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Jan
and me coming out of the entrance to the Royal Langkawi
Yacht Club, venue for the International Regatta. |
We
have just taken part in an extraordinary event--the very first
International Yachting Regatta hosted by the Royal Langkawi Yacht
Club. It was an outstanding success! Sixty boats, representing
a dozen countries, participated in 4 days of racing, and 5 evenings
of festivities!
The
Regatta Committee and the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club went out
of their way to attract competitors and to make sure that this
was an outstanding event. Included with the entry fee, all competitors
were given a week's free berthing at the RLYC Marina docks,
free transport and entry to all events for skipper and 3 crew,
free beer and wine, and a complimentary package of regatta souvenirs.
About 20 volunteers from the cruising community were also given
similar incentives. They handled everything from registration
to laying racing marks and even produced the daily newsletter.
They all did a terrific job!
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| SUNFLOWER
on the wind approaching the first mark in the second race.
Photo by Andy (SEA HARLEY) on the committee boat. |
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Our
friend Robert was asked to plan and manage this Regatta some
time last year. Although Robert is a full-time liveaboard cruiser,
and had never done a Regatta before, he has a background of
events organization, and did volunteer work with the King's
Cup in Thailand (a longstanding racing event in this area) for
a couple of years. He organized everything from attracting sponsors
and providing yachting services, to getting press and photographers,
and establishing a website (www.langkawiregatta.com).
He promoted the collecting of prizes, and the scheduling of
evening events, to getting race officials, measurers, jury;
finding the buoys to use for the racing marks and then getting
boats to lay them, even laying out the courses. What a multifaceted
job he took on! Mark Pryke, the Principal Race Officer, congratulated
Robert, and noted that the races were running very well because
of all the pre-race organization.
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Foreground:
RUSALKA, an Oyster 45 in our class, did very well without
an MPS sail even in the light air. Behind, with orange MPS
is JUBILATION, a Cal 48 in the Classic division. |
Several
classes were established: 3 racing, 3 cruising, and multihull.
Everyone who wanted to race could fit themselves into one of
those categories. The out and out racers submitted their IRC
Certificates for a handicap rating, and the rest of us provided
pertinent boat and sail measurements that established a local
handicap number. It mostly worked, although there is something
weird about SUNFLOWER that gives us a totally absurd handicap
with relation to the others in our class. As for SUNFLOWER,
we entered the modified keel, liveaboard cruising class (3B1).
There were 9 in our class, but 2 did not race. The Opening Ceremony
was very impressive, a perfect opportunity to dedicate the new
sea wall and marina berths. The Commodore, Y.A.M. Tunku Tan
Sri Abdullah gave the welcoming address. Primary speech of the
evening was given by the Acting Prime Minister of Malaysia,
Dato Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi who unveiled the Prime
Minister's Challenge Trophy. Noted French skipper Bruno Peyron,
who won the Jules Verne Trophy in 2002 for the fastest time
around the world in the maxi catamaran "ORANGE", was
on hand to promote another race in 2006 which will include a
stopover in Langkawi. At last a fantastic array of fireworks
exploded in the skies above! (So that's what was happening on
the sea wall the whole afternoon!) The celebrations began!
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| SUNFLOWER
sailing the start line with others in our class. |
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Next
morning the races began too. How to summarize...the Easterly
winds are strongest in the morning, going light to nonexistent
by noon, then maybe switching to the SW or W by late afternoon.
Trouble is, our class started the last of all, at about 10:40,
which put us at a great disadvantage wind wise. The first 3
races saw a windward start that dwindled into drifting on the
second leg with whatever sail would keep us moving. And with
a shifting wind you could do 2 legs to windward, or downwind
to the mark, sit and drift, only to sail downwind again back
to the same mark! The course had to be shortened on 2 days.
Despite this, we persevered, but had rather dismal results finishing
7, 7, DNF, and a 6. The DNF happened as I told the Race Committee
on the VHF, "Because our patience was as thin as the wind."
And
it was hot. We have a sailing awning, but can't see the sails
effectively when it is in place. When we are cruising, that
doesn't matter; in racing it does. Jim and Pat, our buddies
with the canal boat in France, joined
us as crew. We drank lots of water, stayed slathered in sun
cream (one of the nicest surprises in our bag of goodies from
the sponsors!) and rotated into whatever bit of shade could
be had from the sails.
It
was announced that this Regatta would be an annual event of
the RLYC. So would we do it again next year? There is no doubt
in our minds that we will be involved with the Regatta again.
But whether as competitors or as volunteers remains to be seen.
