Jun Avecilla at the helm of Selma Star
 Selma Star |
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NEW: 21.1.06
12th Singapore Straits Regatta
"Selma Star"
Selma Star is a brand new Beneteau First-36.7 that was delivered to Simpson Marine Singapore on the first week of December, 2005. At around 1500 hours of the 22nd of January, 2006, Selma Star took Line Honors in the last race of IRC "B" to correct out to second overall. This gave Selma Star her first major trophy in her long life with Mr. Jesus (Jun) Avecilla and family.
Selma Star's overall win in IRC "B" started three months prior when Jun sat down with George Hackett (President Banks Sails Far East) and discussed what it would take to do the regatta. Being that Simpson Marine (Beneteau Singapore) had given Jun a special deal on their "Show Boat", we felt it best that an all out assault with a placing of third overall would be in the best interest of Simpson Marine. It was explained that normally one does not take a brand new boat "out of the shoe box" and win a major event unless you have a full factory team on board. With that understanding, a list of twelve items was formulated to ensure the desired results.
One of the things that were looked at very carefully was the sail wardrobe. Being that Singapore is notoriously light with sloppy water conditions and fast moving tides. We needed to put the sail plan on a steroid program. It was felt the Main was plenty big but that the Genoa could go to 155%. On Jun's first boat, Selma (First-31.7), Banks Sails D4s had been supplied and have produced great results so far. However, it was felt that since we could not actually get to the rig and do a proper work up that an all Kevlar inventory would be the best approach. Later in the boat's life, a set of D4s are in the works.
The biggest increase came in the Spinnakers. A Carbon Fiber pole was ordered from ForeSpar at fifteen feet which was significantly longer than the standard pole and the Kites were pushed up to 105sqm.
Two Series-2000 symmetric kites were built for masthead hoist. One was an all out Down Wind VMG Kite built in Airx-500. The second is an All Purpose Kite built in standard ¾ Nylon. The third kite is a 1.5oz Flat Asymmetric used for very close reaching and heavy airs down wind. The Assy was used with devastating effect on the long race back to Singapore from Indonesia on the last day.
The first day of racing saw two races with Selma Star on the line with a new IRC TCC of 1.044. The first being a windward/leeward and the second a short point to point race taking us from the western shores of Singapore to the southern shores. Being that we were still tuning the boat on the way to the start, a fifth and second for the day was a good start to the series. It put us in fourth overall to start with. But more importantly, it answered a lot of question on how to sail the boat better.
Day two was the long distance race from Singapore to Nongsa Point in Indonesia. The race started with kites up and Selma Star playing the left side of the course while the fleet went to the right in shore. Every time the fleet would gybe back out and Selma Star would gybe back in, she maintained her lead. However, without really good local knowledge, George Hackett opted to go left one more time which proved to be fatal. Scoring a ninth in this race now put Selma Star into fifth overall.
The next two days of racing in Nongsa were all Windward/Leeward with two races a day. The start lines for all four races were very heavily favored at the pin end. If you did not control the pin, you were cooked for that race. Selma Star took control of the pin and went on to score a first. What was interesting about this race was that not only did she score a first on correct time. She beat a Mumm-30 on the water. To say that the fleet woke up to the fact that we were back was a bit of an understatement. We were seriously hunted by the top boats from that point on.
The winds had lightened quite a lot by the time the second race got started due to several general recalls. Selma Star was to be the cause for most of the general recalls as we wanted the pin and kept pushing the fleet over. This race went to the two Platus (Beneteau-25) while we took a third. With the first and third, we were now in third overall with the Platus holding first and second.
The second day was a repeat of the first day of windward/leewards with Selma Star taking a first and fourth. In the second race of the day, the RO finally had to put the Black Flag up as we had gone through four general recalls. However, our day was to end very late that night as a protest was lodged against us on a presumed port and starboard situation which in fact was a leeward mark rounding situation in the first race of the day. Thanks to the wisdom of the Protest Committee, this attempt to have us DSQed did not work and we were now three points into first place counting the one drop. All we had to do was sail conservatively in the last race and keep the two Platus in check.
The next morning again saw a very pin favored start line with a half mile windward mark to start the race with. It was decided to start very conservatively which saw the two Platus just in front of us at the windward mark. From the windward mark to the Gate was a very tight reach with played right into our hands. We put up the flat asymmetric kite and started to walk the fleet. Even the Mumm-30 was getting bigger and bigger. At the Gate, kites were dropped and we settled into a long port tack beat across the shipping channels headed to eastern shores of Singapore. It was here that great confusion came about since the mark that the Sailing Instructions called for was an inflatable turned out to be a yellow government channel marker. This brought the whole fleet back into the race including the two Platus.
At this mark, George Hackett decided not to follow local wisdom and head inshore to pick up the breeze. Especially since the mark was at ninety degrees to the right of the last mark. Plus it didn't seem to make sense to sail four times the distance to get to this new breeze. And last but not least, wind sheering effects were starting to show a shift to the right in the wind. So we went for broke. Tacked onto port and left the fleet.
The rest they say is history. Selma Star sailed into a new and freshening breeze while the fleet sailed into the dying breeze. Only one of the Platus saw our move and opted to follow much later while the rest of the fleet really pressed the issued of sailing inshore. Selma Star got to the last turning mark and set a starboard pole flat asymmetric kite and barreled home at 8kts to take Line Honors, second for the race and first overall in the series. Celebrations however did not start as we had heard that two boats were protesting and the outcome could place one or more boats in between us and the Platu. Again, the wisdom of the Protest Committee came out and the protest was disallowed and we started celebrating in earnest.
Special thanks have to go to Jyriki Jaamaa of Simpson Marine for getting the boat put together and to Thomas Beck of Raymarine for sorting out the electronics. To Phil Blake and the staff of Raffles Marina for running a class act on shore. To John Mallen who joined us the day of the first race to take over navigation duties. To Rainbow Hackett, Chip Winternitz, and Chazy Mitchell from my boat (Jo de Ros) who gelled the crew of Selma Star. Ramir Magapagal, our go to guy and mast man. Mark and Zed Avecilla who showed us the meaning of "Cool" when I was at whit's end. And of course, the boat's main sponsor, SK Shipping of Korea and the nice uniforms provided by Inter-Asia Marine Transport and Cascade Marine Agencies Inc.
Most importantly, Jun Avecilla who said. "Yes"
George Hackett
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