(Samui, Thailand)- Recently, it was a “life-time” moment on the J/41 SOUAY1 in the Samui Regatta 2018 for Jean Rheault (owner) and his friends. Here are Jean’s comments:“The Samui Regatta (http://www.samuiregatta.com) is a major event in the China Sea, located in the Doldrums latitudes, with light winds and a few violent clouds and thunder showers in the mid-afternoons- typical of our climate here.
As a boat owner, I had the great happiness to have my J/41 SOUAY1 sailed singlehanded up to Thailand. I also felt very proud to invite guests for a ride on her after I installed a full teak deck with an integrated elegant and comfortable teak cockpit (all Burma teak, of course, of the best grade possible I could find!).
But now, my happiness was to invite offshore sailors to join my team and, hopefully, sail her fast and smart.To keep weight low, the strategy was to have a limited crew for the Samui Regatta. We had aboard:
- Ray Waldron, an Australian wave surfer, who also races his Etchells,
- Cedric Rimaud, a passionate French owner of three classic 6-meters, and
- Guido Wedekind, a German professional fighter, who lived for years on his 54 ft wooden sailboat.
Nevertheless,
I am sure you can imagine the satisfaction of everyone onboard our
SOUAY1 after a week of sailing the regatta- winning six of seven races!
We even crossed ahead of several modern IRC designs in some of the
races with light wind spots and tidal current. The old J/41 is quite
fast in that light air, flat-water conditions! She is perfectly suited
for those conditions here because we see a lot of it throughout the year
(monsoon season, notwithstanding!).We hope you enjoy some of the photos from our experiences sailing the famous J/41 here in our waters off Thailand and winning the famous Samui Regatta Cup. Wonderful boat. Fantastic, fun crew! Thank you all.” Thanks for the contribution from proud J/41 owner- Jean Rheault.
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