Strong 15 Knot Winds and The RLIR is Back!

By Richard Blair

Conditions could not have been better on the fourth day of the Royal Langkawi Internatrional Regatta for 2010 with sunny cirrus sprinkled skies, a bracing wind and plenty of whitecaps decorating the choppy sea. South of Pulau Tuba. The Racers were ravenous, the Platus prickly and even the rovers were restless. The courses are set. They present an uphill climb for the fleet and then a series of down-wind runs and uphill beats for the Racing and Sports Divilsions and a long rectangle with a loop for the rest of the fleet.

Anyway, soon enough the Racers were off in a nice neat line with Media boats chasing and the Sports boats were milling and mixing down below the line. When they started the MYA crew were a bit over anxious at the start and got off too early having to du a restart. And by this time the early Racers had made the windward mark and were turning down with their spinnakers flying.

Jelik II cut through the platus as the Premier Class got off comfortably except for Rainbow Dream who followed unfashionably late. Jelik II made the downwind mark with Evolution close by and against the strong wind they show their under skirts as they climb back up the course. Meanwhile the Platus are coming into the leeward mark, Jelik II is making her second run.

Both the trailing racers tacked well above the mark, turned and set spinnakers to come running down on the bouy and gain some advantage on the down wind leg. They tried gibing well out to sea as Jelik II hugged the coast. They used spinnakers, spankers and spicy language but nothing seemed to work. Jelik II hung to her lead as she heeled heavily through a swarm of platus climbing to the windward mark.

Meanwhile the other Divisions were stringing out all over the course making long reaches followed by an up and down wind loop before beating to the first mark again. The sun was hot the sea glistening and the ice coolers emptying on the 5.5 mile course as Koull Baby battled with Katsu and Rapscallion stretching her lead over the Club Division. The Sports boats rounded the windward mark for the last time as Jelik II sluiced across the line.

All nearly equally skilled the Platu teams kept their boats in a tight cluster on the spinnaker run all the way to the finish with RQYS leading SMU and the Navy in tight order and with Navy 2 just behind. Hi Fi beat Evolution to the finish but long after Jelik II had passed. Then Koull Baby crossed just before Katsu and Da Vinci crossed through a barrage of Racers beginning their second race. And My Toy finally got a finishing blast.

Seventh Race
PRO Mark Pryke wasted no time in turning around the top divisions and started the second series of the day as finishers were still coming in. The Racers were off on a starboard tack as the Platus crossed neatly in a line but when RQYS tried to tack out of that order there was a near collision with Navy 1 which left both boats toeing the line toward the coast. Only three Premier Cruising boats started their second race with Rainbow Dream no where to be seen.

Jelik led the Racers down the coast as the IRC 1 boats got off with Rainbow Dream, now wearing a red cross pennant, joined them…go figure. And Da Vinci Nina, starting to the blast of a different horn, and leaving early had to circle the Start Boat for a new beginning. Up on the windward mark the Platus were popping kites for the finish. As they charged the line with SMU leading Navy 2 and Koull Baby finishing for the 2nd division as well as overall line honours for the afternoon race just ahead of Katsu. A shoulder injury aboard Koull Baby was evacuated to hospital just after her finish and doctors confirmed only a sprain.

Evolution escorted the Sports Boats in, led by Navy 1, RQYS, SMU and Navy 2, in quick succession with MYA t\railing only a bit. And Phoenix made here finish just ahead of the other IRC 1 Boats. But Da Vinci Nina headed for the wrong gat and had to beat back to make it around the Start Boat to the final horn.

Happenings Above...

Things are not always what they may seem on the Start Boat as PRO MarkPryke is helped aboard or otherwise during a race. His expression seems similar to what it might have been during another embarrassing personal business occasion just prior to arriving in Langkawi.

The top deck held a pool on the occasion of the Round the Island Race with one mufti-clad Police Captain winning with a guess only a minute short of Jelik II’s final rounding time of 2:51:00. His prize: a triangle of white cloth looking suspiciously like a bikini bottom smeared with red lipstick spelling ‘WINNER’.He was nonplussed.