Tag: hot seat
Who’s the HOTTEST?
by Natalya on Dec.28, 2009, under Contest, General
After a thorough reading by our team, we have decided that Norzuhaira to be the winner of the “Are you HOT enough to get WET” blog contest!
Norzuhaira explained to us her love for sailing and it seems that she has a thing or two about sailing now that she got her experience on the ‘HOT SEAT’ with us.
We are glad that all our winners enjoyed their sailing experience and each has their own story to tell from their weight problem (to fit in with the team’) ,the weather at Terengganu, to their fear of falling into the water.
However, we also open the door to our winners to get to know the race team from Adam Minoprio to the well-known Skipper, Dato’ Peter Gilmour. Of course, we are glad that the winners and fans got to know about FIREFLY more and more each day.
We hope to have more activities next year!
Till then, congratulations to Norzuhaira! We hope that you will remember your experience with us always!
Read about her experience here at http://blog.fireflyz.com.my/2009/12/my-monsoon-cup-experience/ now!
Happy Christmas and Happy New Year! Have a good day y’all!
My Monsoon Cup experience
by Natalya on Dec.15, 2009, under Contest, General, Someone said...
Have you been on a sailboat before? For me, it is an experience that resulted in a love for sailing and a dream to cross seas and oceans on a yacht of my own.
I was given the opportunity to renew my love affair with sailing recently, when I won a competition organised by Firefly, one of the sponsors of the Monsoon Cup 2009. It gave me the chance to be on one of the 12 boats competing in the final World Match Racing Tour event of the year, albeit as a spectator. I am not familiar with match racing but it is still a sailing regatta and I relished the chance to see world-class sailors in action.
If it’s gonna be a rainy day / There’s nothing we can do to make it change / We can pray for sunny weather / But that won’t stop the rain
James Morrison’s Please Don’t Stop The Rain
It is the monsoon season in the East Coast and I arrived in Kuala Terengganu that was cold, windy and wet. It felt good to be back in KT, now a favourite holiday destination of mine. If I had enough money, I’d seriously consider buying a beach-fronting property somewhere near Pulau Duyong or further up in Setiu, but that is another story.
I managed to sneak into the press conference of the first day and was introduced to Datuk Peter Gilmour, who is a key person in the organisation of the Monsoon Cup as well as the skipper of the Yanmar Racing Team.
My ‘hotseat’ moment came on the second day, when I got on board Team Origin’s boat, led by Ben Ainslie, a British triple Olympic gold medallist. The five-men crew raced against Torvar Mirsky and his Mirsky Racing Team.
I had wind in my hair and felt again the rush of adrenaline as we sailed upwind, the main sail tight in the middle. Team Origin worked really well together that the skipper only shouted once and it was directed at a media boat that was in the way. They won against Mirsky, of course. Ainslie and Team Origin went on to win the rest of their races in the qualifying round and was the top team in the quarter-final. They however lost to Adam Minoprio and ETNZ / Black Match Racing Team in the finals but managed to sneak into third place in the overall WMRT ranking for 2009 behind Minoprio and Mirsky respectively.
The third day of races saw me lining up to get on to another boat and this time it was on Sebastien Col’s of French Match Racing Team / ALL4ONE.
They were racing against Phil Robertson, a Kiwi youngster skippering Team New Zealand WAKA Racing. I must say I felt like a lucky charm because Col won against Robertson. As we sailed back to the marina, I managed to talk with Col for a bit. He told me he had practically lived on a boat until he was 9. Memang betullah dia orang laut. I told him about my sailing idol – Dame Ellen MacArthur – and he said he knows her. I wish I was brave enough to ask for if he could help me get in touch with her. I wasn’t that brave.
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Being at a sailing event brought back memories of my secondary school days. It also made me realised that while I can go on about wanting to be a crew on a boat sailing competitively, I should have sought out the opportunities available much earlier and that maybe I am more suited to cruise sailing on my own or with a few friends and not racing against another boat for a prize. I don’t think I am able to dedicate my whole life to the sport, like Ben Ainslie or Sebastien Col do. They’re both a year younger than me but they’ve been sailing competitively all this time.
I think I’ll stick with writing. Unless someone buys me a boat, I might do another, different kind of RTW with it. Hmmm….
Dream come true
by Natalya on Dec.15, 2009, under Contest, General, Someone said...
For me, as a kid, I used to dream a lot. One of it is to own my very own yacht when I grow up someday. However, as a matter of fact, the price for a yacht and the money required to maintain it obviously beyond reach for most of us Malaysians. So, when I saw the competition organized by Firefly Airlines giving a free ride on yacht during the Monsoon Cup race, I said to myself, “It’s now or never. Whatever happens, I’m going for it.”
And so, I crapped a slogan for them and viola, I got the ride of my life!
Honestly, I’m a Terengganu local. In fact, I lived in Kuala Terengganu! So, I didn’t take the free return flight ticket to Kuala Terengganu.
The Monsoon Cup held in Pulau Duyong, Kuala Terengganu is the final race of the World Match Racing Tour, a pinnacle of the yachting competition which is equivalent to Formula 1 in car racing competition. It is held in Ri-Yaz Heritage Marina Resort & Spa. As it is the final race of the season, it will determine the champion for the 2009 season and thus the pressure is on for all the teams who are still challenging for the title, namely, Adam Minoprio, Tovar Mirsky, Ian Williams and Mathieu Richard.
My hot seat session was scheduled to be on the 4th December 2009. I witnessed the race between Damien Iehl’s French Racing Team and Torvar Mirsky’s Mirsky Racing Team. I was seated at the back of Iehl’s yacht while another Chinese lady from Sabah was placed in Mirsky’s yacht with the following instructions:
“When the team moved to the left of the yacht, you move to the left as well and vice versa.”
“If you don’t understand what they said, just stand in the middle!”
And of course, there’s one basic rule that you don’t need anyone telling you,
“Hold tight and don’t fell into the river!”
When everything was set, we got into the umpire’s speedboat and were sent to our assigned yacht. I was greeted by Iehl and his team members. The start of the race is different from any other race, car race, dragon boat race or cycling race. In the Monsoon Cup, the yacht might be separated from one another and depending on the wind condition and the team that successfully attack the other team, they will be given the priority to start first. So, it’s important to successfully attack and defend the attack from the other team during the start of the race. During the start, my team, Iehl Racing Team successfully attack Mirsky Racing Team. Through coordinated teamwork, communication and the ability to respond to the changing wind condition, they were able to force Mirsky to allow them to start the race first.
On the river, the wind condition changed very fast, it could be blowing to the left now and 5-10 seconds later, the wind might be blowing to the right. As such, every time the wind changed, the team will have to adjust the sails and thus, you’ll see the yacht bending to the left or right. For example, if the yacht bends to the right, the whole team will be sitting on the left, using the body weight as a way to balance the yacht again.
Each time the team changed the sail, they will have to release the ropes that tie the sail and the metal holding the sail will be swinging from left to right or right to left and everyone will have to watch out their head to avoid being hit by the metal! At the other end of the course, the team will have to turn their yacht 360 degree and it’s here when the team will have to change their sail, lowering one and releasing a new sail to allow the yacht to sail using the wind. They’ll have to work fast, efficient and quicker than their rival to maintain their advantage over their rival.
The race requires each team to sail up and down the river 3 or 4 times, depending on the race official’s decision which again depends on the wind condition. My team, Iehl’s Racing Team successfully maintain their lead from the start to the end, and thus winning their race against Mirsky Racing Team. Both however, gathered enough points to proceed to the next round of the race.
The final of the Monsoon Cup 2009 pits Adam Minoprio from Black Match Racing against Ben Ainslie from team Origin. However, the winner of the championship is known before the race since Adam Minoprio qualified for the final and all his rivals failed to do so. He won the Monsoon Cup race as well, giving him double cheer to the season ending championship.
As for me, the experience is something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. Below are some of the pictures taken during the Monsoon Cup. No picture was snapped on board because there’s one person who dropped his or her camera into the river before.
Interviews by one of the participants
Mini Concert
Monsoon Cup’s Yacht
The participants during practice match