Tunku Abdullah Sportsmanship Award to be Unveiled at the Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2009

As a tribute to the Founder Chairman and 1st Commodore of the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club, Almarhum Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah, the Royal Langkawi International Regatta will be introducing the “Tunku Abdullah Sportsmanship” award for the best team, both on water and land in the 2009 Regatta.

This brand new award which represents the values for which the late Tunku stood for will be nominated and voted for by all participating teams in the regatta and will be awarded during the Overall Prize Presentation evening.

The Royal Langkawi International Regatta (RLIR 2009) will be held from 4 -10 January 2009 at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RLYC) in Kuah, Langkawi.

Organised by the RLYC, the RLIR 2009 is the seventh consecutive regatta to be held by the club since the inaugural event in 2003. A popular race among sailors, the event is already a permanent fixture in the Asian Regatta Calendar.

The organisers expect to see nearly 50 boats in the final line up and so far, a total of 23 boats have confirmed participation. Among the contenders in the Sports Boat Class are 11 Longtze and 6 Platu boats. The remaining 5 confirmed participants are Firefly catamarans which will compete in the Multihulls category.

The RLYC has also received encouraging response from regular boats and new participants who actively race in regional yacht circuits.

Sailors and cruising yachtsmen will compete in 5 days of exhausting but challenging races and the event is also likely to see the participation of a women’s team from China and a youth team.

Countries represented at the RLIR 2009 are Australia, England, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, South Korea, China and Malaysia.

The event will also see the return of popular champion of previous RLIR regattas Yo!2 skippered by Peter Ahern and team Jelik, skippered by Frank Pong. Both teams have confirmed their participation.

As in previous years, the Race Management Personnel will include volunteers from around the world, especially from among the cruising communities around Langkawi. Local government agencies will provide boats for the media, safety and rescue and for the use of the race committee.

Situated in the north-west coast of Malaysia, the warm, clear waters surrounding the legendary islands of Langkawi will offer sailors and cruising yachtsmen an exhausting but unique 5-day sailing experience.

Langkawi’s 99 magical islands have also officially been declared as Langkawi – Jewel of Kedah, providing an added boost to the event.

Teams participating in the RLIR 2009 will compete for the Prime Minister’s Challenge Trophy, which is open to internationally registered yachts and the Commodore’s Challenge Cup, open to club-registered cruisers.

In addition to that, there are three other main trophies up for grabs. Participants of the IRC Class will compete for the “LADA-IRC Challenge Trophy” while participants in the Sports Boat Class will compete for the Langkawi Sports Trophy. Participants under the Multihulls category will compete for the Malaysian Multihull Challenge Cup.