Strong winds welcomed our sailors on Day 1 of racing at the Royal Langkawi International Regatta. A steady 15 knots of breeze with winds gusting up to 18 knots proved too much to handle for the team’s spinnaker, which gave in during race 1 of the regatta. With a 6th and 2nd place finish in race 1 and race 2 respectively, Team SMU finished off the day in 3rd place overall.
Day 2 of the RLIR2015 was also ridden with equipment failure as the mainsheet block snapped 20 seconds before the first start of the day. Forced to start 5 minutes late, and with a makeshift block, our sailors finished their race in 5th place. Though faced with a setback, they were unfazed and finished race 4 in 1st place. This put our sailors in 3rd place overall after day 2.
With three consecutive 2nd place finishes, our team finished 2nd place overall after Day 3. Fierce competition and tight racing resulted in the first and second boat finishing approximately 10 seconds apart in all the races. A broken vang in race 6 added to the list of even growing equipment failures. Trailing 6 points behind the leaders and with 1 discard this regatta, our team had their work cut out for them.
Day 4 of the regatta brought good winds and exciting racing. Coastal races had to be cancelled as conditions in the open seas reaching 30 knots. Our team raced well and placed 2nd and 1st in the two harbor races that were done. However, as they lost a protest in race 8, this resulted in a 5th placing.
However, our team sailed well and secured a 2nd place finish in the Sportsboats category for this year’s RLIR2015! Congratulations to our sailors after 4 long days of racing!
^ Our team with the Phuket Youth Sailing Team 
^ Our team having dinner with other podium winners, the Royal Queensland Sailing Team and the Royal Selangor Yacht Club.
It has been a great regatta with good winds and tight racing. Thank you Royal Langkawi International Regatta for hosting us and keeping our team safe!
