Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2012 – day 2

by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia on 12 Jan 2012 Like the line from the old song, 'bright and breezy, free and easy,' day 2 of the 10th RLIR started off with a splash of sunshine and 12kts, and ran most of the day around the 10kts mark. Two windward-leeward races for IRC 0 and 1, one for the Platus (Sportsboats) and IRC 2, and a ‘cruising’ course for everyone else that sent them south out into open water.

Hooligan (TP52, Marcus Blackmore) took the first race in IRC 0, assisted no doubt by Hi Fi – who were snapping at their heels – suffering a jammed spinnaker halyard that necessitated a ‘knife take-down’ before they could get back on their feet and back up the course. But Neil Pryde and the men in red fought back in the second race in slightly softer breeze to score the win and deny Blackmore a clean sheet. 'But four firsts from five races is pretty much a stranglehold on the regatta,' said Pryde afterwards. 'Our tactics and starts were good today,' said Blackmore, 'but Hi Fi out-sailed us in the second race, and would have been close in the first but for their spinnaker jam.'

Jing Jing (J/130, Rick Pointon, Beijing Sailing Centre) didn’t put a foot wrong, and added added another first place to their tally in IRC 1. 'We enjoyed the slightly choppier conditions on the ‘outside’ race course,' said Pointon. 'We are a bit heavier than the principal opposition, so we just ploughed round the course. Works for us…'

In the Tippy Boats division, aka Platus/Sportsboats, the Singapore Management University (SMU) and Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) crews have shared all the first and second places over two days of racing and are tied on points after four races.

Out on the ‘long’ course, Andrew Stransky’s cruising cat, Fantasia, stormed round the course in a mere 2h 56m to record a win on corrected time by a remarkable 1h 12m in front of Gren Fordham’s Nina. ‘Most Patience’ award is shared by the traditionally-built 34 ton wooden Warisan Duyong that completed her course in 4h 54m, and James Wilding’s cat Mind the Gap, that came home after a marathon 5h 38.

Racing resumes tomorrow with the ‘Around the Island’ course – in this case the island is Pulau Dayang Bunting, and the course will take competitors through some of the spectacular scenery of the UNESCO Geopark for which Langkawi is justly famous.

Full results at: www.langkawiregatta.com