Having secured Race 1 and 2 of the regatta on the first day, the Principal Race Officer (PRO) charted the courses for three races for the Racing, IRC-1 and IRC-2 classes, while all other classes raced twice on Day 2.
The weather was great, the wind was steady at 10-15 knots and the sea was lumpy, but while it made for great racing it also caused tremendous strain on yacht gear, as Team MSA of the Sports Boat Class experienced a mast breakage even before the racing began.
"We were just practicing some drills but as we went upwind, the mast broke. It is very disappointing because the crew and I were all geared up for today. I'm happy that we won the first race on Tuesday but because we did not finish the second one, we were looking to catch up," said skipper Nur Elia.
But the races must go on and the Club Cruisers and Ocean Rovers were the first off the line at 9.40am, so they wouldn't interfere with the windward/leeward races.
Sophia led the way in Race 3 but Rascal's lead in Race 4 gave her the first place overall today among the Club Cruisers.
The Ocean Rovers also managed two races with Eveline winning both, followed by My Toy in second place.
Racing Class was the next start and Oi! took them upwind 1.2 miles to the windward mark for the first of three windward/leeward races. Ultimately, Oi! took line honors for all three races and scored the first place for the day. The Royal Malaysian Navy's Utarid came in second.
"It's never easy. We have to stay focused all the time and sail hard even if we're in the lead," said Peter Ahern of Oi! which got up to speeds of 18.5 knots on Day 1 and 14 knots on Day 2 of racing, giving them five out of five wins over the two days of competition.
Ishak Jib, Utarid's skipper, said, "Tuesday was tough but today we seemed to be making better time. Oi! is an extremely fast boat with a highly skilled crew so all our Navy boats have to change our strategy if we're going to catch up."
The IRC-1 boats were next out into the lumpy seas and Island Fling was first over the line in the first of three. Foxy Lady VI took the yachts out in Race 4, but Island Fling, Jing Jing and Fujin were declared over the line in Race 5 and had to return to cross the start line again allowing the fleet several minutes head start. Foxy Lady VI accepted first place honors for the day.
The three races for IRC-2 saw Mata Hari and Old Mutual International battling it out in all three races but Mata Hari triumphed each time and was the clear winner on Race Day 2.
RSYC Setia West took the lead among the Sports Boats in Race 3 but fell to second spot in Race 4 when SMU stepped up their game.
"We only managed a fifth place in the first race today because the mainsheet came off just before the start. So we had to make up for that in the second race by winning. We were also hoping for a third race today because the conditions were good and our team had already got into the groove of things but we'll just have to catch up tomorrow," said Justin Siau of SMU.
Setia West's more consistent performance however gave them the day's top prize. Andaman Cabriolet Nina managed to secure first place in Race 3 but the Race Committee declared Race 4 as an abandoned race.
The Round the Island Race is scheduled for Race Day 3 on 15 January.
The Club Cruisers and Ocean Rovers have been given an early start time of 7.45am while other yachts are scheduled to start at 9.30am. Sports Boats will not take part in the Round the Island Race.
-www.langkawiregatta.com
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