7th Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2009
AY Race Report 5 & Summary

The answer is blowing in the wind
The early morning overcast and hazy conditions looked a bit dismal but by start time a fresh North Easterly arrived and once again Bass Harbour came alive and turned it on for the final day of racing. A little bit to much for some of the inexperienced cruisers that struggled with spinnakers and at times seemed to veer off out of control. The five racing class yachts have been at it hammer and tong for 10 races over five days. Only seconds separated the first three places in many races and by the half way point three boats were tied for first place. So it all came down to the final two races today. When Ray Roberts was asked at breakfast if it was in the bag he quickly pointed out "The fat lady has not sung yet" and went onto describe a few recent incidences where he has lost the race and series on the last day. It's serious business for these top racers. Some of the crew of Hi Fi openly admitted that they were fighting it out for second place with Jelik. There was no shortage of adrenalin running amongst the crews who have become determined men with iron resolutions.

Race nine saw Neil Pryde's Hi-Fi slam home the advantage and take victory with the boss back on the helm. Peter Ahern's YO!2 has been plugging away all regatta and apart from the Race 2 win is not suited to the heavy going on the outside courses but reveled in the Bass Harbour flatter water to score two second places today. This left overall leader Ray Roberts Quantum Racing in third place and getting more worried by the minute. A huge gust came through minutes before the Race 10 start which had the skippers going each and every way but with only seconds left to start the breeze returned back to normal. At the same time Ray Roberts made his move to nail the line in front of his competitors. After the start line melee Neil Pryde was first to the top mark only for Hi Fi's keel to snag the anchor line and sail away with the buoy. This laid the way open for Quantum Racing to capitalise and go on to win the last race and rap up the series. Notching up there fourth RLIR win in a row. Two fourth places for Frank Pong's R/P 75 Jelik drops them to third overall and left the way open for Neil Pryde's Hi Fi to jump back up into second overall.

Stuart Williamson's Beneteau 34.7 Skandia Endeavour of Whitby sailed well above there handicap to handsomely capture there fourth win and nail the Premier Cruising series. Anthony Hastings Beneteau 53 Baby Tonga 99 Degrees East has been on a come back trail ever since withdrawing from Race 3 & 4, found the mountain to hard to climb and had to settle on second overall. By being on the course side of the start line Niels Degenkolw saw the chances for his IOR 3/4 Ton Phoenix dwindle but still managed to squeeze into third place and survive in third overall. Vincent Chan's Mata Hari has been knocking on the door for a win but despite scoring line honours on a few occasions could not convert but today's second place might make up for all the near misses.

Mike Van Zyl's 24ft Jandi skippered by James Hardie drove home there winning advantage by going out and celebrating with another win today. Second place for Jan Matthews Sunsail 35 has them tied on points with Alan Rimington's 32ft Atlantis Star but broken in Jan Matthews favour to regain second overall.

In a surprise move Singapore's SMU skippered by Zijie Lim locked in two first places in the last two races to triumph in the overall Sportsboat Class and rap up the Platu 25 class as well. Dropping down to sixth place today was Gaetan Verhegee's demise on the Longtze 2 - Exocet after leading since Race 1 but second overall and topping the table in the Longtze Class may come as a consolation prize after a hard fought regatta. Although slipping down the order over the last few days the Royal Malaysian Navy Navy 1 skippered by Mohd Masyuri Rahmat held onto third overall despite finishing fourth today. Second and third places respectively for Ben Callard's BBC and Razman Mat Ali MYA/KFC helped keep the Longtze's at bay and elevate the Platu's to the top of the table.

In the Club Cruising Class Keith Garry's 41ft BeauX Esprits sealed the deal by winning the last race and taking home the Commodore's Challenge Cup. Second place for Christopher Kingsley-Smith 41ft Amandla Star consolidated there second spot in the overall stakes. Sixth place for Des Kearns/Jerry Boelens 46ft Bad Habits sees them relegated to third overall after being well up the leaderboard in the early stages. Third place today for Henning Lenz's My Toy saw them finish with horns tooting, whistles blowing, siren wailing and cheers all round which signifies the end of racing and the spirit in which the regatta is sailed.

After a troublesome week for the Multihull class Bill Webb's 41ft Out of the Bag showed her true colours and took out first place by five seconds from Tim Milner's 33ft Seekronghuk. With seven wins to there credit Bob Brindley's Whiteheavan 11.8 Xcatriot has kept a clean sheet and despite easing up into third place today which becomes there drop race, they have successfully completed a whitewash of the opposition. Tim Milner's Seekronghuk finished second overall and Bill Webb's Out of the Bag a distant third overall.

Tunku Abdullah Sportsmanship prize.
As a tribute to the Founding Chairman and 1st Commodore of the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club, the late Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah, the inaugural "Tunku Abdullah Sportsmanship" award for the best team, both on the water and land during the 2009 Regatta goes to Henning Lenz and the crew of My Toy, who consequently were the last boat to finish on the last day of the regatta. Henning once described My Toy as designed in the 50's and built in the 60's mainly with fun and enjoyment in mind. As they tend to play the part to the fullest we think the prize is very appropriate and could not go to a better bunch of larrikin's.

Sailor Chick of the Regatta competition
Only recently bought to our attention is that there are four women from the UK edition of Women On Water (WOW) sailing on Christopher Kingsley-Smith's 41ft Amandla Star in the Club Cruising Class. We made a special effort to hunt them down today and not only found the four pink shirted WOW girls but also a lovely shape steady on the helm in twenty knots of wind. Who knows she maybe Mrs Kingsley-Smith. The faceless photo may not do her much justice but you should be able to get the idea from the shape of things. Welcome aboard! The prize for the overall winner is a free pair of AY Gloves which will be announced after the event when the Photo Gallery is posted

Summary
At the final Press Conference Ray Roberts summed up the proceedings by announcing that this years regatta is possibly the best in Asia. He went onto clarify that after 10 races in five days in tough conditions, several near collisions and extremely close racing got all the crews adrenalin pumping and kept the excitement level at an all time high. This could not be achieved without the excellent race management team having the flexibility to accommodate most of the sailors wishes. All this at a time when event sponsorship is at an all time low due to the global credit crunch. It maybe ironic that at past events BMW wanted to lift the quality of racing class yachts and were disappointed with the lack of wind. This year five quality racing class yachts and plenty of wind for everyone to enjoy. Scaling down the social activities which may have been a bit of an overkill in the past will certainly go down in memory as one of the more enjoyable.

More RLIR 2009 news and results can be found at: http://www.langkawiregatta.com

Goto RLIR09 Photo Gallery Here...

Online AY Race Reports with photos can be accessed from:
Race Report 4: http://asianyachting.com/news/RLIR09/4.htm
Race Report 3: http://asianyachting.com/news/RLIR09/3.htm
Race Report 2: http://asianyachting.com/news/RLIR09/2.htm
Race Report 1: http://asianyachting.com/news/RLIR09/1.htm
Pre-Race Report: http://asianyachting.com/news/RLIR09/0.htm

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