Racers Reunite For The 11th Royal Langkawi International Regatta

More than 35 yachts and over 250 sailors are expected to race at the 11th Edition of Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2013 (RLIR) in Langkawi Island, Malaysia, from 7th to 12th January. This time around, the annual event is attracting sailors from all over the world, categorised into 13 classes, 2 of which are new additions – the IRC Bareboat Charter Class and the White Sail Class.

Ahmad Zailani Bashah, Chairman of the Regatta’s Technical Committee, is eager to gather more sailors to participate in this event, which is part of the Asian Yachting Circuit. The winners of King’s Cup Regatta, Frank Pong and his Team Jelik have confirmed their participation. Others who have confirmed their participation for this event are Vincent Chan of SY Matahari, Neil Pryde of Team Hi-Fi and Ben Copley of SY Katsu.

As the winds of West-coast Peninsular howls gustily, Langkawi should be expecting the ideal racing weather. “The wind speed in January always fluctuates between 8-20 knots and we are sure the wind conditions will be the same for the next year’s races. The Kuah Harbour race and Coastal race always provide two different scenarios for sailors. We have strong wind conditions with flat waters at the Kuah Harbour, as well as strong wind conditions with choppy waters in Coastal areas. All participants can look forward to a challenging and fascinating sailing experience,” states Zailani.

Prize-giving parties will be held during the RLIR 2013 event, a tradition that has been upheld for every year. Teams participating in the event will be competing for the Prime
Minister’s Challenge Trophy – for Racing Class yachts, the Commodore’s Challenge Cup – for participants of club-registered cruisers, the LADA-IRC Challenge Trophy – for participants of the IRC 1 Class, the Langkawi Sports Trophy – for participants in the Sports Boat Class, and the Malaysian Multihull Challenge Cup – for participants under the Multihull category.

The “Tunku Abdullah Sportsmanship Award“, will be presented for the best team, both on water and land, in memory of the late Founding Chairman and the first Commodore of the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RLYC), Almarhum Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah Tuanku Abdul Rahman.

A curtain raiser will be held prior to the opening ceremony of RLIR 2013 known as, the AO CHALONG – LANGKAWI ‘CHAMPAGNE RUN’, inviting an “Expression of Interest”, from all yacht enthusiasts. The overnight sailing race will kick off on the 5th of January 2013, from Ao Chalong Yacht Club (ACYC), at Ao Chalong Bay in Phuket, Thailand and will officially end at Telaga Habour in Langkawi, Malaysia on the 6th of January 2013.

The Royal Langkawi International Regatta (RLIR) 2013, is organised by the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RLYC) and sanctioned by the Malaysian Yachting Association (MYA – The National Authority), a member of the National Sports Council and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Malaysia.