LANGKAWI, 10 January 2023 – The 19th Royal Langkawi International Regatta is finally back in full swing after a 2 year break due to the COVID 19 Pandemic. 25 registered boats – with one newcomer amongst them – from 6 countries (Malaysia, Thailand, UK, Australia, Denmark and Austria) with 177 participants will compete in 5 classes in a maximum of 10 races over a period of 5 days from January 10-14, 2023. Two boats are competing in Racing Class, seven in IRC1, five in Sportsboats, six in Multihull and five in Club Class.
The first racing day, the ‘LADA Race Day 1’, started with very flakey wind between 3 and 5 knots resulting in the Principal Race Officer Simon James’ decision to postpone the first start. Finally the flag came down at 11.59am for the first race to take off.
After the wind slowed down again after the first race when a second race was in doubt wind eventually picked up and all classes except Club Class were able to compete in a second race with up to 10 knots of wind which brought the first racing day to an enjoyable finish.
Today’s winner in the racing class was regular participant THA72 skippered by Nappakao Poonpat and Kevin Whitcraft. Another regular in the IRC1 class, Mata Hari, skippered by Vincent Chan, won both races followed by Phoenix skippered by Niels Degenkolw.
Rizal Mahadi bin Sazili topped the table for the RSYC Team in the Sportsboat class winning both races and John Newnham secured first place with Twin Sharks in the Multihall class.
Marikh skippered by Jamil bin Ahmad Uruya took the honours in Club Class in only once race.
All in all a good start for this year’s RLIR, the first international event on the annual Malaysian Tourism Calendar.
