Whispery Winds Slow Down All Classes at the 14th Royal Langkawi International Regatta

LANGKAWI, 15 January – It was as still as it could be on Day 4 of the 14th Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2016, with barely a whisper of wind at 1 to 5 knots as the fleet waited patiently to be flagged off.

Despite the still conditions, Simon James, the Principal Race Officer chartered two races for the Racing, IRC-1, IRC-2, and Sports Boats, and one course for the Multihull Class but decided not to send out the Club Cruisers, Ocean Rovers and While Sails.

Millenium Racing, Alive and Oi! have been taking turns at the top three spots in the Racing Class over the last four days with only one point separating each in the overall standings and Millenium Racing at the top.

Having claimed earlier in the week that Emagine thrives in light winds, Scott Bradley took his boat to the No. 1 spot among the IRC-1 class, leaving the heavier vessels Uranus and Fujin to battle it out for second and third overall.

New comer to the RLIR, Foreign Affair took top billing in the IRC-2 leader board by coming in 1-2 in Race 7 and 8 respectively, pushing Mata Hari, the earlier leader to third place.
Team RLYC avenged Thursday’s loss to SMU in the Sports Boats Class while Allegro has overtaken WOW on the leader board for the Multihulls. IMAGE asia Nina remains in third place and Manta Blu, although it did not start today, is in fourth.

“Today’s racing nearly didn’t happen because there was just no wind. We waited, Simon James moved the start line and we managed one race but IMAGE asia Nina is a heavy boat, so although the course was pretty straight forward it was not easy.

I think this was pretty standard throughout the course for all boats because of the really light winds. It may not have been an exciting racing day but it was exciting enough that we got to race,” said Grenville Fordham of IMAGE asia Nina and defending champion in this class.

The Royal Langkawi International Regatta (RLIR) 2016 is organised by the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RLYC) and sanctioned by the ISAF and Malaysian Sailing Association (MSA). The RLIR is part of the Asian Yachting Circuit.