PRESS RELEASE RACE DAY 2
Langkawi, 11 January 2017 – The Royal Langkawi International Regatta started with 3 knots of wind at 10 am and quickly picked up further to make the sailing conditions much better than on day 1. Two races were completed in Kuah Harbour today, the third race had to be cancelled due to changing winds. Multihull, CLub and Ocean Rover classes ended the day with one race only. Overall wind conditions are much lighter than in previous years which makes racing quite a challenge.
Don Whitcraft’s THA72 keeps its top spot in the racing class ahead of Black Bazza and Emagine. Peter Ahern’s Oi is facing tough competition this year from two newcomers. “This year we are less lucky so far. It is still early days and there are 6 more races to go. We keep fighting and hope to do better in the next three days” says Peter Ahern.
Don Whitcraft is ‘very happy with his performance so far’. “It is a difficult place to sail with lots of wind shifts and a new crew which has not much sailing experience together. We will take it day by day, make improvements and stay on top” says Don.
Mata Hari retains its lead in the IRC1 class taking honours in both races so does Niels Degenkolw’s Phonix in the IRC2 class.
In the Sportsboat class the Malaysian Armed Force Team 1 took the lead today over the RSYC Team and University Malaysia Terengganu. Pine-Pacific who was top of the class yesterday is tailing the class today.
Rama Menon’s VG Offshore came top today taking over from Chris Mitchell’s Lady Bubbly who led the class yesterday.
RLIR 2017 is grateful for the continued support of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia and Tourism Malaysia, Ministry of Youth & Sports Malaysia and the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA), as well as its commercial sponsors such as Volvo Car Malaysia Sdn Bhd, ECK Development Sdn Bhd, ETIKA Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Permanis Sandilands Sdn Bhd) and supporters.
Media Partners are SEA Yachting, IMAGE asia, HOMME and TRAXXfm RTM.
The Royal Langkawi International Regatta (RLIR) 2017 is organised by the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RLYC) and sanctioned by the World Sailing (formerly ISAF) and Malaysian Sailing Association (MSA), and supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Malaysia. The RLIR is part of the Asian Yachting Circuit.