Thai’s Take Asian Yatching Title

. Teams attended from most of  the  S.E. Asian Nations, with  36 contesting  the  “Bytes”  section  and a  large 54 strong field  in  the “Optimist” class.

Seventeen-year-old Keerait   Bualong  from  Sattahip  won  the  AsiaPacifc  "Bytes"  class  with  expert coaching  from  the world  champion "Laser" class  sailor Veerasit Puangnak, who  is also  the Thai coach  for this class of yacht. 

The  biggest  surprise  was  in  the small  sized  yachts  of  the  ASEAN "Optimist" event, where a tiny young thirteen-year-old Sattahip girl, Noppakao Poonpat, beat all of  the field. Even though her father Somkit is the coach of the Thai national team, this still  came  as  a  big  surprise  to everyone, because Poonpat was not as physically strong as many of her competitors. 

She  has  been  yacht  racing  for five  years,  and  said  “I  am  not  sure what I would like to do when I leave school” but the life as a competitive yachtswoman may be on the cards.

Noppakao Poonpat had the honor of handing over the "Optimist" international class fag to a young Malaysian sailor, as it is this country, which will host the 2009 Asian Championships. This  is  a  big  event  on  the Asian  junior  yachting  calendar  and there are also plans underway  for a 2010  Youth  Olympics,  which  will possibly be held in Singapore.

 With Thailand leading the way in the solo events, all of this bodes well for the future of world class yachting within the kingdom, as the children of today may well become the champions of tomorrow.