Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2016 - No Relation

by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia on 31 Dec 2015 The 14th Royal Langkawi International Regatta (RLIR) 2016 will take place from 11 to 16 January 2016 and so far, 32 yachts have registered their entries. 13 ‘locals’, seven from Australia, two each from Great Britain and Thailand, and one each from China, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia and Singapore. There is no connection between the Royal Langkawi International Regatta and the WS (ISAF) Youth Worlds in Langkawi.

Of the 32, some of the most experienced are skippers of the Multihull and Club Class entries. Grenville Fordham has skippered his multihull at five previous RLIRs will be looking to defend his 2015 title in IMAGE asia NINA against Manta Blu and the newly-launched Allegro.

In the Club Class, Rascal is entered in its eighth RLIR with Gavin Welman at the helm, and one of the most experienced sailors when it comes to navigating Langkawi waters is Henning Lenz racing his 12th RLIR in the diminutive My Toy.

Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RLYC) Rear Commodore and RLIR 2016 Organising Chairperson, Tunku Soraya, said, “The uniqueness of sailing in Langkawi waters keeps the sailors coming back year after year. The challenges of sailing here as well as the beauty of the surroundings are hard to resist for all types of boats.”

Aside from Allegro, the other new entries expected to show their mettle are Sport Boats Team RLYC and Muara Watersports Malaysia Racing Team; and Alive, Emagine, Foreign Affair and Trader in the IRC Class.

Also new this year is the RLIR IRC 2 Challenge Trophy, adding to the other five challenge trophies of the competition. The teams in RLIR 2016 will compete for:

Prime Minister’s Challenge Trophy – Racing Class
Commodore’s Challenge Cup – Club Cruisers
LADA-IRC Challenge Trophy – IRC 1 Class
RLIR IRC 2 Challenge Trophy – IRC 2 Class
Langkawi Sports Trophy – Sports Boat Class
Malaysian Multihull Challenge Cup – Multihull Class.

Another trophy that sets the RLIR apart from other regattas is the Tunku Abdullah Sportsmanship Award, presented in memory of the late Founding Chairman and the first Commodore of the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RLYC), Almarhum Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Voted by the participants, it is awarded to a team for competitiveness, fair racing and comradeship, on water and land, and was won in 2015 by Grenville Fordham and his crew.

SAIL-WORLD.COM is a Media Partner of the RLIR.

Readers should note that although this event is taking place in Langkawi, there is no connection between the Royal Langkawi International Regatta run by the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club, and the World Sailing (ISAF) Youth World Sailing Championships presently being held in Langkawi.

At the latter an Israeli team has effectively been banned from entering by the Malaysian Government and the Malaysian Sailing Association, with the knowledge of World Sailing. The sailing world now has discovered that a range of restrictions has been previously placed on Israeli sailors in other countries and ISAF had full and detailed knowledge of such practices. No such discrimination is exercised by the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club.

For more information on the RLYC and the RLIR, go to: www.langkawiregatta.com