Vixen, S Centennial cop regatta honors

Hong Kong boat Vixen took the final race then nipped Vivaldi in the tiebreak to capture the IRC Ocean Cruising Class even as Subic Centennial cruised to victory in the centerpiece event at the close of the President's Cup Regatta 2000 in Subic Bay, Olongapo.

In an exciting finish, Vixen claimed its third race victory but it proved very crucial as it allowed the Hong Kong entry to match the 8.25 overall points of Vivaldi before prevailing in the tiebreaker.

The final race saw Vixen winning by a few hundredths of a second on corrected time, clocking 2:04:06 against the 2:04:41 of Vivaldi.

The dramatic finish in the Ocean Cruising Class took some luster from Subic Centennial's victory cruise in the IRC Open Racing Class of the annual event organized by the Manila Yacht Club and sponsored by Nestle, Coca-Cola, The Hive, Qantas Airways, Tanduay Rhum, Subic International Hotel, British Airways, San Miguel Corp., Royal Caribbean International, Compaq Computer, Sperry Top-sider, and the International Container Terminal Services, Inc.

Hocux Pocux 2 took line honors but Subic Centennial's third place finish behind Karakoa-Clariden was more than enough to win the race on corrected time and complete an overpowering triumph.

Subic Centennial finished with 7 overall points while Hi-Fidelity - The Neil Pryde entry which snatched races 5 and 6 on Friday - came in second for the last race and settled for second overall with 10.5 points.

Karakoa-Clariden, the Ray Ordoveza-skippered entry which owns the most major race victories in the elite cast, was third with 24 overall points.

PSA Centennial of Nathan Wilmot took the Platu 25 Class despite missing a 10-race sweep.

Singapore's The Dogs of Mark Jewell stole the final race over Irvmiren Centennial and PSA Centennial.