Sun sets on Raja Muda as red flags continue to wave

by Scott McCook on 24 Nov 2003 After racing up the northern reaches of Malaysia’s west coast the 14th Raja Muda International Regatta fleet find themselves in the beautiful waters of Langkawi. The winner of the various classes would be finally determined by a series of short course races on Bass Harbour. Peter Ahern’s Malaysian based Yo! that has been hot on the circuit is separated from Hollywood Boulevard by just a point going into the last day of racing.

The two days of racing on Bass Harbour would prove to conclude the closest race in the events history. But the other classes are having their own battles as well. In Racing 1B, the young Malaysian team aboard Panic proved it picnic when they won of the days races and jumped up from 5th overall to 3rd.

The winds in Langkawi were light and Friday’s racing suffered a short delay until there was enough breeze to complete 2 races. With such a close stacking of points, Saturday’s final race would be important.

With two races scheduled for the last day of racing, Ray Roberts, Hollywood Boulevard took command from the start but were doggedly pursued by Yo!. Neil Pryde lost some distance to Yo! in the early stages of the race. The light 8 knot wind produced some big shifts across the harbour. On the first run, Hollywood Boulevard stretched their lead from 2 to 5 minutes over Yo!. Neil Pryde took some distance out Yo! and by the leeward mark, had drawn alongside. The final beat would prove the clincher as YO tacked back toward the mainland shoreline. Neil Pryde’s Hi Fidelity continued up the middle of the course. Yo!’s forage into the Burmese fishing village proved their undoing and finally crossed the finish line 4th place.

But the biggest gainer on the final leg was the Swiss Team aboard a familiar Farr 40, Pasaya. During the whole passage of the Raja Muda the team had been dogged by poor boat speed. After being passed through the water on Saturday by the much smaller Mumm 30, they thought they should check the bottom. Apparently the easy to reach waterline areas were clean but a rather large barnacle cluster had formed over most of the fin and bulb! As they said ‘when we climbed aboard the charter boat, there was a diver in the water. We just assumed the job was done properly’.

On Saturday the little Mumm 30 put in a blinder of a performance but Sunday was another day. It could have been due to Stewart Harrison’s sleepless night after scoring 2 first places but Panic was slow out of the blocks and never relay found the groove.

In Class 2, the Thai X-treme suddenly found form and claimed a 1st place but that would do nothing to dent the lead that Australian Maid had eked out over the class. By Sunday the Maid was in such a relaxed state that provisions for the day included innumerable cartons of liquids.

But the light winds really played havoc with some in the classic class with one big old schooner failing to even cross the start line as the tide started to flow. However, the Royal Malaysian Navy boys aboard Dondang Sayang put in another good performance to finish first in class.

Looking at the results for the final day of racing only one race was completed and, only 4 of the fleet actually finished the course with the rest scoring DNF’s. The breeze was light no doubt but the course was far too long for the shorter waterline boats. This would create the most controversy for many years!

A request for redress from the Mumm 30, Panic and the Sydney 32, Scallywag was filed on the grounds that the course had been laid outside of the approximate 2nm leg (and was roughly 3.7nm on the water). The International Jury in all it’s wisdom ruled ‘Redress is granted such that scores in Class 1 Race 6 are to be disregarded and for the overall points, all boats are to be scored in the highest position they achieved in either Race 4 or Race 5.’

So after roughly 300 miles and a weeks worth of racing, that the final race was to be ‘disregarded’ seem just a little unfair and a sad way to end the regatta. More odd was that the hand written note from the jury was not posted on the official noticeboard before the contestants filed out to the Sheraton for the final prize giving function, nor was the letter signed by the jury. The plot thickens as a number of the racing fleet were a little unhappy about the jury’s decision!

But the 14th Raja Muda will be remembered for the World Cup. The entire Raja Muda fleet crowded the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club bar to watch the proceedings.

Whether the IJ’s decision affects next years numbers, remains to be seen but the Raja Muda helps to highlight that Malaysia does indeed have some very good cruising grounds.

Locations
Pulau Pangor
The island is often rated as ‘one of the top ten Islands’ in the world. P. Pangor holds some of the oldest rainforests in the area, one of Malaysia’s last traditional boat builders and was the site for a National Geographic’s Eco challenge. Pangor has nice stretches of beaches, lush vegetation and some very nice resorts that range from backpacker to five star.

Pangkor Laut
This is baby Pangor Island and its sole occupant is Pangkor Laut Resort. When the people who rate islands visit, they must end up here. Pangkor Laut Resort daily rate is enough to keep cruising yachts at bay! It was in the bay between ‘big’ Pangor and ‘baby’ Pangkor that the Raja Muda fleet anchor. Although we do understand that most of the party people found their way onto P. Pangkor for the entertainment.

Lumut
This is the mainland town that serves P. Pangkor. Lumut is foremost the Royal Malaysian Navy’s home port. It’s a nice little river town that exudes a very relaxed atmosphere and is really quite charming. Up stream you will find the Lumut International Yacht Club that actually has marina facilities, clubhouse pool etc. A little further upstream you’ll find a couple more ‘marinas’ and is where a great number of cruising boats congregate. The best hotel in the area is the Swiss Garden located on the northern shore and is very nicely tucked away. They have a jetty that the shuttle boats use. In town there are guest houses the Orient Star Hotel and the Blue Bay Hotel.
Lumut will surprise with its pub and restaurants such as Jook just back from main street. The food is real good as the owner is a former ‘yachtie’ that has made Lumut home.

Penang
When the Raja Muda fleet roll into town the number one inconvenience is that there is no marina and that the anchorage in front of the town is not that nice. But there are cruising boats scattered in bays all around the island. Penang is a beautiful island that still has colonial period buildings but is really famous for its Gurney Drive food stalls the food is good.

Langkawi
The Island of legends is the most beautiful of islands on the west coast. 99 islands make up the group and with great fjords, stunning beaches and soaring peaks, Langkawi is the ideal spot for a boat. The main island has the oldest rain forest in Malaysia and Datai Bay is a secluded resort within this lush tropical forest. It’s like nothing you can imagine. Langkawi is duty free and has at any time about 300 cruising boats within its waters. Yachts are well catered for with 3 marinas but there are anchorages aplenty so no one ever feels crammed in. The newest of the marinas is Telaga Harbour and this is the best developed marina concept on the whole peninsular and offers very attractive rates.

This report was supplied by Scott McCook of the Asia Boat Rag, an excellent source of cruising information on SE Asia www.asiaboatrag.net