11th KFC Langkawi International Regatta Perdana - Day 1

Welcome to Langkawi in north western Malaysia, where over 200 sailors from 19 clubs in the region are taking part in Malaysia's main regatta from February 13th to 16th.

The sailors gathered early at Kedah Sailing Association to prepare their kit for the first day of racing. It's an interesting event raced on three main course areas, where sailors are split into 15 divisions, racing on mainstream international boats like the double handed 420 and 470, the 12ft Byte class for lighter sailors, which is strong on this region, the Optimist, the biggest class with 93 participants, the Laser, Laser Radial and Laser 4,7, the 2.4 M keelboat, plus the Windsurfing and Windsurfing Bic Techno.

The weather was promising and the first race took place at 12 pm with great weather conditions. In the 470s,first over at the pin end of the start line were Sayed and Affendy on MAS 11 with Khairuddin and Hamid on MAS 1009 close by. The girls were fast from the beginning and kept the lead up the beat. After the top mark Mazelan and Zaki were now in second trying to catch the girls. Sayed and Affendy were very focused on their speed and that was the key factor for them, finally winning race 1 of the series.

On the Laser Standard and Laser Radial course Ahmad Latif Kahn on MAS 193088 was first off the start, with Khairul Nizam Affendy on MAS 193120 a few metres behind. Affendy kept close to Kahn and played the shifts to round the first mark with a good lead. Kahn tried to catch up around the track, but Affendy nailed race 1 of the regatta.

That first race across the board was blessed with excellent conditions, but the wind started to decrease in the afternoon until the race committee eventually called it a day. Tomorrow's forecast looks more promising so we will come back with more action from Malaysia.

For the race results, please see sites.google.com/site/kedahsail/home/2014-kfc-perdana-regatta