@Keppel Bay kindly drove the foreign media around.

The regatta has a tough time gaining entrees as it is held soon after the Royal Langkawi International Regatta, days before the Bay Regatta and about a week-and-half before the Neptune Regatta.

The first three regattas at Nongsa have had nine boats each; let’s try and give Prakash a hand to help this regatta grow. Nongsa Point is superb spot from which to stage a regatta and the winds are usually good, so we just need more sailors to enter the event.

Indroyono Soesilo AIndroyono Soesilo, Advisor to the Minister for Tourism, in conjunction with Colin Bransgrove awarded Nongsa Point Marina & Resort with the Marina Industries Association Gold Anchor award, becoming the first marina in Indonesia to receive this prestigious award.

The Marina

Nongsa Point Marina & Resort features 65 world-class berths designed by globally acclaimed Bellingham Marina, including two berths for mega-yachts up to 130 feet. Each berth comes with a dedicated utility pedestal with electricity and water. The marina is also equipped with a mobile sewerage pump out system that can be brought to each berth. A central fuel jetty is available to provide both diesel and gasoline. Boats must be insured to be operated in Indonesian waters, against loss, damage, fire, third-party and other liabilities. Nongsa is in a strategic location for yachts to stopover heading to/from the South China Sea, to the Straits of Malacca or south to Bali/Jakarta. The restaurant/bar is open 24hrs; hotels and villas are available for daily or long-term rental or lease. Most common services can be done in Batam – mechanical and electrical. Haul up facilities are located nearby: www.asianfastmarine.com/en/. Sail repair and new sails are available from North Sail loft. Both the Singapore and Batam Airports are also close by (www.nongsapointmarina.com).