LANGKAWI: Team Mata Hari ended the first-day race of the 2023 Royal Langkawi International Regatta (RLIR) in brilliant fashion when it finished round one and two today in top spot.
In races one and two of the IRC1, team Mata Hari was in first place after collecting only two penalty points, followed by team Phoenix from Thailand (four points) and team 79th Endeavour of Whitby from Australia with six points.
Meanwhile, Team Prime Factor also from Australia was in fourth place after collecting nine penalty points followed by the Blue Angel from Malaysia (10 points) Uminoko from Thailand (11 points) and team RMP/DSA from Malaysia in last place with 14 points.
Team Mata Hari navigator Vincent Chan said wind speeds of just between three and five knots caused the race to be delayed from 9.30 am to about 12 pm.
“Mata Hari faced stiff competition from Team Phoenix but we prevailed in races one and two to sit on top of the group and how we perform on day two of the race depends completely on the wind condition.
“The crew is working well together but several aspects have to be improved to ensure that we make no mistakes to enable Team Mata Hari to continue to sit on top of the group until the end of the competition,” he told Bernama here today.
Meanwhile, the navigator of Team Uranus from Malaysia, Mohd Zaidey Bahadun who is competing in the Racing class with another team from Thailand, THA72 said that the competition was stiff and challenging even though there were only two teams competing in the class.
“On the first day of the race, Uranus performed well and managed to close the gap even though our boat is smaller compared to THA72. Team spirit is high and we are confident we will be able to compete well as a representative from Malaysia in the Racing class category,” he said.
In the first and second rounds of the Racing class, the THA72 team was top of the table and collected just two penalty points while Uranus was second with four points.
A total of 25 local and international teams are competing in the 2023 RLIR which began today and until Jan 14, involving five categories namely Racing class, IRC1, Multihull, Boat and Cruising.-Bernama
