The four-time world champion and Olympian finished with a net score of five points after discarding one of his first-place results under the scoring system. Dutch racer Christian Schaake was second on 12 points, followed by Australians Andrew ‘Dolly’ Divola on 16 and Peter Jones on 25.

Singapore’s Lorgan Wong was fifth, Sergey Petrenko of Ukraine sixth, Japan’s Osamu ‘Sam’ Hachiya seventh and Italian Romeo Romei eighth.

The two-day event brought together windsurfers from 10 countries for six races in waters just south of Phuket International Airport.

That made for a distinctive soundtrack. While sailors concentrated on wind, waves and the marks, Boeing 737s were regularly taking off nearby.

CHANGING CONDITIONS

Saturday brought gloomy skies, 8-12-knot winds and a swell of more than a metre, favouring sailors comfortable in bigger water. Despite the grey skies, rain showers somehow avoided the course.

Sunday was a different proposition. The sky cleared, the wind increased to 12-15 knots and the surf flattened somewhat, producing faster racing.

The course featured a trapezoid layout followed by a ‘sausage’ section, sending sailors upwind and downwind before the finish. The reef at the northern end provided one of the more interesting turns, while the starts created their own version of a Phuket traffic jam as sailors jockeyed for position and clean wind.

The fleet included competitors from Australia, Italy, Great Britain, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Ukraine, the Netherlands and France.

Thailand’s Bird Somsakvichit remained a popular figure with spectators on the beach, while Italian sailor Romeo attracted attention with his habit of racing without a shirt.

Romeo had a difficult start, recording a DNC (Did Not Compete) in the opening race, but recovered to finish third in Race 5 and eighth overall.

At 70, Great Britain’s Dean Callister was one of the fleet’s veterans. His experience was even featured on the event poster in a “What would Dean do?” panel.

He struggled in Saturday’s lighter conditions but improved when the wind arrived on Sunday, finishing fifth in the final race and 10th overall.

GIORDANO IN CONTROL

At the front, Giordano proved difficult to catch. He won five races and was so far ahead in the opening race that the result could be discarded without affecting his overall score.

Schaake’s consistency secured second place, with four second-place finishes keeping him clear of the chasing pack. Divola was third, while Jones moved up the standings with a second-place finish in the final race.

Wong led the Singaporean contingent in fifth, never finishing lower than sixth across the six races.

The final top 10 was:

1. Riccardo Giordano (Italy) – 5 points

2. Christian Schaake (Netherlands) – 12

3. Andrew ‘Dolly’ Divola (Australia) – 16

4. Peter Jones (Australia) – 25

5. Lorgan Wong (Singapore) – 25

6. Sergey Petrenko (Ukraine) – 26

7. Sam Hachiya (Japan) – 27

8. Romeo Romei (Italy) – 32

9. Franck Constant (France) – 42

10. Dean Callister (Great Britain) – 43

After the final races, competitors faced another familiar part of an international windsurfing event in Phuket: packing up. With several sailors facing flights out of Phuket, board bags were zipped, rigs dismantled and equipment packed away soon after racing ended.

The weekend concluded with prizegiving at the Sea Almond restaurant on the beachfront, with Bruce Wylie among those presenting the awards. ‘Call me Bruce’ won Olympic gold in the Windsurfer ‘exhibition’ class at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and is now Chief Commercial Officer at Cobra International in Thailand.

He has also played a leading role in the development of the modern Windsurfer LT board, linking the Phuket event to both the sport’s Olympic history and its current generation of equipment.

The closing event wrapped up two days of serious competition mixed with the friendly atmosphere that brought the fleet together both on the water and ashore.

The organisers and competitors are now looking ahead to the next Phuket Invitational, which is becoming a regular fixture on the national windsurfing circuit.