Selma Star sail to victory
by Anthony Joseph
July 31, 2010, Saturday
Favourites win Labuan-Kota Kinabalu race
KOTA KINABALU: Favourites Selma Star added another trophy on Thursday after winning the Labuan-Kota Kinabalu Passage Race in the seventh Borneo International Yachting Challenge (BIYC).A total of 44 yachts from 14 countries left Labuan at 11 am on Wednesday with Selma Star completing the 71 nautical miles race from Labuan to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah in 12 hours and 39 minutes.
Selma Star reach Kota Kinabalu around 11.20pm on Wednesday and with it the victory in the IRC Racing Class.
Sarawak’s Miri Magic I and UluMulu occupy the second and third placing respectively.
Miri Magic II who came in third in the Miri-Labuan Passage Race, slipped to fifth placings in this round.
Miri Magic I completed the race in 13hr 45min while 13hr 51min is the time registered by UluMulu.
United Kingdom’s Remington owned and skippered by Jim Ellis came in first in the Cruising Class A. Aussie Joy and John Marwood took the second place while South African Ken Pollard onboard Fast Forward in third place.
Australian boats dominated the Cruising Class B and Multihull.
Court Jester owned and skippered by Kingsley Barker finished first in the Cruising Class B category followed by Cloudy Bay (John Beale) and Destiny III (Brian Maxlow) in second and third placing respectively.
Out of the Bag was the winner in the Multihull category. Stuart Simpson sailed in Truest Passion came in second and Windy Spirit owned by Rees Duncan in third place.
Australians were the biggest entries this year with a total of 20 boats.
The other participating yachts are from British Virgin Island, Canada, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, Singapore, Sweden, United States of America and Vanuatu.
This is the second year Kota Kinabalu was selected as the finishing venue for the race.
The initiatives and support from the state governments of Sabah and Sarawak and Federal Territory of Labuan in continuing to jointly-organise this yachting event would help in promoting the tourism industry of both states and Labuan.
It is hoped that the exposure garnered from BIYC will place Malaysian Borneo on the world map as a prestigious venue for boating events and a preferred yachting holiday destination.
