RLIR technical committee chairman Ahmad Zailani Bashah said besides Malaysia, among the countries the foreign yachts were from were England, Norway, Denmark, Australia, New Zeland, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.

"We are targetting 40 yachts for this year's RLIR," he told Bernama here today.

He said among the new yachts this time around was Hooligon from Australia and that the cast could expect a keen fight from it.

Malaysia, he said, would be represented by several teams including three from the Royal Malaysian Navy.

The regatta will be held from Jan 9-14 2012