X Ta Sea, which had its builder Mark Horwood on board with owner Damien Kimball at the helm, collided with Kirati Assakul's Sonic as both boats jostled for position at the start of the first of two races.

The much larger Sonic continued racing but X Ta Sea, which was only launched on Thursday, retired. However, both returned for the second race of the day.

X Ta Sea is one of three identical catamarans built in Phuket by Horwood and all three are racing at the regatta.

Veteran Thai sailor Radab Kanjanavanit, whose boat Cedar Swan was built by his late father, showed his expertise and knowledge of local conditions in winning the first of the two races in the hotly contested multihull class. He followed this up with a second place in the final race of the day to give him the overall lead in the class.

Roger Kingdon's Voodoo Child, one of the three new boats built in Phuket, is second overall in the class, followed by Moto Inzi, another of the new cats from Phuket.

David Lindahl continued his winning ways to take first place in the top flight keelboat class with La Samudra and retain his overall lead, while David Pollard skippered his boat Foreign Exchange II into first place in the second race in the afternoon to lie third overall.

Bangkok-based Frenchman Pascal Leray again finished second with Hi Jinx in both keelboat races to lie second overall.

Former junior world sailing champion Scott Duncanson, who has chartered one of the 10 Platu boats racing in their own class in the regatta, won both his races yesterday and now has the overall lead in the Platu class.

Martin Kaye's Pom Rak Khun is second overall, with Marco Belonje aboard The Ferret in third.In the Mott class, Thailand's Chindanai Tanbuakee retained his overall lead after nine races, with Kit Buthsri second and Surapong Witayakul third.

Montreechai  Lumyongsatian,

Alan Parkhouse

The Nation