After yesterdays Octopus Electrical race day and a free night in Krabi. Crews were ready for the traditional Vacation Village - Krabi Island Races on day 3 of the 25th Bay Regatta.

Boats were held ashore, with light winds forecast in the morning until some wind appeared on the horizon. After several yachts reported breeze of 7+ knots around the racetrack, competitors were called out to the start boat and the line was set for course No.4 chosen as it has plenty of shortening opportunities, should the wind not play fair.

With the breeze lightening, but an increase forecast. The team from Vacation Village, our host sponsor, started proceedings with the Multihulls first away, followed by the monohulls, who had to weave their way through the late starters to get across the line.

A new wind line appeared from the South West earlier than expected, with spinnakers appearing from some back markers as the wind filled in from behind.

While some boats were stationery at times, others charged towards the shore with full spinnakers flying. With some boats 2/3 of the way to Ko Ya Man, the localised breeze left the famous Chicken Island (Ko Poda) sitting in the middle of a Glass like sea.

The light South Westerly breeze now coming down the course was directly from the original start position. The race committee displayed the "R" flag, meaning that all future marks of the course are deleted and boats should round the current island and race directly back to the start area, giving boat a 1.4 miles beat to the finish.

Bonza 69 Slam again lead the way, crossing the new finish line after a frustrating 1 hour 15 mins closely followed by Saffron, Twister and Zero.

After OMR Ratings were applied, Glywn Rowlands Twister II came out on top, celebrating their first regatta win closely followed by Dan Fidock's Saffron and John Spencers Zero.

In the Multihull Performance division, Lady Mia and Mojo had a slow start, crossing the line with the Monohull class. However, with the wind following them around the course and their generous handicaps ,( based on the past two days performances). Both crossed the finishing line, with Mojo finishing victorious by 27 seconds over Lady Mia in second place followed by Twister II in third.

As Mojo's owner Rick Fielding always tells us: "The Cream will always rise to the top !!!".

In the Monohull Racing Division, it was business as usual with Phoenix finishing in-front of Megazip, closely followed by Jessandra II finishing just 15 seconds behind on corrected time.

In the performance monohull class, the winds were too light for the 76 foot Yasooda to stretch her legs to cancel out the rating difference over an hours race. Phoenix again came out on top, but with Jessandra II in second and Megazip in third.

After waiting for the forecast 12 knots of wind, all boats were sent home to prepare for tonight's prize giving at the Vacation Village, Phra Nang Inn. Tonights generous buffet is supplemented with genuine Aussie Beef products provided by Dan Fidock's Really Good Deli.

Tomorrow sees the traditional "Sprint" back to Phuket starting at 8AM from Ko Ya Mann. Concluded with the final presentations at Kan Eang II in Ao Chalong.

Full results and overall standing are available on www.bayregatta.com