Monsoon Cup ready to go

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] The best match racing teams in the world are in town as the world awaits the start of the final event in the World Match Racing Tour the Monsoon Cup. With just a few hours to go the shores of Terengganu have been greeted with sunshine which is a welcome break from the past ten days of heavy rainfall.

Whilst competitors were on the water for practice racing early today the final preparations were underway for the opening ceremony which will be attended by the King of Malaysia. The atmosphere amongst spectators and competitors is electric in the Pulau Duyong as everyone awaits the countdown for the first start signal. Flight one will see the following teams in action:

M1 Peter Gilmour v Nurul Ain
M2 Keith Swinton v Mathieu Richard
M3 Paolo Cian v Magnus Holmberg
M4 Sebastien Col v Ben Ainslie

Local aspirant Nurul Ain Md Isa, making her debut in the Monsoon Cup, will face a tough first hurdle as she is drawn to race against her mentor and four-time World Champion Dato’ Peter Gilmour.

When asked who he’ll be supporting today Malaysia’s favourite adopted son Dato Peter Gilmour or local heroine Nurul Ain Md Isa, Ahmad Alwi bin Zakaria a local supporter replied “it’s tough to decide, Dato Peter Gilmour has bought this exciting racing to us here in Malaysia and if it were not for him Nurul Ain would not have this opportunity to compete at such a level so I’ll have to say I’ll happily be supporting both.”

Two flights are scheduled today but with an earlier start than originally anticipated it may be possible to get the third flight completed. The wind has settled at 8 knots from the North East and PRO David Tallis has all the marks in the water and is ready to go.