Excitement is building up for the 15th Royal Langkawi International Regatta

LANGKAWI, (22th December 2016) – The organizers of the 15th Royal Langkawi International Regatta (RLIR) 2017 are all set and looking forward to welcome some of the regular favourites as well as a number of new participants to the newly redeveloped Royal Langkawi Yacht Club.

The Regatta takes place from 9th to 14th January 2017 and will give the participants a new experience with the new Fisherman’s Wharf Langkawi being ready on the premises of the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club.

Since the launch of the registration for the 15th Royal Langkawi International Regatta, 30 entries have been received to date. Participants are coming from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, United Kingdom, Denmark, USA, Hong Kong, Russian Federation and Australia of which 5 are new entries, 25 competitors are regulars who took part before. This includes the overall winner of the 2015 Royal Langkawi International Regatta, Oi! from Australia with Peter Ahern and Rolf Heemskerk.

The IRC racing class will feature 14 entries with 4 first timers PH Plus, Freedom 12, Milashka and Linda. Malaysian Skipper Vincent Chan and his team on Mata Hari are looking to win the trophy for a third year in a row but there will be a strong challenge from Denmarks Niels Degenkolw on Phoenix and British Old Pulteney Blue Angel with Skipper Jeremy Camps.

The club class will feature regulars such as Lady Bubbly, My Toy, Insanity, Chantique and Eveline and the multihull class will complete several categories which are taking part in the 2017 Royal Langkawi International Regatta.

The Sports Class Boats do include the Singapore Management University (SMU), Phuket Sailing Youth Team, Siput, Royal Malaysian Navy, Royal Thai Navy, RSYC Team and first time participants Pine-Pacific and University Malaysia Terengganu.

The Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RLYC) General Manager, Tayfun Koksal said, “We are pleased that the re-development has been completed and that the new Langkawi Yacht Club hotel with its 44 nautical themed rooms is in operation as well as Fisherman’s Wharf Langkawi. This will be the first time that besides the exciting regatta, with races inside Kuah’s Bass harbour as well as the round the island race all participants will enjoy several dining and entertainment options on Fisherman’s Wharf Langkawi together with the racing during the day.”

Social events such as the Welcome Dinner on 10th January, Awards Ceremonies, VIP cocktail receptions and the Closing Ceremony plus party on 14th January are in full preparation already.

Teams will compete 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 in the IRC 1 Class; the RLIR-IRC2 Challenge Trophy – for participants in the IRC 2 Class; the Langkawi Sports Trophy – for participants in the Sports Boat Class and the Malaysian Multihull Challenge Cup – for participants in the Multihull category.

The Tunku Abdullah Sportsmanship Award, will be presented to the best team for its competitiveness, fair racing and comradeship, 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.

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 and 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.