A WINNING PACKAGE

The third Royal Langkawi Regatta was once again hosted by the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club and BMW. Numbers were down to 47 entrants, not unexpected after the recent December 26^th Tsunami.

A WINNING PACKAGE
 
by Robert Mott

The third Royal Langkawi Regatta was once again hosted by the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club and BMW. Numbers were down to 47 entrants, not unexpected after the recent December 26^th Tsunami.

A sensible decision by the organizers bringing the regatta forward to early March, and into the more dominant monsoon wind and weather patterns, paid off with constant breezes giving excellent sailing conditions.

The BMW Langkawi Regatta is notable as the only regatta in Asia conveniently operating out of a marina, with all entrants returning each afternoon to their own berths. A new addition is the introduction of a lay day, breaking up the four days of racing giving participants the chance to relax and enjoy some sightseeing on the island.

Altogether nine multihulls turned up allowing two divisions - racing and cruising.

 

F-31 a Farrier 31 trimaran representing the Royal Selangor Yacht Club Malaysia Port Klang. Owned and skippered by Tunku Nazim from Malaysia. Nazim made it up from Port Klang and, having no other multis down his way, had never before raced in company with another multihull. Hopefully Tunku Nazim can make it back next year. This year was a shake down run so better things are expected of him next year

Charro a Mark Pesscot 10.6m design cat representing ACYC Ao Chalong Yacht Club Phuket – Tim Milner, owner/skipper with Rod Rockets Palmer -Aussie, Bruce from Alaska and Oy from Thailand. Charro grabbed a number of line honours wins and an overall 2^nd at the recent Kings Cup Regatta in Phuket.

Chakra – a 15.2m Schionnings cat representing ACYC Phuket owned by Frank Cusack and skippered by Todd Ekert from Australia with a crew of two - Chris Runnegar from Australia and Thomas from Switzerland. Todd and Chris did a great job of keeping things together short handed to help keep the multi numbers up and provided some added competition. Frank had jumped ship to Chameleon as tactician and sailing master. This is the first time Frank has even seen Chakra sailed by anyone else. Chameleon had to shed two of their best crew for this to happen, as they were the only ones Frank trusted for the task. Considering Chakra is up for sale at the moment, that was a brave move by Frank and a tough situation to place Todd and Chris in. The boys worked themselves to a frazzle both mentally and physically over the first few days and had to call it a day before race 4 and 5, totally exhausted after putting the big fifty-footer thought the course. Thank you guys- much appreciated!

Chameleon a 14.4m Cyber cat designed by Tim Mumby representing ACYC Phuket skippered and owned by Bob Mott, crewed by Frank Cusack, John from Aussie who for some unknown reason likes to be called Handsome John. When Handsome is not busy polishing and caressing his BMW motorbikes he volunteers to lay marks in the Kings Cup and Koh Samui Regattas, David Peter Bond from England - a resident of Thailand - joined us in the Kings Cup and returned again to do foredeck in Langkawi. Peter from Florida, Michael from England, and on the last day, Chris Runnegar were all on board. Chameleon was in full charter trim when she arrived, but the charter gear was shed so she could be snapped into racing mode. She would be one of - if not the only - purpose designed cruising charter cats that can play the two roles successfully.

No Fixed Address a 11.7m Shaun Arber design cat representing ACYC Phuket. Skippered and owned by Brent McInnes crewed by the lovely Lenka from Slovakia who has managed to pick up Australian swearing to perfection. She has the ability of saying F-You and make it sound like - how yah going mate? The remaining crew was made up by a team of Malaysians from the Reggae Bar – Yam, Din, Bidi and Des Dunstan a naval architect from Perth Australia. NFA was the overall winner last year of the Langkawi Multihull Cup. This year she was fully operational without the Image Asia patch on the side covering some screwed and glued-on plywood. No Fixed Address used to be called Spirit of Cairns and was a competitor back in 1988 in the Round Australian Bicentenary Race.

Sedna a Dean 13.4m design cat representing RLYC owned by Joan Foo Mahony, skippered by Noel Belman and crewed by YM Tunku Soraya Dakhlah the Vice Commodore of the Langkawi Yacht Club, Terry Mahony, Barbara Pennels, Mark Jones, Abdul Malek and Abdul Khalid. Joan has only recently taken delivery of Sedna, which was sailed over from South Africa this year. Sedna is the name given to the mythical Mother of the Oceans and ruler over all life in the sea.

Lighten Up a 13.9m Kurt Hughes design cat representing ACYC Phuket built in Phuket and skippered by Bill and Ju Eby crewed by family and friends. Bill hails from Canada and spends part of the year warming his feet in Phuket and surround waters. Not a bad life.

Kilo a 14m Cyber design cat by Tim Mumby representing ACYC Phuket owned by Chris Sieber and skippered by Chris along with Phairot Sricham his Thai captain, Dave and Debz Lee regular crew members from England but living locally on their yacht Rogue Wave, Dave Marsden and Lynsey Hill also from England. Kilo is an older design a bit shorter than the newer versions but still a fast machine.

Escape a 11.58m Lagoon catamaran owned and skippered by Robert Walter Stone from Canada crewed by Sandy from Taiwan and a join in Philippino crew member supplied by Simpson Marine the agents for Lagoon in Malaysia. Bob sailed the first two days aboard Remington an S&S mono and raced the last two days on Escape. Bob has now retired to Thailand having covered many miles in the air with the Canadian Airforce and China Airlines. If anyone remembers the comments in the movie “Top Gun” relating to flying dog sh-t out of China well Bob flew cargo planes out of China – he wasn’t sure what the cargo was!