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Fortunately it did not live up to its reputation although a storm built up and gave the boats a good hosing the strong winds normally associated with the rain did not appear. Most of the 70 nm course was spent either close 2 sail or shy spinnaker reaching in 8 to 15 knots of wind making it quite a quick passage with everyone finishing including the classic class before 5 am in the morning.

Racing

Warwick Downes Sydney 38 Stella took the honours to go to the top of the overall leader board from Dato Dr Razif's 26 year old Farr 1104 Piccolo showing she still has some speed left to be amongst the podium finishers when the conditions suit. Aussie Jon Wardill's bigger and more powerful Australian Maid screeched away to fill 3rd spot and almost got their time back after handicaps have been applied. Frank Pong's Jelik took 4th to record his third Line Honours and split the placings of the smaller yachts relegating Amir Zohri's Gotcha to fifth place and to 2nd place overall to Stella.

Cruising

As the Cruising Class B yachts have chosen to introduce handicap adjustments based on their placings after each race the overall Cruising Class winner will go to the winner of Class A and must be classified separately. Hans Hvide big Swann 68 Irvmiren has won all three races so far to lead Warren Ritchie's second placed 36ft Vela. Mike Downard's crew on Bourgeouis Tag took third and is putting the pressure on Trevor Matthews Simba for 3rd spot overall.

After applying handicap adjustments the Hunter 40 El Sea chartered by some sailing enthusiasts from the Pinang Swimming Club bounced back after some mediocre placings to capture first place from overall leader Infinity who has 2 first places so far. As a result of the adjustments the corrected times have dramatically shortened in with only minutes separating the four remaining class B competitors.

Classic

The Royal Malaysian Navy's entrants Mohd Hamdan on Dondang Sayang and Chin/l In on Musytari have taken 1st and 2nd place respectively for the last two races and must be congratulated for sailing the entire course on all the legs so far. Wulf Henning and Richard Curtis where awarded for their bravery and assistance given to the lightening struck Chantique during the storm swept Leg 2.

With the RMIR passage racing format completed this unique event changes to windward/leeward day races in picturesque Bass Harbour and passage races for the cruisers around some of the beautiful Islands that make up Langkawi. You can expect to see some changes on the leaderboard as some yachts and crew are better suited to this style of racing and the four races planned score the same points as the overnight passage races held so far.