Raja Muda Selangor Int’l Regatta 2016 – fast start on the coast
by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia on 20 Nov 2016
Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta 2016
Guy Nowell / RMSIR
There were plenty of happy sailors at the Seaview “Rustic Charm” Resort in Pulau Pangkor by the end of the day, and probably the happiest were Sarab Jeet Singh and his band of Windsikhers who took the opening race by some nine minutes from Ray Roberts’ Team Hollywood after 80 nm from Port Klang to Pangkor. Singh, defending champion, said the night before, “Last year we came to the event with a new boat, and we surprised ourselves. This time we know it is going to be a good teal tougher, so we’ll have to work just that much harder.”
The start of the day didn’t look promising at all – a sadly familiar breathless lull hung over the start area at the mouth of the Klang River an hour before the first start, but breeze appeared right on cue, and all boats started in good order with Class 6 at 1300h through to Class 1 at 1335h in 8kts of breeze from 270 degrees.
It’s a straight line on the chart from Klang to Pangkor, but the weather of the west coast of Malaysia is notoriously unstable, and particularly notable for the powerful cells coming off the coast in the late afternoon. For the most part this was a fine reach on port, with Antipodes acknowledging that “the code zero makes a damn good headsail.” In 10-12 kts of sea breeze the jolly blue giant was “fully arced up, and tramping.” There was plenty ‘sailing in company’ for in the upper divisions, with Class 1 and 2 boats racing side-by-side for much of the distance. “It wasn’t all straight line stuff,” said Sarab Jeet Singh, “we were on the inside (coastal) side of the track for the most part, keeping out of the tide and anticipating a transition at the top of the course.” When the change came, the breeze went north, “and we flopped over and laid the finish very nicely.”
For the record, first finisher was Team Hollywood in 8h20m11s, just pipping Antipodes for line honours by 48 seconds.
Raja Muda coastal races are also notable for the presence of fishing boats and – even more importantly – nets. In the dark, and unlit, they not a welcome addition to the navigational challenge. Starlight (Andy Cocks) “exchanged words” with a fishing boat and was forced to detour around a long line of nets, only to watch Black Baza (Steve Manning) following close behind, go straight through and over the nets unhindered.
Worse, much worse, and a number of unlit and uncharted obstructions along the way. Concrete pylons that once supported fishing lodges definitely need to be avoided, if you can see them. Alan ‘Guilty’ Tillyer, navigating on board Antipodes, and watching the AIS plots, saw Ray Roberts’ Team Hollywood come to a sudden stop, and immediately marked a hazard on the chart. On Hollywood, navigator Matt Humphries reported, “we saw what appeared to be an unlit channel marker, left it to port, and moments later went from 9 to 0 kts instantaneously. The obstruction turned out to be a steel and concrete barge, partly sunk and awash, that went down only a couple of weeks ago and doesn’t appear on the charts. “No leaks indoors, and the hull/keel joint looks ok. But the fin/bulb joint looks pretty messy,’ and Team Hollywood will miss the Pangkor-Penang race when she comes out of the water at Lumut tomorrow morning.
After the front runners were all ashore and tucking into cold beer and hot curry mee at the Seaview, more breeze came in from the south, giving the smaller boats a welcome boost up the track. At 0200h the wind was joined by a proper torrential tropical downpour complete with thunder storm – one of those coastal cells. Old Pulteney Blue Angel retired after being hit by lightning and losing instrumentation. Fujin, a past winner of Class 1 and now racing in Class 3, made the most of the extra pressure to collect the chocolates in her division. Rama Menon’s VG Offshore, often the bridesmaid, stormed home to a convincing win over Lady Bubbly in Class 5; when the venerable Eveline, perennial back marker of the fleet, finished last on the water at 12.00.12 today it was still good enough for a second place behind Aeolus XC in Class 6.
If it was a quick passage for the racing fleet overall, it was an even quicker one for the on-water support team. After the start sequence, PRO Jerry Rollin and ARO Joannes Zehethofer went aboard the Royal Malaysian Marine Police RFB and headed up the Malacca Strait at 28kts in order to ‘arrange’ the finish line before the race leaders arrived, and then went ashore at Pangkor, before the even regatta luggage had arrived by road. In the background of the Raja Muda there is a huge programme that moves baggage, spare sails and the entire Race Secretariat from place to place, involving lorries and cargo barges (Pangkor and Langkawi are both only accessible by ferry), moving everything from the Official Notice Board to printers and paperclips from one end of the event to the other. It is a substantial logistics operation that goes largely unnoticed by competitors, but without which the event would not happen – three cheers for Connie Lai and her team, and all the other Shore Support providers. Three cheers also for the RMMP who provide the start boat, fast on-water transport for race officials, and security for the whole fleet. For many years this team have been doing a great job, and are to be appreciated and congratulated.
It was pouring with rain at breakfast time this morning. The hornbills did show up for as usual, but they looked rather bedraggled – a little like some of the sailors still discussing tactics over the nth beer at the tables at 0800h. Tonight: prizegiving party. Tomorrow: race to Penang (70nm). See you in The Pearl of the Orient.
For full results please go to: http://www.rmsir.com/27a/index.php/results
Standing by on 72.
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