Settling into the daily grind

by AsianYachting.com on 15 Feb 2006 A nice steady morning breeze allowed Race Officer Mark Pryke to get all classes away on race 2 but as noon approached the fading breeze caused shortening course and mark relaying decisions to be fired off in rapid succession. The racing class were well into their third race when the call came and by the end everybody got a finish and were back in the RLYC bar in record time.

Ray Roberts and his Ulumulu - Quantum Racing team are edging closer towards the trip to Valencia by securing two handicap wins today. John and Francoise Thornton's Sydney 47 Mahligai claimed second spot in race 2 and fourth in race three. The biggest surprise of the day came when the Royal Malaysian Navy on Zuhrah took line honours from the mighty V60 Ericsson in race 3. Earlier the navy had been over the line at the start, caught up on the pin end and had trouble taking the spinnaker down at the rounding mark during race 2. Going searching for wind Ericsson tacked off into oblivion on the first windward beat that let the rest of the fleet jump in front of them and never recovered.

Premier Cruising
The withdrawal of one of the boats has left this class with only two competitors. David Lindahl's Swan 40 La Samudra has got the better of Keith Garry's Beaux Esprits on both line and handicap honours in all three races held so far.

Sportsboat
The excitement is building as some very close finishes have been recorded. Mohd Masyuri Rahmat scraped in with another win for the RM Navy on KDP II by one second over Matthew Rickard's Sail in Asia UK Team. Japan's Kenichi Takahashi on Motomet was only a further two seconds behind to record the closest finish in the regatta to date. Race 3 saw Matthew Rickard's Sail in Asia UK Team turn the tables by snatching victory over Kenichi Takahashi's Motomet by 15 seconds. Mohd Masyuri Rahmat KDP II had to settle for third spot on this occasion and determined to fight back to hold onto first place overall.

IRC
Having scored three wins in a row Kevin Gillow's Minx is starting to run away with the series. Stuart Crow's Cinders has scored all second places and Looi Sing Hoe skippering the Selangor Youth Teams entry on Gapurna Mas Ayu II have scored all third places to finish up in that order.

Multihull
The dual scoring system continues to confuse competitors, race officials and media alike. One system uses the Ocean Multihull Rating and the other is a performance based system that changes each day. Roger Kingdon's Moto Inzi continues to shine as they leave everybody trailing in their wake. Despite her design age Larry Pollock's Running Cloud has stayed up with the more modern designs to fill second spot. Kazuo Kobayashi's chartered Chameleon drops down to third today but still in front of some favoured light weight and faster multihull racers.

Club Cruising
Philip Giles crew on Nom de Plume lifted their game by two places to score a win in race two. Grenville Fordham's Image Asia Jemini Jo stayed steady in second place as E A Y Heuvel's big Swan 58 Bolero dropped to third place after their race one victory. This game of musical chairs sees them all tied on four points with two races left to run.

Ocean Rover
Eric Kading's Fat Cat came to the fore today over Des Kearn's Harlander 45 Isobar Lee Marine who now has scored two second places. Kevin Perrins Rusalka finished up third and as a result of the juggling of places all three front runners have scored four points each and the next two races will determine the podium positions.

Full results at: http://www.langkawiregatta.com/