At midday, on Saturday November 15th, PRO Simon James launched the 35th sailing of the Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta with the 82 NM race from Port Klang to Fairway Rock near Pangkor Island.
Speed again marked the first passage race of the Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta as many yachts set record times by finishing a couple hours ahead of their predicted finish times.
Skipper Steve McConaghy worked his magic at the start line getting Aftershock (a Davidson 55), off to a good start in a northwesterly ranging from 10-15 knots, eventually following the Rhum Line down to the finish in 10-knot winds. Great performance, as many of the crew did not have experience sailing in this type of regatta.
Ray Roberts’ Hollywood Samurai (a Cookson 50) did win the prestigious six-boat class one by 03:35 on elapsed time over Aftershock with Sarab Jeet Singh’s Windshikher, placing third. Windshikher suffered a bit of bad luck at the start getting a rope wrapped around their prop and a palm fern wrapped around the keel. Nick Burns’ Blitz (a King 40, Mills Design) was fourth, followed by last year’s winner Rolf Heemskerk’s The Next Factor (a Farr 40) with the Malaysian Navy’s Uranus (DK46), skipped by Ahmad Fakrizan bin Deraman coming in sixth.
Class two only has two entries and the sleek Shatoosh (a Warwick 75), skipped by James Caleem, defeat RSYC Commodore Ramasamay Menon Rama Rama VG (a Simons Voogd 59), by six minutes but the only yacht to defeat Shatoosh on elapsed time was Aftershock.
The three-boat class three saw Lee Yi Min’s Jolt (a brand new J99) beat Matt Whittingham’s Insanity (a Beneteau First 45) by 17:35 with a corrected time of 16:54:37. Amir Zohri’s Malarbar (an MC31) placed third in the class.
Class four had six boats competing and James Duke’s Kimikimi (Dufour 455 GL) won on corrected time (18:11:00) though Keith Garry’s Beaux Espirits (an X-412), and Peter Jong’s Kesini (a Beneteau First 40.7), who finished second and third, respectively, on corrected time were quicker to the finish on elapsed time. The Raja Muda of Selangor himself, Tengku Amir Shah, is sailing on Maduzi (an Oyster 53), and they finished fourth in the class followed by Dennis Chan & Joon Ming’s Duan Duan (a First 36) and Steve Manning’s Black Baza (a Beneteau Oceanis 45).
Class five also had six boats competing and Amir Zohri’s Dash (a Yamaha 36) won on both elapsed and corrected time (18:13:31) finishing close to seven minutes ahead of Keith Miller’s Sade (a Harmony 38), representing the Red Cap Sailing School in Langkawi. Yukinori Kirihara’s Lucky Marlin (a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey) was fourth followed by Ken Yap’s Millennium 2 (a Hunter 326) with Red G (a Dehler 38), formerly VG Offshore, and skipped by Azlan, placing last in this class.
After a year’s absence Roger Wilson is back is on board as the fleet’s adjudicator. He brings decades of experience to the regatta and will resolve any disputes, if, or when, they arise. His lovely Jen, also an experienced yachtie, is also back and provides invaluable assistance to the committee.
The regatta’s technical guru Malcolm Elliot, as usual, installed a YB3 tracker on each boat. This utilizes the Iridium satellite network, so the committee will know where each boat is during the passage races and what time they finish.
Police boats and Maritime Authority vessels were out in force to ensure fewer fishing boats and nets needed to be avoided as there are always a nuisance to navigate through.
It did rain heavily in the nighttime – a cold rain – but all competitors were able to reach Pangkor’s Puteri Bayu Beach Resort safely, albeit wet, have a beer (or two), grab a good night’s and ready themselves for the 65NM passage race from Pangkor to Penang on Monday.
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