AsianYachting Team News
Malaysian Match Racing Championship 2009

October 09 - One chance in a million...

A full quota of 12 teams have entered the Malaysian Match Racing Championship 2009 (locally known as the Malaysian Qualifiers for the Monsoon Cup) to be contested at Pulau Duyong, Kuala Terengganu from Nov 23 to 26. The winning team will have the honour of representing Malaysia in the 5th edition of the Monsoon Cup and take pleasure in competing against some world-class sailors and top racing teams, on the final leg of the prestigious World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) to be held in Terengganu from 1-6 Dec, 2009.

After attending the Monsoon Sailing School in August, the two Malaysian Armed Forces teams MAF 1 skippered by Mohamad Razali Mansor and MAF 2 by Mohd Masyuri Rahmat's team of youngsters, expressed confidence in both teams’ abilities to put on a good show. The crew come from all three divisions of the armed forces and over the last few years have raced together and received valuable pointers from Dato’ Peter Gilmour, that has lifted their skills to the next level and are ready to take on all comers.

Duyong Heritage Sailing Team led by Mohd Rais Hashim and his team mates, Hasnuddin Hashim, Salim Yunus, Amran Abd Rahman, Mohd Najmi Saidi are the same team that won the Heritage Bay Cup in June this year and expect to carry forward their winning ways into the Malaysian Qualifiers. Basically made up of childhood friends, the team is making their debut this year and coming from Pulau Duyong village, will be the crowd favourite as local residents are expected to turn up in droves to support their team and want to see them book a place in the Monsoon Cup.

The second team from Terengganu is skippered by Mohd Khairul Shahril on Club Marina Terengganu. Last year he was part of the Sail Putrajaya crew but being patriotic to his home state Terengganu, he is returning this year as the skipper. The 34-year old graduate of sports science is probably better known for his sailing abilities and brings with him a wealth of experience having extensively raced the F36 as well as helming the DK46 Janda Baik into 3rd overall in the racing class at the 2008 Raja Muda Regatta.

However it wasn't easy for the newly formed Team Taring Pelangi at the beginning of the year. Hailing from the northern Malaysian states, they are fortunate to be coached by last years MMRC winning skipper Nurul Ain Md Isa. Although she will not be defending the title and the team is entering the race for the first time, several team members have tasted gold here before as part of Nurul's triumphant Perak Sailing Team. Skipper Hazwan Hazim Dermawan was in the same winning team and is hoping a mixture of experienced and new crew members will score a top three placing at least. He has been sailing for over 10 years representing Malaysia in several international regattas including the ISAF Volvo Youth 2006 - International 420 and World Optimist Texas, World Optimist Grand Canaria. The young team hope to gain valuable experience at the MMRC and continue representing Malaysia at other sailing events on an international level.

Heading up the top Sail Putrajaya team is 18-year old KBU student Nurul Elia Anuar, who won the “Most Promising Sailor” Award from over 30 participants, after winning all their match races on the lake during the Monsoon Sailing School. This is a new team looking to make an impressive start that come from a variety of sailing backgrounds. Nurul has mainly sailed single handed Olympic classes both in Malaysia and overseas, including her prize scalp of winning medals in the laser radial class at the Asian Games in Doha and the Sea Games in Thailand. The team have been strategising and training closely plus look positively at the MMRC as the first step towards racing on a professional circuit.

A second team from Putrajaya have called themselves Putrajaya Five O, are on a steep learning curve but excited to be along for the ride. They are a last minute entrant which only came together in mid-October and are yet to confirm the full crew. Skipper Amir Isa, has extensive sailing experience on laser dinghy's and was amongst the participants of the Monsoon Sailing School. Amir said the team are aware of each crew members competency and skill but they have only had limited sailing sessions to familiarise with each other’s ability. Heading into the MMRC, the team wants to prove to other competitors and the public at large, that although they are a last minute entry, their commitment and determination will take them a long way into the competition. One to watch and see if they can cause an upset this year.

At the Monsoon Sailing School Dato' Peter Gilmour pointed out that a sailing team is a pool of sailors with various skills and expertise, that can be drawn on to suit the design of boat to be raced. He also stressed how important is the availability of each crew member to take time off work and come together to race on a calendar of events.

Team Harimau Selatan which translated into English means Team “Southern Tigers” is led by Abdul Rahim Mohd Zan. The team formerly known as the Johor Sailing Association returns this year with a growl and hoping to bite a big chunk off their competitors this year in the Malaysian Match Racing Championship and rightfully book a place in the Monsoon Cup. This team are no strangers to the MMRC as they have been participating in the Monsoon Cup qualifiers since 2007. Mainly consisting of sailing enthusiasts from the southern state of Malaysia, they are coached by David Mills, who has fine-tuned their team working skills onboard the Foundation 36 keelboats, so much, that they are more than ever determined to improve their ranking this year.

There is also a few privateer teams that don't represent any yacht club or state association and prepared to go it alone in the commercial world of match racing. An informal survey in the USA this past summer shows that match racing is exploding around the world. Back in 2006, the Monsoon Cup was the first event to introduce a series of qualifiers to encourage the participation of young, upcoming local sailors in the professional match race scene. Having a full compliment of teams in this years MMRC and over 30 international teams applying for a chance in the Asian Match Racing Championship (AMRC) is a massive increase this year. The format for the Asian Qualifiers has been changed to include 16 teams instead of the usual 8 teams. Last year’s winner, Keith Swinton (AUS), is returning with his BlackSwan Racing team to defend his title and a chance to get amongst the RM1m prize money at the Monsoon Cup. But that is another story...

Jeremy Khoo Wui Ken returns to Malaysia and is joined by his former Asian Sailing Championship 420 Gold Medal winning crew Looi Sing Yew and some friends that successfully race during the RSYC sailing season on Vincent Chan's Titan 36 Matahari (offshore version of the Foundation 36) have reunited to form the Koo Racing Team – AC Law. Jeremy and some of his crew are very familiar with the tricky waters off Palau Duyong as they crewed for Tiffany Koo (Jeremy's sister) when her Team Selangor Gapurna won the inaugural qualifiers in 2006 and became not only the first Malaysian woman to compete in a Grade WC regatta but the first women to ever to win her debut match-up with Singaporean Wearn Haw Tan's Team China on her birthday, no less. How lucky is that? They also repeated the performance in 2007 when Tiffany's UK Halsey Gapurna team won the Malaysian Qualifiers. Jeremy also became the 2003 World Byte Champion and through his work in Hong Kong has had the invaluable experience of competing in the 32nd America’s Cup in Valencia with Team China. Full of confidence, this two- time winning team are definitely one to keep an eye on and in plain old sailing terms 'It is tough to beat experience' so they are tipped to make it three times lucky.

On paper Rolf Heemskerk's ViewPoint team with Denis Rawlins, Lee Mun Wai (2006 Team Selangor Gapurna 2 crew member) and Dave Yurioff, have definitely racked up the most sea miles and between them posses a wealth of yacht racing experience on all sorts of sailing craft. Amongst the team of sailing friends silverware, is the 2008 Thai National Platu 25 Champions and they have won many accolades at Asian regattas especially in the One-Design sports boat class. Rolf also crewed for Tiffany Khoo's team, helping her win the inaugural MMRC and go onto Malaysia's prestigious blue-ribbon Monsoon Cup in 2006. Originally hailing from Holland, Rolf notched up over 35 years of sailing experience before finally settling down as a Malaysian resident 1997. He somehow manages to juggle his time between a lovely wife, twin daughters plus another one on the way and running a successful computer programming business in KL, along with fielding a racing team at major Asian regattas. They are still short one crew member and as the mainly European size crew are probably a little on the heavy side, they are looking for a small Malaysian (60 - 70 Kg's) that can put the spinn up and down, plus strong enough to winch the sails in and at the same time operate the keyboard with the toes. If you think you fit the bill please contact Rolf by Emailing: rolf.heemskerk@gmail.com or by Handphone: +60123098365

Last but not least, the AsianYachting Team skippered by twenty four year old Nazreen Ghani (Ayin) has evolved over the last few months and been training together with the Royal Selangor Yacht Club Team on their Platu 25 keelboats in Port Klang. The 27-year old, Rizal Mahadi Sazali commonly known as 'Tom' is skippering the RSYC entry which is mainly made up of Port Klang dinghy sailors that he has coached over the years, who had the honour of representing Malaysia at the 2007 SEA Games in Bangkok. The two skippers and AY Team manager Hasslan Ismail came through the Monsoon Sailing School with distinction and have gone onto instructing and practicing the match racing procedures they learnt at Putrajaya with a small group of Malaysian sailors every Saturday at the club for the past three months. Many thanks must go to Hanifa Abdullah (Ayin's mum) for pursuing the match racing cause and Jeremy Camps (RSYC Hon Secretary) for running it through with the committee and making it all happen.

The AY Team members (See photo L to R) are Muhamad Arif - reserve, Nicky Teh - Mast, Nazreen Ghani - helm (skipper), Hasslan Ismail (Lan) - AY Team Manager, Ng Ai Li - Trimmer, Fariz Sawal - Bow, Khoo Geng Ying - Main is a mixed team, where the women outnumber the men. Putting a keelboat racing team together in Malaysia is no easy task and surprisingly three girls have come to the fore on this one. They hope to do well at the MMRC and continue match racing at future competitions. As the collective weight of the team does not even reach half the allowable crew weight (when their wringing wet) fellow AY Director Ariffin Abdul Aziz commonly known as Fin is also on standby if the wind is up and a buffalo is needed.

None of the Malaysian teams have a chance of unsettling the professional International team rankings on the ISAF - World Match Racing Tour but one maybe just be able to affect the outcome of the season-ending Monsoon Cup (Dec 2-6th) What ever happens, the sailing experience garnered here will sharpen their match racing skills for a future mini league being planned through some of the Malaysian states next year.

The hunt for team sponsors is in full swing. Good News! Two of our long standing advertisers Quantum Sails and the Royal Selangor Yacht Club have come onboard and generously contributed to the cause with either cash or kind or a combination of both. Two more sponsor/advertisers spots are reserved at the bottom of the AY Team News and future Malaysian Qualifiers - AY Race Reports for you to display the companies logo which is linked to your web site and shared with over 2800 recipients and media partners all over the globe. This unique offer will also entitle a company representative to come to Terengganu and meet the team, event organisers and cheer the team along during the racing.

Check out some AY Photos of the 2009 AY and RSYC Teams training on Facebook

July 2010 - Reviving Learn to SAIL with Asian Yachtmasters Courses at the AY Center in PD
November 09 - Asian Qualifiers key to World Match Racing Tour door
Sept 09 - AY Team News launched
August 09 - Monsoon Sailing School a resounding success
Sponsorship Request by the AY Match Racing Team

Go to archived Malaysian Match Racing Championship Race Reports: 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009

Go to archived Asian Match Racing Championship Race Reports 2007 - 2008 - 2009

Go to archived AY Monsoon Cup Race Reports: 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009

Go direcly to ISAF - World Match Racing Tour and season-ending Monsoon Cup websites.

This October 09 - AY Team News is proudly sponsored by:

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