YACHTING: Some like the rain while others don't

What say you on the issue below?

Abdullah Chan-Koo Racing Team skipper Jeremy Koo (left) feels that the weather might give him a slight advantage.

The Abdullah Chan-Koo Racing Team skipper said the monsoon-like conditions might just give him a slight advantage over some of the competing skippers in the last leg of the World Match Racing Tour which starts in Pulau Duyong today.

"Of course it will make sailing harder for everyone as the undercurrent will be strong, the wind will shift from one direction to another without warning and the rain will limit visibility.

"But being a Malaysian with an all-Malaysian crew, we are only too familiar with this type of weather and I am not sure if other competing sailors can say the same," said the 30-year-old winner of the Monsoon Cup national qualifiers last month.

Waka Racing team skipper Phil Robertson is one of the skippers who does not share Jeremy's excitement about the forecast of heavy rain. Robertson, who is no stranger to the Pulau Duyong basin after winning the Asian Match Racing Championships in 2009 amd 2010, said he would prefer sailing a sunny sky if given a choice.

"But I am here to win the Monsoon Cup and come rain or shine, I will be ready to hit the water with everything I have got.

"It will be a lot tougher to navigate in bad weather but it will not be easy for the others too and I figure, it will give everybody an equal chance of winning," said the the 24-year-old New Zealander, who is currently 10th on the world tour.

However, tour leader Ian Williams of Team GAC Pindar is not too concerned with the weather as his focus is solely on winning his third world title.

The 34-year-old Briton is currently top of the tour leader board with 106 points, six more than Italian Francesco Bruni of Bruni Racing and 6.2 ahead of Australian Torvar Mirsky of Wave Muscat.

"Pulau Duyong is a difficult place to race even in the best of weather conditions but I have been here since the beginning, even won the Cup in 2007 and I should know not to take anything for granted when it comes to the Monsoon Cup.

"I did not have the best of luck here in the past couple of years but this time, I will do my best to make sure that I will leave Pulau Duyong as world champion," he said.

The rest of the competing skippers are Datuk Peter Gilmour of Yanmar Racing, Bjorn Hansen of Mekonomen Sailing, Mathieu Richards of French Sailing Team, Damien Iehl of French Match Racing Team, Jesper Radich of Adrian Lee and Partners, Johnie Berntsson of Berntsson Sailing Team and William Tiller of Full Metal Jacket Racing.