The first Raceday of the BMW Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2005 got off to a start at 10:10 hrs Tuesday, with 10 knot winds out of the northeast. The morning courses (#1 and #2) were laid out with a beginning up-wind leg straight into the breeze and then a down-wind run to the finish.

Boats of the Racing class got clean away, with Yo in the lead, tacking tightly up the 1.5 mile leg to the first mark. Next off the line were the Premier Cruisers and following five minutes later the Sports class boats. The Club class boats (cruisers, live aboards and multihulls) all beat off the wind at 108 degrees to mark one.

The first races proved gratifying with the only glitch occurring when Pinocchio tried to drag the pin buoy along with it on the race.

The wind continued, if anything, to freshen as boats rounded the first mark and upped their spinnakers for the down-wind leg. The relatively short course (3 miles) had the Racing class leaders approaching the finish shortly after all cruisers got off. Yo led the Racers all the way and was first across after a near perfect downwind run. Ulumulu went off on a tangent islandward allowing Sonnenkoenig to cross ahead and the cruisers came in one by one by 11:45, with Chakra leading the multi-hulls.

Traffic Jam as Multi's caught sleeping

Winds remained light so Officials launched right into a second longer series sending Racing class yachts off on a four leg, 10-mile course again at 040 degrees at 11:20 followed by Sports boats at 11:25.

Among the growing gallery of spectator boats, a 120 foot Makassar Schooner from Bali stood out.

But it was the Club boats start at 12:15 which provided the fireworks of the day when the Multi-hulls got caught some distance from the start and ended up mixed in with the cruising boats all tacking around the Start Boat to a 120 degree heading. Near misses and calls for water were frantic as 30 boats jockeyed for a lead.

Shortly after, the lead Racers were approaching mark two with, you guessed it, Yo enjoying a 5 minute lead. Ulumulu and Sonnenkoenig were cat fighting for the mark as winds eased. But the Malaysian-made DK yacht got through, with Ulumulu rounding a minute later at 12:30. But then the winds really got iffy at less than 4 knots out of really no-where and Somtam Express fought its way to the downwind mark missing repeatedly. Kites dangled, and jibs and jennies flapped as crews sweltered and nerves tightened in the hot sun and light airs.

Race officials shorted the courses beginning at 12:45 with the Racers cut to three legs and Premier Cruisers and Sports boats to two. Club boats and multi-hulls followed a somewhat triangular course which was cut to two legs.

The lead boats began trickling across as Yo reported being 2 minutes from its shorter finish at 13:15. Chameleon crossed the multi-hull finish at about the same time and then Somtam Express finally drifted across as the first sports boat finisher. La Samudra did well to lead Premier Cruisers and Minx the IRC ones.

A hopeful westerly breeze at about 14:00 picked up spirits through the remaining fleet and helped the rest of the Premier Cruisers and Sports boats to finish but the Club boats still had a hard windless pull until Regolarita II finished at around 14:30.