Sail-World.com : Childhood Friends Win Race 2 of Heritage Bay Cup
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Childhood Friends Win Race 2 of Heritage Bay Cup |
The second race of the Heritage Bay Cup ended yesterday with the Duyung Heritage Sailing Team emerging the winner, by beating the other two local teams in all three flights consecutively. The win was even more meaningful for the team as it aptly fits the Heritage Bay Cup theme, 'Untuk Juara Tempatan' or 'For Local Champions'. All seven members of the team are childhood friends from Kg. Pulau Duyong, which is located in the vicinity of Pulau Duyong, the venue of the annual Monsoon Cup. The other two teams were Team MTPN Terengganu (representing the state tourism agency) and Team Inai Kiara.
Team skipper, Mohd Rais Hashim said: 'The Heritage Bay Cup, organised by the Monsoon Cup, provides an excellent platform for the communities here to showcase their talents and skills in sailing. When Monsoon Cup was first staged in Pulau Duyong in 2005, many of us were not aware about sports sailing or F36 yachts. Our interest in the sport, particularly the youth, piqued after watching the match racing.'
His team member, Hasnuddin Hashim said the strategic location of the marina with world-class facilities near their homes at Kg. Pulau Duyong, further encouraged the team to take up competitive sailing.
'We love the sea as we live next to it and so we formed our team in 2006 and participated in our first race in the Coronation Cup in 2007. With David Mills, Yacht Manager of Monsoon Cup coaching us, we were able to improve our skills and techniques,' he explained.
Overjoyed with their first win, Hasnuddin attributed it to the strong sea breeze and currents combined with great teamwork, strategy and excellent calls. 'We will intensify our practices within the next week in preparation for the finals,' said Hasnuddin.
The finals of the second Heritage Bay Cup will be held on Saturday, 20 June, where winners of Race 1 which was postponed to Friday, 19 June and Duyung Heritage Sailing Team, will compete against Team Suffian to be crowned as champions. Heritage Bay Cup is part of the Monsoon Cup initiative to instill interest in sailing and hone the sailing skills of the local communities in Terengganu, particularly around Pulau Duyong.
Although Team MTPN with skipper Tun Baharom Tun Abdul Razak and Team Inai Kiara skippered by Capt. Jamali Sebu did not qualify for the finals, they put on a strong race today. Tun Baharom and Mohd Rais were constantly engaged in a tacked duel throughout the three flights.
'We were still not communicating well in the first two laps as we miscalculated the direction of the sea breeze and the strength of the strong currents which were pushing us off-course. Our team also made a major mistake by under utilising the pull. Since I am used to speedboat, I needed sometime to familiarise myself with the helm. We are now quite confident with our ability and vouch to come back stronger in the next event,' said Tun Baharom.
Capt. Jamali explained that his team was having problems with the spinnaker pole just as the race started.
'Our team members were distracted with this problem and we were left behind by at least eight boats lengths from the second team. Despite fixing the problem in the second lap of the 1st flight, it took the team some time to recover. Eventually we caught up and emerged second in flight 3 which is quite satisfying for us,' he said.
Race 2 concluded with the presentation of certificates to all the participants by Mills. Commenting on the performance of the teams, Mills said: 'Definitely the standard of racing has improved. Two teams returned for the second race this year and they have a planned strategy which they used at the race course which is also used in the Monsoon Cup. We are confident that sailing as a sport will definitely pick up in Terengganu with the growing enthusiasm amongst team member every year.'
For more information on The Heritage Bay Cup, please contact Mira Navaretna at mira@tbest.com.my mobile no : 016-3385341
by RURRUM
7:06 AM Sun 14 Jun 2009 GMT
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