Well, the Thai regatta is over, and I am now sitting in the Bangkok airport wasting time before my flight back to Singapore. Overall, the regatta was a fantastic experience, and I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to be a part of it.

Friday was the last day of racing, and we were able to complete two windward leewards to bring the total for the regatta to 11 very good races, including a long distance and two medium distance races. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, we had a lot of trouble with our upwind speed on Wednesday when the wind was up. Turns out our rig had way too much rake, which was making the boat feel very bound up and left Peter fighting the helm. Peter's got new hulls, tramp, and sails for this season, but the rig, beams, and blades are from his previous boat. The shrouds are also new, and we suspect they stretched a bit, causing our rake to change- our fault for not double checking Wednesday morning. With the rake reset, and the wind light again, we had two solid races Friday, moving us back to 5th for the F18s. Friday's races were very tough, with lots of choppy, shifty 8-10 knot breeze, and lots of current. We really focused on keeping the boat moving forward, especially against the current downwind.

In the overall standings, Carolijn/Brett were first on a Viper, with Xander and Marc Pols second on a Carbon 20, and Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin 3rd on a Viper. The Texel ratings seemed to work really well- the best teams were certainly at the top of the results each day. In the Yellow division, the top of the podium was a mix of Hobie 16s and Darts- the Thai Hobie sailors are certainly very, very fast.

As far as the Olympic trials boats are concerned, this regatta was an interesting preview, but by no means definitive. The F16 fleet was loaded at the event, with Olympians and World Champs on both the Viper and Nacra F16. This definitely showed in the overall results, where the F16s took most of the top spots. Here are my personal thoughts on the boats:

Viper: Obviously fast, and a great package overall. Not only a nice design, but AHPC does a great job with support and networking. The Viper crowd in Thailand were great to be around, and super fast. I would consider the Viper one of the favorites.

Nacra F16: The Nacra riders were fighting with sail trouble all week, but managed some top results. The platform is fast, and with refinement the whole package will be a winner. Performance will probably be very similar to the Viper, which is great for the F16 fleet. The build quality of the boats is fantastic, and Nacra can certainly build a bunch. The boat looks smaller than the Viper, probably due to the lower freeboard, not sure the impact this will have on perception of the boat.

Nacra 17: This is my personal favorite. The boat looks the part- new, fast, challenging. Not much bigger than the F16, but the extra size should handle a slightly larger range of weights. With the curved foils the boat will have a slightly larger learning curve than the F16s, which I personally think is good for the Olympic boat. According to Coen: "It's the most exciting boat I have ever sailed..."

Spitfire: Not really on pace with the other 16s, and looked dated. Very low aspect boards, much smaller square head main. Looks like a fun club boat, but not Olympic in my opinion.

Tornado: I know the Tornado has a fantastic history, but I think its time has past. The boat looks dated when compared to the newer designs, and it doesn't really fit the requirements. I don't think the performance at the Thai event was indicative, however, as the boat was being sailed by club level sailors (as were most of the 18s).

Hobie 16: Great boat at the time, but doesn't compare to the modern spin cats.

Hobie Tiger: The Tiger also looks dated when compared to the new 18s and 16s. I don't think an outdated, heavy, design is what we need for the Olympics.

The above are just my personal thoughts after seeing the different boats, and I'm sure many will disagree. Like I said, I personally would love to see the Nacra 17 chosen, sailing next to it on Thursday it was obvious the boat is a weapon.

Huge thanks to the Royal Varuna Yacht Club for hosting a great event, and to Peter for inviting me to sail with him. I met some awesome people, and I very much look forward to seeing as many as possible at the 2012 F18 Worlds in Long Beach!