Hooligan wins Prime Minister’s Challenge Trophy at 10th RLIR

by RLIR Event Media on 15 Jan 2012 The Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2012 wound up in good style with Hooligan, skippered by Marcus Blackmore, enjoying all five days of action-packed sailing experience to win the Prime Minister’s Challenge Trophy. This is Hooligan’s first victory in the annual regatta and in the Asian region. Blackmore described the RLIR 2012 as one of his 'best regattas and a great place to sail'. He also thanked the organisers for being gracious hosts and for organising a great regatta.

The Guest of Honour, the Former Prime Minister of Malaysia and Patron of the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club, Y. A. Bhg. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad presented the PM’s Challenge Trophy to skipper Marcus Blackmore in a grand prize presentation and closing ceremony held at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RLYC) last night.

According to Principal Race Officer of RLIR 2012, Simon James, good winds together with clear sky conditions were the main highlights of the 5-day series which ran 9-14 January.

'Wind conditions were regularly around 10-16kts which gave the participants a first class sailing experience. It enabled most of the participants to complete all the races and be satisfied with their daily performance,' James added. Being his seventh regatta, he said that the 2012 event waqs blessed with the best wind and weather conditions that he had seen.

This year, the regatta had an almost all new team of international volunteers. The Government of Malaysia; Ministry of Tourism and local agencies including The Royal Malaysian Police; Royal Malaysian Customs; Malaysian Immigration Department; Marine Department of Malaysia; Malaysia Fire and Rescue Department and local diving companies continued to provide their support in making the regatta a success.

A total of 36 boats participated in the 5-day race and the countries include Denmark, The United Kingdom, China, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, New Zealand, USA, Norway, Thailand and Malaysia.

This year, the Tunku Abdullah Sportsmanship Award was won by Jelik 2, skippered by Frank Pong from the IRC Racing Class for their excellent sportsmanship qualities and determination shown throughout the races. The winner was picked by nominations submitted by the participating boats each day throughout the regatta. While there were a standard criteria and list of qualities to be looked out for by all participants, the winning team was picked based on pure sportsmanship qualities.

The Commodore’s Challenge Cup, open to Club Cruising class, was won by Smystery, skippered by Charles Hay. The LADA IRC Challenge Trophy for participants of the IRC 1 Class was won by Jing Jing (Beijing Sailing Centre) skippered by Rick Pointon. In the Sportsboat Class, the Langkawi Sports Trophy was won by the Malaysian Arm Forces (Angkatan Tentera Malaysia/ATM) skippered by Mohd. Masyuri B Rahmat. The Malaysian Multihull Challenge Cup fwas won by Fantasia, skippered by Andrew Stransky.

Also present at the event was Y. A. Bhg. Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali; Y. Bhg En. Zulkifly Said, Director of Industry Development Tourism Malaysia; Y. Bhg Dr. Noor Yazan representing the Chief Executive Officer of LADA; Y. Bhg Laksamana Muda Dato’ Tan Eng Seng, Royal Malaysia Navy; Commodore of the RLYC Y. M. Tunku Dato’ Ya’acob bin Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah and Rear Commodore of the RLYC and Chairperson of the RLIR 2012 Y.M.Tunku Soraya Dakhlah binti Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah.

The Commodore of the RLYC, Tunku Dato’ Ya’acob thanked all 36 participants of the RLIR 2012 for demonstrating exceptional sportsmanship at the regatta.

'Since our first Regatta in 2003, more than 350 yachts and 2,300 participants from all over the world have come to Langkawi. I believe that the RLYC and the RLIR have positioned Langkawi as a premier destination on the global sailing map,' said Tunku Dato’ Ya’acob.

The RLIR 2012 is the 10th regatta organised by the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club since its inauguration in 2003. The regatta is organised by the RLYC and sanctioned by the Malaysian Yachting Association, a member of the National Sports Council and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Malaysia.

For further information on the RLIR 2012, race schedule and entry form, kindly log on to www.langkawiregatta.com or contact En Zack at zack@langkawiyachtclub.com.