Royal Langkawi International Regatta - Day 1
by Icarus Sailing Media 12 Jan 2016 19:37 GMT
12 January 2016
The 14th Royal Langkawi International Regatta (RLIR) 2016 got off to an exciting start with 37 boats on Day 1, of which 12 are newcomers to this popular regatta and 14 are locally-owned boats.
Team Ulumulu with a young all-Malaysian crew skippered by Jeremy Koo makes a comeback after almost a decade but faced competition from seasoned sailors Alive, Oi!, Millenium Racing, Trader, Team Ulumulu and Jelik in the Racing class.
Alive, took top honours ahead of the fleet and Oi!, the defending champions who made a clean sweep of all races last year was disqualified in Race 2.
In the IRC1 class, Fujin topped the table, leaving the Emagine and the Malaysian Armed Forces crew on Uranus in second and third spot.
"We're hoping for light wind conditions over the next few days as that's when we do best," said Scot Bradley, skipper of Emagine.
The new multihulls in the lineup made their mark with David Liddell's WOW securing first place in both races of the day while Allegro came in second twice.
"It was a really good start to the first day of races. The winds are expected to be lighter this year throughout the week but these conditions are what some boats look forward to and so we're in for some exciting races and may see some surprising results," said Wicky Sundram, executive director of the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club.
Teams will compete for the Prime Minister's Challenge Trophy – for Racing Class yachts; the Commodore's Challenge Cup – for participants of club-registered cruisers; the LADA-IRC Challenge Trophy – for participants in the IRC 1 Class; RLIR IRC2 Class Challenge Trophy – for participants in the IRC2 Class; the Langkawi Sports Trophy – for participants in the Sports Boat Class and the Malaysian Multihull Challenge Cup – for participants in the Multihull category.
The Tunku Abdullah Sportsmanship Award, will be presented to the best team for its competitiveness, fair racing and comradeship, on water and land, in memory of the late Founding Chairman and the first Commodore of the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RLYC), Almarhum Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah Tuanku Abdul Rahman.
RLIR 2016 is grateful for the continued support of the Ministry of Youth & Sport Malaysia, Tourism Malaysia and the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA), as well as its commercial sponsors and supporters.
Media Partners are SEA Yachting, Sail-World Asia, HOMME, IMAGE asia, TraXXfm Radio & RTM and Spectrum Outdoor.
The Royal Langkawi International Regatta (RLIR) 2016 is organised by the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RLYC) and sanctioned by the ISAF and Malaysian Sailing Association (MSA), and supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Malaysia. The RLIR is part of the Asian Yachting Circuit.
For more information on the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club, kindly visit our website at www.langkawiregatta.com