Fleet lines up for Raja Muda International Regatta

by Marty Rijkuris on 15 Nov 2003 The Raja Muda International Regatta is considered one of the most tactical and hardest regatta's to win over the AY Season.

The degree of difficulty in yacht racing terms significantly increases on the 3 overnight passage races up the Malacca Straits along the west coast of Malaysia. Crews can expect at least 2 knots of tidal current, light to medium winds and have to deal with the occasional roaming thunder storm over the next week of racing.

This will severely test the racers seamanship and navigation skills especially between Pt Klang, Pangkor, Penang and Langkawi.

Past winners of the RMlR classes can stand proud of their yachting achievements and have historically gone on to take podium finishes at the Kings Cup in Phuket, the Singapore Straits and the Presidents Cup in the Philippines.


In IRC Racing Class 1A Hollywood Boulevard, Hi-Fidelity, YO!, and Pla Loma competed at the recent Asean Regatta will be joined by last years winner Fred Kinmonth's Sydney 38 Stella and a Farr 40 Pasaya under charter to Andreas Bienz's Swiss team that won back in 1998 on Jenny III.

All the yachts stand a chance here as they come fully prepared for a lengthy racing campaign with a number of professional racing crews swelling the ranks.

The IRC Racing Class 1B contains 6 very similarly matched yachts including a new Sydney 32 Scallywag and last years winner Stuart Harrison's Mumm 30 Panic with a Malaysian youth team onboard.

The all girls Dewi Bayu Team have chartered Amir Zohri's 4 time winner Gotcha Lagi! this year and are more than determined to put in a good showing in front of their male counterparts.

The newly introduced Premier Cruising Class has attracted a good line-up of big production yachts, anything from Schle Woods X512 X-Treme from Thailand to Hans Hvide Swann 68 Irvmiren.

Jon Wardill's classic racer Australian Maid has participated on 11 RMIR series out of 13 and very familiar with the track is joined by 2 custom Warwick designs Intrigue of Stornoway and Shahtoosh from Hong Kong plus a late Malaysian inclusion Yendys (Sydney spelt backwoods) so we can expect to see some close racing come from this class.

This RMIR also marks the beginning of the annual Sir Thomas Lipton Perpetual Cup Series and the Omega sponsored Asian Yachting Circuit or 'Omega AYC'.

Both events combine a selection the region's four oldest keelboat regattas into unified circuits with individual pointscoring systems and trophy presentations.

The Cruising and Classic Classes have a combined total of 11 entries and are usually very competitive despite forming the afterguard in a very competitive fleet.

A good match up to follow will be between the 2 Gibb Sea 37's - Warren Ritchie's Vela and Andrew Findlay's Pelangi plus Keith Browns Muzbnuts that has preformed very well during the RSYC sailing season.

Dato' Richard Curtis's 100 year old Bristol Pilot Cutter Eveline will be taking on the 50ft Gaff Rigged Schooner Stardust under charter to Liz Hallett in the Classic Class and the Royal Malaysian Navy are well represented with the 11.2m Dondang Sayang under LT Malik and a Beneteau 38 Chalupa under K. P. Chin.

Although there is only 29 starters the quality of the competing yachts assembled at the RSYC pontoons this year is a sight to behold.

Enough carbon fibre technology to build a full fleet of F1 cars and a superb mixture of well appointed racer/cruisers, all out cruisers and traditional classic yachts.