This year's Singapore Open, held from 28th to 31st Dec at Pasta Fresca SeaSports Centre, featured the new RSX Olympic class for the first time. Entries came from Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Indonesia.

Sunny skies and a nice NE breeze greeted us on Day 1. Thankfully, after two days of heavy downpour, the rain and storm clouds were nowhere in sight.

By 10am, a couple of Mistral One Design windsurfers had already rigged up their stuff and were out testing the conditions, planing in 7-10 knots of wind. The skippers briefing was at 1pm, after which, everyone, eager to pack in an afternoon of racing, got ready to make their way to the race site. By 2pm, most were at the race site but by then, the wind had died somewhat and the wind was patchy, blowing between 3-10 knots. Despite this, we still managed a total of 3 races for all three classes - RX:S, Mistral One Design/Raceboard (Local) and Formula.

The second day the north-easterly wind filled in, building to about 10 knots of wind in the late morning. Unfortunately, the wind was patchy and soon died down after many had rounded the first mark, much to the dismay of the sailors as they struggled to finish the race. An hour later for race two of the day, there was a good 10 to 12 knots of wind much to the relief of many, especially the RS:X and Formula sailors who cruised through the course.

Storm clouds moving from inland in the early afternoon brought more wind (as well as the rain) with the wind picking up to a good 12 to 15 knots. The OD wasted no time in running the third race of the day but once again the wind died soon after and it was back to pumping for the sailors. Fortunately for the Formula sailors, the agony of sailing in non-planing conditions was short-lived as the race was abandoned.

In the end, we managed a total of three races for the RS:X and Mistral One Design classes and two races for the Formula class.

The light, shifty winds and strong current provided testing conditions for all the sailors on Day 3 as most raced in non-planing conditions in the two races held.

With hardly any wind on the morning of the final day of the Singapore Open, sailors were kept on the shore till 1pm.In the IMCO class, two races were held. 22 year old Cheng Kwok Fai (HKG18) who scored 7 bullets in 10 races won the IMCO Open category while compatriots Chan King Yin (HKG12) and Ma Kwok Po (HKG16) came in second and third respectively.

Full results