Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta 2018 – Port Klang to Pangkor
by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia 17 Nov 2018 21:03 PST
16-24 November 2018
Farewell to the fleet at RSYC. Raja Muda Selangor Internanal Regatta 2018 © Guy Nowell / RMSIR
“Breeze from the south’, said the forecast, but that didn’t happen. PRO Jerry Rollin was very happy to lay a line at the mouth of the Klang River in very much the same place as usual, and was very happy to begin the start sequence on time and with 10kts of breeze from the west. Classics, Premier Cruisers and the various IRC divisions all headed northwest on a close reach towards Pangkor.
And that’s just about it. Steve Manning, skippering Red Rum (A40, Class 4) said “there was breeze at the start, there was breeze at the end, and there was breeze in the middle. It was only after we had finished that it died.” Be thankful that the finish line is no longer right outside the anchorage at Pasir Bogok (Pangkor); it was moved south by 21nm some years ago!
“The breeze started to go south about three-quarters of the way up the course, just about when the tide turned, so it wasn’t a tough tactical decision: we gybed once, gybed twice, and laid the finish line.” A quick look at the tracker (www.ybtracking.com, and select Raja Muda 2018) tells the same story for the rest of the fleet.
First across the finish line at 19.30.04 was the ORMA60, Scallywag Fuku bld, but as the Multihull class only starts at Penang, she wasn’t actually racing and that doesn’t count for line honours. First racer to finish was Geoff Hill’s Antipodes at 21.18.41, but Sarab Jeet Singh’s Windsikher finished at 21.21.51 having started five mins behind Antipodes, and claims Line Honours on an Elapsed Time basis. Singh has scooped up the Raja Muda Cup for the last three years, and is gunning for four in a row – nobody has done that before. [Ed: Neil Pryde racked up three in a row 2008-10 with HiFi (Windsikher’s previous name) as well as 2005, making this by far the most successful boat in the 28 year history of the regatta.]
First blood for 2018 in the IRC 1 class goes to Fred Kinmonth and Nick Burns’ Mandrake III, and they will be looking for a third title on the Honours Board back at the RSYC. Seasoned campaigners, all.
IRC 2 (Premier Cruising) was won by the DK46 Janda Baik, but we can’t help wondering why this boat is in this class. Max Pelleschi’s IOR Farr 40 is sailing a little short-handed – two up, to be precise – so maybe the lighter crew weight helped them win Class 4 last night, a scant two minutes behind the fully-crewed Red Rum on elapsed time but a healthy 23 minutes ahead on handicap. The beautiful Rona, 123 years young, did not finish in the Classics division, and last boat home this morning at 0530h was Florian Zeh’s well-laden Esperanza. The Royal Malaysian Navy’s Contessa 32, Marikh, is the smallest boat in the Classic class, and takes the win for the opening race.
We have been covering the Raja Muda for 16 years now, and this is undoubtedly the fastest race to Pangkor for the fleet as a whole. At 0200h this morning the volume was UP and there were an impressive number of green tins on the tables at the celebrated Seaview Resort. Probably the curtains are drawn in a good many rooms right now. The sun is shining, and the fleet is peacefully at anchor in pretty Pasir Bogok. There’s a party tonight (of course), and tomorrow’s race heads for Penang, and a stopover at Straits Quay Marina.
Standing by on 72.
Short Results
Class 1 (IRC Racing)
1. Mandrake III
2. Windsikher
3. Ramrod
Class 2 (Premier Cruising)
1. Janda Baik
2. Antipodes
3. Shahtoosh
Class 4 (IRC)
1. Prime Factor
2. Red Rum
3. Nijinsky
Class 5 (Cruising)
1. Lady Bubbly
2. Iseulta
3. VG Offshore
Class 6 (Classic)
1. Marikh
2. Esperanza
Full results can be found at http://www.rmsir.com/27a/index.php/results