Sonnenkoenig

Built of carbon fibre throughout with a bow pole and huge 180-square metre spinnaker, Sonnenkoenig is the first FARR 36 to come off the hard at DK Yachts in Melaka. Flag ship of an entirely new product line for the company, she sails over a 2.6 metre draft with 1,430 kgs. of ballast making it, according to owner, Armin Shmid, a 'giant killer' up wind.

The craft has certainly shown its colours on the first day of racing at the BMW Royal Langkawi International Regatta, placing during early races on Tuesday. Another DK boat, Plis Play, a Farr 520 cruiser racer, astounded Phuket winning a series of seven races in the 2003 King's Club Regatta only two weeks after launching.

Sonnenkoenig is sailing here in Racing class with her designer Hannes Waimer on the helm and an international crew of nine.

Japanese Eleven Aim to Win

Eleven Japanese sailors, members of the Moroiso Yacht Owners Club, are challenging local crews for overall honours during the BMW Royal Langkawi International Regatta. The crew of largely veteran boatmen have travelled to Langkawi for the first time from their home port at the tip of Miura Peninsula south of Tokyo.

Skipper Kazuo Kuramochi, Commodore of the Club, claims his team of well lubricated engineers and teachers are a shoe-in for first place honours. "We gonna win." he yells over mumblings of 'banzai' and 'doko, imasuka? (where am I)' "We got Beer Power!"

The Japanese, which include one observer-wife, Toshiko, have chartered Princess Isabella, an Oddessy 35 from SunSail, and are running in the Racing Division. This is their second southern sailing venture, having placed 6th overall in last year's King's Cup Regatta in Phuket, Thailand.

All members of the crew hail from around the Tokyo-Yokohama area of Japan, but Prof., Michiro Kusanagi is currently visiting professor at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok.