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BMW
Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2004
Race
Report 2 - 5th March
Where
is the Wind?
Despite
the lack of wind and its forever changing circumstances the racing
has been close and challenging for all the crews. The race committee
have been quick to shorten courses and respond to these variable
and light conditions. The most exciting classes seem to be the Sportsboats
and multihulls who have the most entries and grouped together in
similar boatspeed bands.
The
Malaysian Navy teams responded to the slightly increased breezes
and out gunned the favoured Phuket 8's that have dominated the Sportsboat
Class so far to bring them into contention with one days racing
to go. An elated Fauzi Mustafa told us at the press briefing that
his crew put their win down to good sailing rather than good luck
as the earlier races where a bit of a lottery in the changing winds,
and if the wind holds tommorrow they hope to repeat this performance.
Four
classes have been dominated by the top boats respectively taking
3 successive victories. Peter Ahern's Yo! in the Premier
Racing Class 1A has done enough to keep Stuart Harrison's Mumm 30
Panic in second place and Amir Zohri's Gotcha Lagi's
3 wins puts them in a unbeatable position in the Premier Cruising
Class 1B in front of David Lindahl's Yacht Solutions La Samudra.
Similarly in the Multihull Classes Mark Pescott's Summersalt
has scored 3 handicap wins over their Phuket rival Brian Ritchie
on Fine Pitch who has taken 3 line honours but not managed
to convert them into handicap wins. Brent McInnes's No Fixed
Address, despite racing with a damaged starboard hull from
a accident during the Phang Nga Bay regatta over the Chiese New
Year, has also managed 3 wins in the Cruising Multihull class.
In
the Club Cruising Class 5A Mark Hardess's Dai Mouse IV
has scored 2 wins and a second to have a comfortable 5 point advantage
over Michele Pippen's Simpatico with one race to go. In
the Cruising Live Aboard Class 5B a close battle between Harald
Stummeier's Regolarita II and William Crump's Fistral
will be determined after the final race. Similarly in the Classic
Class the battle of the heavy weights between Joao Sombra's Guardian
and Blanc Andre's Al Na'ir also comes down to the last
day.
By
Event Media, edited by phuket-marine-guide.com.
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