Monsoon Cup
Encyclopedia
The Monsoon Cup is a yacht race in Malaysia, held in the state of Terengganu
Terengganu
Terengganu is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, Darul Iman...

. The tagline for the race is: "You wouldn't want to miss it".

Overview

Monsoon Cup was first initiated by the former Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Tun Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi is a Malaysian politician who served as Prime Minister from 2003 to 2009. He was also the President of the United Malays National Organisation , the largest political party in Malaysia, and led the governing Barisan Nasional parliamentary coalition...

 during his fishing trip in Terengganu. The Prime Minister thought the monsoon season should be used as an advantage to the state and his people rather than being seen as a hurdle. The economic objectives include making the Monsoon Cup a catalyst for development in the state and to create economic opportunities in services and manufacturing sectors related to the event. Among them are hotels, tourism, restaurants, boat-making, food supplies, textiles and souvenirs.

The Monsoon Cup also helped turn the event venue, Pulau Duyong at the mouth of Terengganu River, from a sleepy fishing and boat-making village into modern and international-class resort and marina and boat repair facilities.

The Monsoon Cup 2005 celebrated its inauguration and debut as the 50th official event of the Swedish Match Tour, and serves as the Malaysian leg for the prestigious international sailing event. Dubbed 'The Formula One of Sailing', this professional sailing series was formed in 2000 to unite the world's best match-race regattas under one banner.

The World Match Racing Tour
World Match Racing Tour
The World Match Racing Tour is a professional sailing series, featuring 9 World Championship events across the globe, sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation with “Special Event” status...

 is sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF
International Sailing Federation
The International Sailing Federation is recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the world governing body for the sport of sailing....

) comprises ten events in nine specially selected locations around the world. As the leading professional sailing series in the world, the Tour events are recognized as must-attend regattas on the match-race circuit. The Monsoon Cup for the 2009 offered the second highest prize money in the world (RM1 million) for a match racing event.

The match racing sport differs from other sailing disciplines in that the boats race one-on-one in supplied racing yachts. The yachts supplied for the Monsoon Cup are Foundation 36 type racing yachts.

The Monsoon Cup 2009 was held at Pulau Duyong, Terengganu
Terengganu
Terengganu is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, Darul Iman...

, from the 9th November 2009 to 6 December 2009 start with Asian Qualifier and then Malaysian Qualifier.

The Monsoon Cup was the tenth and final event on the World Match Racing Tour
World Match Racing Tour
The World Match Racing Tour is a professional sailing series, featuring 9 World Championship events across the globe, sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation with “Special Event” status...

 2009. Twelve of the best match racing teams met on the waters off Terengganu in Malaysia from 2 to 6 December 2009 to contest the event. The battle for the championship trophy saw the top sailing teams in the world pitting their skills against each other in the last leg of the tour.

This sailing event has ignited interest in 'match racing' and yachting in Asia and also great interest in the prestigious America's Cup. A majority of the participants in the Monsoon Cup are sailors that have or will be competing in the America's Cup
America's Cup
The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America's Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging...

 as well as a three times Olympic gold medalist (Ben Ainslie).

The Monsoon Cup's success has helped to create the Korea Match Cup and spurred Singapore and Qingdao in China to be venues for the Volvo Ocean Race
Volvo Ocean Race
The Volvo Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three years. It is named after its current owner, Volvo...

 and Olympics respectively.

The Monsoon Cup is an annual event on the World Match Racing Tour calender and as the final event of the season sees the conclusion of an adrenaline fueled tournament with the crowning of the tour winner and also the ultimate 'match racing' prize the ISAF World Match Racing Champion.

Monsoon Cup Previous Races

Edition Winning Team
2005 Peter Gilmour
Peter Gilmour
Peter Gilmour is an Australian sailing skipper of great note. He is an America's Cup veteran and was named Western Australian Sportsman of the Year in 1987. He is also the only 4 time World Match racing Tour Champion...

 and Pizza-La Sailing Team
2006 Peter Holmberg
Peter Holmberg
Peter Holmberg is a sailor from the U.S. Virgin Islands, who won a silver medal in Men's Finn Class in the 1988 Summer Olympics, his country's only Olympic medal so far. He was born on Saint Thomas.-External links:*...

 and Alinghi
Alinghi
Alinghi is the syndicate set up by Ernesto Bertarelli, racing under the colors of the Société Nautique de Genève, to challenge for the America's Cup. Bertarelli had raced several smaller yachts named Alinghi previously, but 2003 was his first attempt at the America's Cup...

 Team
2007 Ian Williams
Ian Williams
Ian Williams is an American rock guitarist. He became noted for his finger tapping guitar playing in bands such as Don Caballero, Storm & Stress and currently in Battles.-Biography:...

 and Pindar Team
2008 Peter Gilmour
Peter Gilmour
Peter Gilmour is an Australian sailing skipper of great note. He is an America's Cup veteran and was named Western Australian Sportsman of the Year in 1987. He is also the only 4 time World Match racing Tour Champion...

 and Yanmar Racing Team
2009 Adam Minoprio and BlackMatch Racing
2010 Ben Ainslie
Ben Ainslie
Charles Benedict Ainslie, CBE is an English sailor and three-times Olympic gold medalist. He started sailing at the age of 8 and first competed at the age of 10...

 and TEAMORIGIN

Asian Match Racing Championships Previous Races

Edition Winning Team
2006 Adam Minoprio and BlackMatch Racing
2007 Adam Minoprio and BlackMatch Racing
2008 Keith Swinton and BlackSwan Racing
2009 Phil Robertson
Phil Robertson
Phil Robertson is a studio drummer, having recorded albums for Warner Bros. Records, Polygram, Elektra Records, Atlantic Records, and Electronic Arts, among others.-External links:* *...

 and WAKA Racing
2010 Phil Robertson
Phil Robertson
Phil Robertson is a studio drummer, having recorded albums for Warner Bros. Records, Polygram, Elektra Records, Atlantic Records, and Electronic Arts, among others.-External links:* *...

 and WAKA Racing

Malaysian Match Racing Championships Previous Races

Edition Winning Team
2006 Tiffany Khoo and Team Selangor Gapurna 1
2007 Tiffany Khoo and Team UK Halsey Gapurna
2008 Nurul Ain and Perak Sailing Team
2009 Hazwan Hazim Dermawan and Taring Pelangi
2010 Jeremy Koo and Koo Racing Team-Evernew

The Yachts

Boat: Foundation 36
Designer: Brett Bakewell-White

The concept for the Foundation 36 yacht was developed by the Western Australian Yachting Foundation in conjunction with the boat builder Peter Milner and the designer Brett Bakewell-White. The WAYF specifically wanted a yacht for day sailing and match racing, with a racing crew of 5 or comfortably sail with 12 people for corporate sailing functions.

The yachts are built in glass reinforced polyester with foam core and plywood bulkheads to American Bureau of Shipping and USL codes determined by the Western Australian Department of Planning and Infrastructure specifications.

The lead keel is encased in fiberglass and slotted into a recess in the hull to ensure the alignment is identical across the fleet. This makes the yachts perfect match racing as they are all identical.

Great detail has gone into the stem and sheer design to ensure that the yachts have extremely strong edges to minimize “down time” during events due to collisions. The deck layout has a large self-draining cockpit, with cabin top mounted aluminum self-tailing secondary winches and deck-mounted primary winches.

A centrally mounted padeye for the mainsheet increases the ease of sailing and maintenance. Control lines for the backstay, and mainsheet fine tune are lead under the deck to a central, raised mainsheet control station.

Specifications
LOA — 35.63’ (10.86m)
Beam — 11.42’ (3.48m)
Draft — 6.23’ (1.9m)
Displacement — 8,487 lbs (3,850 kg)

External links

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