Day 2 – 17 January 2024 – After a most enjoyable opening ceremony last night with great entertainment and delicious food, all crews were ready to race this morning on the ‘East Coast Courses’ off Langkawi Island. The morning started with a lumpy sometimes wet ride from the marina to the starting point “outside” with NNE wind at 15-18 knots and a rising tide.
The start pin and rounding buoy were set by 9.00 am ready for a good start on time.
The racing start sequence commenced at 9.34 am with the Multihulls first off-the-mark, Racing second, IRC 1 third, IRC 2 and Club combined for the fourth start and Sports Boats followed.
A second race was announced over the same courses to the delight of all contestants.
To take advantage of the favorable but abating wind, Racing and Sports Boats had the privilege of a third start at 12.15 pm over different courses.
Today’s results:
‘Witchcraft’ with skipper Nick Burns topped the Racing class winning all 5 races so far followed by ‘The Next Factor’ helmed by Rolf Heemskerk taking second place in all 5 races.
In the IRC 1 class, ‘Char Chan’ skippered by Kazuki Kihara taking first and fourth places today still scoring first place overall. Regular participant Vincent Chan’s ‘Mata Hari’, by scoring a second place and a win still stays at second place overall. Both boats scoring the same points overall.
IRC 2 class ‘The Blue Angel’, skippered by veteran Jeremy Camps, the winner of 3 of the 4 races so far remains in the top spot. ‘Wind of Change’ with a first and a third result today stays in second place overall with only a one point margin over ‘VG Offshore’ skippered by Rama Menon.
Sports Boats class also enjoyed 3 races today with the ‘RSYC Racing Team’ skippered by Rizal Mahadi bin Sazili scoring a first, first and a second place in their 3 races today to remain in the top spot overall.
‘UMT 1’ skippered by Ku Anas Ku Zamil has been providing stiff competition and scored a first place in Race 5 for second place overall.
The Multihulls class with 7 participants this year has been giving us spectacular racing. One of the fastest yachts ever seen in Langkawi regattas, the X40 catamaran ‘Parabellum’, skippered by Dan Fidock won both races today but was kept on his toes by John Newnham’s very fast cat ‘Twin Sharks’ who secured two well-earned second places.
In the gentleman’s cruise Club class, ‘Kimikimi’ helmed by James Duke came in first place in the first race today and second place in the second race, still staying number 1 overall in this class followed by ‘Marikh’ scoring a second and a first place in their 2 races in this class today.
Racing this year is very competitive and we are delighted to see excellent winds and fair seas. Tomorrow’s “Around the Island” race will promise another superb day out on the water in great company.
