The Aussie contingent was strong with a number of Mark Pescott design cats participating including Mark's own 10M cat "Summersalt". Summersalt had undergone a major refit at Mark Horwood's Latitude 8 boat yard in Phuket and was launched on the high tide just in time to join the regatta with only three days to spare. Just a few hundred metres down the beach another Australian cat "Chameleon" a 48 foot alloy design off the drawing board of Tim Mumby and built by Tim Mumby was launched a day before Summersalt only partly fitted out and also eager to participate in one of the regions premier sailing events.

The competing yachts in the Multihull Racing Division were:

Fine Pitch a Dick Newick 11M Echo Trimaran skippered by Brain Richie from Phuket and crewed by airline pilots from Hong Kong and Taipei. Fine Pitch was the only trimaran in either division.

Dewi Bay Chimera 10.6 Pescott Summerhaven, skippered by Malaysia Asian Games gold medallist Tiffany Koo and an all ladies crew from Malaysia and Australia including the daughter of Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah the Chairman and Commodore of The Royal Langkawi Yacht Club Tunku Soraya Dakhlah.

Image Asia Cerberus (sister ship to Chimera), skippered by Andy Dowden, and sailed by Damien Gimball and Grenville Fordham and friends all from Thailand.

Charro an open cockpit Summerhaven 10.6 skippered by Tim Milner from Phuket. Charro was the winner of this year's Phang Nga Regatta that was contested over the Chinese New Year period in Phuket.

Latitude 8 Cyrene a Whitehaven 10.95 skippered by Tim Gunsten from Phuket and crewed by owners Michael and Sue Amulphy also from Phuket. Cyrene was the winner of the 2003 Phuket Kings Cup Regatta.

Summersalt a Crowther/ Pescott 10M skipper by Mark Pescott and also based in Phuket. Regular crewmembers Phil Bender and Clare Hancock were joined by Elizabeth Eutard from France who had been crewing on yachts around the world for the last 6 years including the rounding of Cape Horn and a trip to Antarctica. A late addition was local yachtsman Andy.

Chameleon a Tim Mumby 14.4M design and by far the largest cat in the fleet. Chameleon was skippered by the owner Bob Mott and crewed by Simon Andrews (Australian), Todd (Australian), Paisal (Thai), Richard (American), Steffen (German), Lek (Thai), Dianne (American), Tammy ( American), plus a few join-ins bringing the number of crew to 10 on occasions. This was Chameleon's first regatta.

Cruising Multihulls consisted of 6 starters:

No Fixed Address a 11.7M Shaun Arber cat skipperd by Brent McInnes also based in Phuket and crewed by a bevy of bikini clad beauties Steina, Simone, Alice and a team of Malaysian's Yam, Din, Bidi, Babu and Azman from the local Reggae Bar.

Kilo a 14M Tim Mumby alloy cat skippered by Phuket based Chris Seiber and crewed by Deb and Dave from England, Bok from Phuket, Guilbert from Germany based in Phuket, Chris's wife Lizilie along with family and friends.

Lighten Up a 13.9M Kurt Hughes design skippered by Bill and Ju Eby and friends from Phuket. Bill and Ju built Lighten Up in Phuket.

Vertical Time a 13.5M Krysna cat from South Africa skippered by Bob Prouix, his son and some late join in crew from Phuket.

Berrimilla a Crowther 10 cat skippered by Rod Palmer and sailed two up with his girlfriend Jira from Thailand.

Spellbound a 16.5M Imp motor-sailing cat skippered by Craig Marcombe and crewed by his family.

Out of the 13 participating multihulls 11 were based in Phuket.

The wind gods were not smiling at the start of the first race with only about 6 knots of breeze greeting the fleet. Fine Pitch won the start and led on the first leg, a close reach followed by Summersalt, Charro and Cyrene with the rest of the fleet struggling in the light conditions. Chameleon had the embarrassment of drifting into a marker boat in a no wind situation with tide. The fenders were down and a few kind words were exchanged from close quarters between the crew of Chameleon and the maker boat a Sunsail Beneteau 43. The requirement for a 360 to compensate for the bump was avoided by an early retirement decision. It was more interesting at the bar it seems.

Overall results for the day saw Fine Pitch take line honors, Summersalt 1st on handicap, Fine Pitch 2nd, Charro a close 3rd. The course was shortened to the 5th mark due to lack of wind at the latter stages of the race.

The cruising division was finished at the 4th mark with No Fixed Address taking line and handicap honours from Kilo and Lighten Up.

The start on the second day saw a little more breeze, maybe 8 knots for the downwind start although a delay while the buoys were laid would mean a greater chance of the breeze once again dying later in the race. With the bulk of the multis bunched near the start boat Summersalt was able to make a clean getaway near the pin end and was able to show her downwind speed on the run then shy kite to the 2nd mark leading the fleet by a fair margin. No Fixed Address also did well on the first 2 legs, their strategy to follow Summersalt at the starts working well. The ladies of Dewi Bayu Chimera were beginning to show they're potential, passing Fine Pitch under shy kite.

The next three legs consisting of a close reach, a fetch, and then a beam reach in the dying breeze and sloppy seas saw Fine Pitch close the gap on Summersalt whilst leaving the rest of the fleet behind with the exception of Cyrene. The real trimaran conditions of about one knot of wind allowed Fine Pitch to pass and take line honours. Overall results were Summersalt first on handicap followed by Fine Pitch and Cyrene.

The cruising division was again shortened to the last mark with No Fixed Address taking line honours and first on handicap from Kilo and Lighten Up.

Fine Pitch, Cyrene and Charro all sailed high on the course to the finish looking for more breeze. Summersalt with all the crew in stealth mode forward in the leeward net eased sheets slightly, sailing straight for the finish. Summersalt started to make some time back on the first 3 boats that by virtue of going higher and not allowing for the current were sailing a greater distance. A very shy kite for the last mile to the finish line allowed Summersalt to take the win on handicap by 15 seconds from Cyrene and Fine Pitch who took line honours.

In the cruising division No Fixed Address won on handicap by just 6 seconds from Lighten Up with line honours winner Kilo 3rd.

By the last day the wind had finally filled in with 12 - 14 knots for the port reaching start.

Chameleon led from the start, the big cat stretching her legs on the fetch to the first mark followed by Dewi Bayu Chimera, the girls finally able to show what they can do given at bit of wind. Fine Pitch passed them just before the first mark followed by Cyrene, Charro with Kilo leading No Fixed Address in the cruising division. Chameleon's lead was held to just after the third mark when a headsail sheet winch gave loose nearly spilling the asymmetrical over the bow followed by an easing of wind. Just behind Dewi Bayu Chimera was able to claim buoy room on Fine Pitch at the 3rd mark.

Over the next three legs the wind continued to ease with many shifts favouring part of the fleet then the other. A last gasp of the morning breeze saw all of the racing class along with Kilo and No fixed Address converged on the 6th turning mark bunched and ready for the run for the line as the see breeze filled in. Summersalt came from last to climb over the whole fleet with shy kite but when Fine Pitch shied up to repass both boats were left too high on the course with a run to the line.

Meanwhile lower on the course Chameleon had chosen a better angle to the tidal flow and powered thru to just take line honours from Charro. Dewi Bayu Chimera led at every mark on handicap and took a well-deserved win from Chameleon and Charro on corrected time. No Fixed Address despite being parked closed to the finish buoy in close company with Fine Pitch and Cyrene again took the double in the cruising division from Kilo and Lighten Up.

No Fixed Address competed in the event with severe damage on the port side in the centerboard case area. The hole was plugged with a sheet of plywood, a sponsors sign from Image Asia Press Thailand, some screws and plenty of Sikaflex and Liquid Nails. The damage was from an altercation with a 55-foot steel sloop "Beyond Rotto" at the start line in the Phang Nga Regatta 6 weeks earlier owned and skippered by Brian Ritchie (yes the now skipper of "Fine Pitch") in the Phang Nga Regatta 6 weeks earlier. Brian is a qualified boat builder and is now repairing NFA in Phuket at the Latitude 8 boatyard. A hearty congratulation goes out to Brent for his competitive nature, with the delaying of repairs to participate and help increase the cruising fleet for the regatta. He could have easily withdrawn his entry. For his troubles he was presented with first prize with a Mug for first and a Goblet for line honours for days 1,2,3,4, a two-man kayak by Feelfree Kayaks www.feelfree.com. Not a bad four days work one could say.

Mark Pescott's Summersalt won a triple kayak from Feel Free Kayaks and a number of individual prizes over the four days of racing to gain first place with 3 X 1st, 1 X 4th on handicap in Racing Multihulls with Fine Pitch 2nd (2 X 2nd, 1 X 3rd, 1 X 6th) and Cyrene 3rd.

Brent and Mark now have a bet on as to who will get down to 100 KGs first so there will certainly be some brisk paddling going on in the near future. If anyone happens to be interested in the "Phuket Multihullers Gut Busters Cup" please email Bob Mott /Chameleon at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for the true unbiased results!

Cruising Multis were taken out by No Fixed Address / Brent McInnes with a resounding win with 4 X 1sts with Kilo / Chris Sieber bighting at their heels with 3 X 2nds and 1 X 3rd place with Lighten Up 3rd.

In attendance this year for the prize giving was the recently retired Prime Minister of Malaysia YABhg Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad.

Evening events were held at The Royal Langkawi Yacht Club, The Sheridan Pedana Resort, The Awana Resort, and Kampong Resort. Without a doubt The Royal Langkawi International Regatta has stamped it's seal as one of the premier events in the area both in Multihulls and monohulls cruising or racing even though it is only two years young.

Where else could you get 4 days with the promise of excellent competition, 5 nights of parties with dinners, drinks (beer, wine and spirits) and entertainment with live bands, 8 days marina berth with free water and electricity, a captains bag full of goodies, heaps of prizes and lucky door prizes one of which is the entry fee given back in a lucky draw, other prizes included free air tickets from Malaysian Airlines. Malaysian Airlines also subsidized flights to the event.

The entry fee is just 450 Ringit (approx 150AUS$) for the boat and two party tickets with additional party tickets at 200 Ringit each (65AUS$). If you can't get here with your cat come and join one of the crews by listing in the crew available pages on the regattas website.

For those of you heading this way look out for news on The Royal Langkawi International Regatta for 2005 at www.langkawiregatta.com as it promises to be an even bigger event with BMW now signing for a 5 year contract. Our hope up here is to get 20 multihulls to participate breaking this year's record of 13 contenders. If you are up this way or intend coming please send off an email to info(at)langkawiregatta.com attention The Race Committee Chairman or to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and www.far-away.net attn Bob Mott or Mark Pescott at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

See you here we hope.

Bob Mott and Mark Pescott

These articles are copyright their publishers whom we thank for the opportunity to show them here. For more information on yacht and sailing, visit www.far-away.net and www.phuket-sailing.com