Team Hollywood expected to give Team THA72 strong challenge

LANGKAWI: Defending champions Team THA72 are expected to face a strong challenge from Team Hollywood in this year’s racing class of the Royal Langkawi International Regatta (RLIR).

THA72 are a Thai-based team while Team Hollywood are an Australian team skippered by Ray Roberts, who has won RLIR in the past.

In addition, there will be three Malaysian sailing boats – Zuhal, Uranus and SCS Janda Baik competing in the same racing class, which offers the Prime Minister’s Challenge Trophy.

“I think we will have a thrilling regatta this year, especially in the racing class. We can expect competitive racing during the week,” Regatta director Tayfun Koksal said during a press conference yesterday.

Organised by the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club, the 17th edition of the regatta will see the entry of 35 participants from eight countries.

Malaysia will be represented by 19 sailing boats.

Besides the racing class, there are also competitions for the IRC 1, IRC 2, sportsboat, multihull, club cruising and white sailing classes during the five-day regatta.

Koksal said that they wanted to position Malaysia and Langkawi in particular as a prominent sailing location and to boost sports tourism in the country.

Principal race director Simon James said that they expected some reasonable wind in the mornings, which would die around lunch time before coming back in the late afternoons from a different direction.