Raja Muda 2016 – Langkawi Inshores. Phew, what a scorcher!

by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia on 25 Nov 2016 With all boats arriving in Langkawi from Penang last night before midnight, this morning was a slow start before the beginning of the Langkawi Inshore races in picturesque Bass Harbour, right in front of the newly-furbished Royal Langkawi Yacht Club. For many crews that involved a leisurely breakfast at Charlie’s Place overlooking the water before going afloat for what was meant to be two windward-leeward races (for the racing classes) and a scenic trip round the islands for the cruisers. In Langkawi, ‘Scenic’ has with a capital S – it’s pretty as a picture here.

Out on the water, the PRO’s main problem was trying to work out how to run two separate race courses with a bare minimum of boats – the inevitable (and much appreciated) Police Auxiliary, one big fast RIB, one small RIB, and one finish boat. With the cruisers and racers operating in different parts of Bass Harbour, this was a real problem – regatta organisers please note. More boats needed!

The cruisers started first, at 1400h, away to a windward mark and then turn right down the harbour and into and around the pattern of islands to the south west. It was light airs stuff all the way, around 8 kts, and Geoff Hill’s 72’ Antipodes kept up the pace to record a win at a short finish after 2h 5m of sailing. “There were flat patches – wind shadows – between the islands, but actually the breeze held pretty well all round the track.”

It was slow going for the back markers - Chris Mitchell’s Lady Bubbly was the only finisher in Class 5, and their first place today puts them well beyond the reach of the rest of the boats in the division. Old Pulteney Blue Angel, Jeremy Camps’ vintage Impala, only has to keep Sade 2 at bay tomorrow to lift the Class 6 title.

As soon as the cruising classes were on their way, the breeze started to go right, and eventually settled at around a very uncharacteristic 130 degrees, meaning that the RO had to move the start all the way up to the northern end of the harbour in order to find room for a 1.8nm leg. Classes 1 and 3 raced windward-leeward right in front of the Royal Langkawi yacht Club, and had to contend with the occasional piece of commercial (ferry) traffic much to the consternation of the Langkawi Harbourmaster. Hong Kong crews never even noticed!

David Fuller’s Fujin, with Jamie and Nathan Wilmot on board, scored their sixth bullet in a row to wrap up Class 3 with a day to spare. Mandrake (Fred Kinmonth / Nick Burns) tacked right off the start line heading towards the old quarry, and looking as if they were heading for oblivion, but managed to extract a very impressive rabbit from an impossibly small hat in the shape of a second place. That leaves them in second place overall, three points adrift of defending champion Sarab Jeet Singh’s Windsikher, and with everything to play for tomorrow (three races, hopefully).

It was hot out on the water today – really, really hot. That combined with the soft breeze and some powerful currents at the north end of Bass Harbour made the day’s racing especially testing. Windsikher paid a visit to the Committee Boat after the first race: “You’re not going to start another one, are you?” By then it was 16.00h, and mindful of the ‘strong possibility’ of the breeze dying even further, the RO pulled the plug and let everyone go home for some cooling refreshment with the promise of three races tomorrow to round out the 9-race series.

Short Results (for full results please see www.rmsir.com):

Class 1
1. Windsikher 1, 4, 1, 1, 3, 1 (11)
2. Mandrake 3, 1, 4, 2, 2, 2 (14)
3. Black Baza 4, 5, 2, 3, 1, 3 (18)
Class 2
1. Zuhal 2, 1, 2, 1, 2 (8)
2. Antipodes 1, 3, 1, 3, 1 (9)
3. Starlight 3, 2, 3, 2, 3 (13)
Class 3
1. Fujin 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 (6)
2. Popeye 4, 4, 2, 2, 2, 2 (16)
3. Insanity 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 3 (18)
Class 4
(There is no Class 4).
Class 5.
1. Lady Bubbly 2, 1, 1, 1, 1 (6)
2. VG Offshore 1, 2, 3, 3, 7 (16)
3. Delite 3, 6, 2, 2, 7 (20)
Class 6
1. Old Pulteney Blue Angel 6, 1, 1, 2, 1 (11)
2. Sade 2; 3, 2, 3, 4, 2 (14)
3. Eveline 2, 6, 2, 1, 6 (17)

Standing by on 72.

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