20th RLIR from January 15-20, 2024
Day 4 – 19 January 2024 – Another beautiful morning out in Kuah Harbour with initial wind from ENE at 7-10 knots, a much milder start than the first three days. Race Day 4 scheduled two races on the ‘Kuah Harbour’ and ‘West Coast Island’ courses weather permitting. Great to see ‘Char Chan’ who had a steering technical malfunction yesterday and could not finish, is back in the race today. Sadly, Sade 2, whose boom snapped yesterday appears unable to continue in the regatta. “The joys of yacht racing!”
The race countdown began at 9.30 am, right on time, for all six classes on the ‘Kuah Harbour Courses’. Fortunately, the wind held longer than expected and we were able to run a second race for all competitors further down the harbour on what are called the ‘West Coast Island Courses’.
The first race sequence commenced at 9.30 am for races on Kuah Harbour courses and the second race sequence commenced at 11.30 am for races on the West Coast courses. The wind has picked up again for the second race promising an exciting afternoon of racing.
Racing Class:
Eight races have now been completed in this class and the results have been remarkably consistent! In every race thus far, Nick Burns ‘Witchcraft’ has secured first place, with Rolf Heemskerk’s ‘The Next Factor’ securing runner up, and the Navy’s ‘Uranus’ and ‘Zuhal’ slotting in third and fourth. This is testament to the skills of the skippers and crews and to the fairness of the handicapping system keeping the racing consistently good!
IRC 1 Class:
Skipper Kazuki Kihara is proving his mettle with two wins today in a big comeback after the steering failure on ‘Char Chan’ yesterday. ‘Mata Hari’ is maintaining the pressure and skipper Vincent Chan scored two close second places in today’s races. ‘Endeavour of Whitby’ and ‘Phoenix’ continue to perform well with consistent third and fourth placings.
IRC 2 Class:
The well known and regular participant in the Langkawi Regattas, Jeremy Cramp’s ‘Blue Angel’ is maintaining its winning streak and looks hard to beat in this class. The fight for second place is fierce with the skippers and crews of ‘Piccolo’, ‘Wind of Change’ and ‘VG Offshore’ all in the running for podium places. Mike Downard’s ‘Piccolo’ claimed second place in today’s racing followed by Rama Menon’s ‘VG Offshore’ in third.
Sports Boat Class:
The Sports Boat reveled in today’s conditions and some great competition was seen between the ‘RSYC Racing Team’, ‘Navy 1’ and ‘UMT 1’ boats. The results for the day were incredibly close with all three contestants scoring four points. ‘Navy 1’ secured a win in the first race and ‘RSYC Racing Team’ a win in the second. In a valiant effort ‘UMT 1’ secured two runners ups
Multihulls Class:
This class has attracted an unprecedented seven entrants this year and the racing amongst them has been spectacular and very competitive. Once again, excellent handicapping has resulted in some very close encounters. John Newnham’s ‘Twin Sharks’ won both races today and is now on the top of the podium overall, just two points ahead of Dan Fidock’s amazing X40 ‘Parabellum’ which is setting the courses on fire with her blistering speed. Glynn Rowland’s ‘Twister 2’ loved the conditions and courses today and returned a third place in the first race and a second in the third. David Liddell’s ‘WOW’ is snapping at the leader’s heels.
Club Class:
In the first race, ‘Kimikimi’ claimed the first place and ‘Marikh’ came in second. Whilst in the second race, ‘Kimikimi’ went down to second and ‘Marikh’ secured the first spot. Another very competitive class. ‘Eveline’ just loves being out on the water and very comfortably secured a third place podium finish.
