Witchcraft clinch victory in RLIR 2024 racing class
LANGKAWI: The Witchcraft team from Hong Kong lived up to expectations by clinching victory in the Racing class at the 2024 Royal Langkawi International Regatta (RLIR), which concluded yesterday.
After 10 races, the team skippered by Nick Burns secured the top spot on the leaderboard with a total of nine penalty points, leaving three Malaysian competitors far behind.
The Next Factor team, helmed by Rolf Heemskerk, secured the second position with 18 penalty points, followed by Uranus led by Hasani Hassan with penalty 27 points, and Zuhal captained by Muhammad Mustakim collecting 36 penalty points.
Witchcraft, participating in RLIR for the second time, showcased their prowess from the beginning of the races that started last Tuesday, consistently winning the first through tenth races.
Nick said the victory holds special meaning for the entire Witchcraft team, who had to work tirelessly to ensure they maintained the first position in each challenging race.
Meanwhile, the Mata Hari team from Malaysia also made sweet history by winning the IRC1 class for the seventh time in the championship, retaining the title they won in the previous RLIR Vincent Chan, helming Mata Hari, secured victory in the class after completing nine races and accumulating 14 penalty points, leaving their closest competitor, Char Chan from Japan, in second position with 15 penalty points.
The Endeavour of Whitby team from Australia secured the third position with 19 penalty points, followed by Phoenix from Thailand (29 penalty points), Red Rum One (No Spin) from Singapore (43 penalty points), Belt & Road Beihai Venture from China (44 penalty points), and PDRM/Team Sham (Nijinsky) from Malaysia in last position with 46 penalty points.