PORT KLANG: The Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta (RMSIR) this year is expected to attract 35 to 40 yachts and 350 yachtsmen from Malaysia and other countries, including Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand.
Among the competitors will be Neil Pryde, an ex-Olympian and Raja Muda Cup winner in 2001 and 2004, on his “Hi-Fi” and last year's Premier Cruising Class winner “Shahtoosh”, a racing yacht with Peter Cremers at the helm.
The regatta, using the seven-race format, will begin in Port Klang on Saturday with three overnight passage races and stopovers in Pangkor and Penang. It will end in Langkawi on Nov 26.
The RMSIR chairman, Datuk Richard Curtis, said that the regatta would test the yachtsmen’s tactical and navigational skills amid the squalls of the Strait of Malacca and its oft-changing weather and tidal challenges.
“You may be worrying about piracy – please believe us, it never happens on this side of the strait to yachts,” he told a news conference here.
Curtis said that usually 25% of the participants would be from Malaysia.
He also said that the Selangor Government would be the main sponsor of the event for the next five years, but declined to reveal the amount of the sponsorship. – Bernama
