The penultimate day of the Six Senses Phuket Raceweek 2009, saw the unstoppable Hans Rahmann notch up his fifth and sixth straight wins on Voodoo to claim the Firefly One Design title with two races to go.

Day 3 of the Six Senses Phuket Raceweek 2009 saw another warm and sunny day with blue skies, but with an increasing 15 to 18 knots of south-west breeze to greet the sailors. As the conditions looked so good, Principal Race Officer Simon James decided to send the Racing Class on the yet untested Course 30, for a lengthy four island race out to Koh Maithon and back.

The rest of the classes were sent off to do a few laps around Chalong Bay before returning to finish off the Evason Phuket. Some strong gusts caught the sailors by surprise, overpowering some boats; others made good use of them to accelerate down the waves and power past the opposition, like they were standing still.

The staggered nature of finishing meant that some yachts only just managed to finish Race 5 as Race 6 - a two mile windward/leeward course - was about to begin.

Although Neil Pryde's Welbourne 52 Hi Fi finished what seemed like a long way ahead, after handicaps were applied it was Ray Roberts re-branded DK46 Evolution Sails that snuck in by a whisker. Only eight seconds separated Evolution Sails and Peter Ahern's Yo!2 in second place. Hi Fi finished a further three minutes behind for third place. The crew on Antony Hastings' Baby Tonga must be commended on their fifth place for keeping up with the modern carbon fibre yachts and top racing teams in front of them.

It did not take long for Neil Pryde's crew to strike back and it was Hi Fi's turn to win Race 6 by only eight seconds from Ray Roberts fast finishing Evolution Sails. Scott Duncanson sandwiched his Phuket 8 Quantum Fusion M into third place between Evolution Sails and YO!2. These results gave Ray Roberts a little breathing space on top of the overall standings with two races left to run.

Jaray Tipsuk's all Thai crew on the Platu 25 Mitrmitri cemented their place on top of the overall leader board by winning Race 5 and taking third place in Race 6. Peter Dyer's Madame Butterfly made their move today by scoring two second places and thereby regaining second overall. Stuart Williamson's Skandia Endeavour of Whitby tasted victory for the second time in Race 6 by a mere six seconds.

The IRC 1 class is proving to be extremely competitive as only a few seconds separate the podium finishers and less than ten minutes for the eight boat fleet on corrected time. There is a lot of movement up and down the order and although Japan's Toshio Furuta's Mumm 36 Emma has taken line honours in every race, they have only won one on handicap and have finished well down the order in the rest. Niels Degenkolw's Phoenix slipped a little with third and fifth places but hung on to third overall by a slim margin.

Andrew de Bruin's Ron Swanson Sloop, Awatea, was back on form today, adding two more wins to their tally, making it almost certain they will defend the Club Charter Class title. Horst Lakits Swan 55 Big A stayed in touch with second place in Race 5 but sixth place in Race 6 opens the point’s difference and will have to settle on second overall. Two third places for Christopher Kingsley-Smith's Beneteau, Amandla Star, should give them a confidence boost after missing the first day of racing and leave them thinking what might have been. A fourth and second place for Rob Azzopardi’s Prosafe Cunning Plan kept them in third overall.

Although Henry Kaye and Fergus Wilmer's Sea Cart 30 Thor roared around at top speed to be the fastest boat on the water, it is the newly launched Andaman Cabriolet Da Vinci Niña, skippered by designer Alan Carwadine, that triumphed on the day's two races held, putting them back on top of the overall leader board.

A second and third places for Thor meant Kaye's crew will have to pull out all the stops in the two remaining races, if they expect to take the title home. A third and second place for Neil Ayre’s Corsair 28, Shanghai Baby, keeps them in third overall. The rest of the boats have had equipment breakages, forcing them to retire from some races, putting them out of the running for the podium places.

Two more wins for Hans Rahmann's Voodoo wrapped up the Firefly One Design title with two races to go. Rahmann and Mark Pescott, the boat's designer, put it down to the new jib, which has tremendously improved the upwind performance and speed, enabling them to scorch into the lead by the first mark. The rest has been a procession with Roger Kingdon's Moto Inzi scoring six second places and UK's John Newnham's The Frog scoring six third places to hold onto the respective overall positions.

Tom Howard's North Sea Fishing Boat, Seraph, set sail each day and often appears between the islands as they traverse their own passage course. They seemed happy enough and kept busy trying out new sail configurations to suit the wind angle and wind speed despite being the only grand old lady to turn up this year for the Classic Class.

Race report courtesy of www.phuketraceweek.com

Click here for full Day 4 results.