Today, Wednesday, we sailed as a group, 18 of us (the other half of the fleet have stayed in the Tioman area and will cross the South China Sea from there as the crossing is 100nautical miles shorter) to Kuala Terengganu leaving at 10.30am. Many of the boats had officials on board for the sail, Maggie, who is PR for the Monsoon Cup Sailing challenge held in December, accompanied us. We started out with the main and the genoa up but as time went by the gentle breeze square behind us saw many boats dropping sails and breaking out their colourful spinnakers or similar type sails, creating a colourful array of sailboats enroute to Terengganu. It was the best sail we've had so far on this rally enjoying the peace and tranquillity for a couple of hours.
There is a new marina and resort complex, The Ri-yaz Heritage Bay Club Marina where we all berthed, were given VIP attention and fresh fruit plates. Kuala Terengganu is a capital city that sits on the northeast of Malaysia. This city is a heritage town and we are told that "its northern islands are some of the best diving locations in the world". The facilities here are very up market with lovely showers, gym and swimming pool. The Verandah Restaurant and Cindai Ballroom is a magnificent modern palatial building on the water front looking over the bay and across to the city.
At 7.30pm we attended the rally dinner which was held on the lawn of the Cindai Ballroom, the setting looked very formal with white linen table cloths and white linen chair covers with large bows at the back. Numerous buffet tables surrounded us with large stainless serving dishes being kept warm with candles underneath, the flames adding to the ambience of the balmy evening. Mexican sounding group of musicians kept us entertained whilst waiting for the VIP's and officials to arrive. Upon their arrival drums, gongs and xylophone traditional performances were given followed by several traditional dances, all with the most stunning, colourful costumes, finishing off with a couple of short speeches. We were all presented with beautiful batik sarongs and invited to enjoy the magnificent numerous dishes of the buffet, so many to chose from and far too many to try them all. What a welcome!