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The 1999 Monsoon Madness
Registration for the event was on Boxing Day as the cross on-shore winds roared of the South China Sea. The race site is on Balok Beach, site of the PBA events of the early 90's and it is a huge sweeping bay backed by holiday resorts. The event resort, Le Village Beach Resort has it's own watersports centre with a limited range of windsurfing equipment for rent. The equipment racks were empty that day as a large swell turned into peeling waves along the magnificent stretch of sand.
The next day brought with it stronger winds of up to 18 knots and we launched into a downwind slalom. Once past the shore break the heavy rolling swell made for testing conditions. Defending champion TC Chua showed his pedigree by taking the first slalom race pushing Robbie Radis back into second and the Singaporean Master Jason Chang put in a superb race to finish third ahead of Bo Ruamsap.
The awards ceremony was a festive affair with traditional dancing, a Malaysian banquet and the guest of honour was Maznah Mazlan, the Minister for Culture, Art and Tourism for the State of Pahang. Equipment prizes were provided by tour presenter Neil Pryde and the event's major sponsor Ballz Action Sports Mart from KL. As competitors headed home after another successful event it struck me that, given the opportunity, it would be madness not to return next year. Ballz Action Sports Mart, KL is the major sponsor for the event with support from Billabong, Pepsi and Adidas. Official Airline for the event is Malaysia Airlines, Official Magazine Action Asia. Adecco AWT sponsors are Sol Beer and Neil Pryde. sponsors | links |registration |enquiries
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When I arrived at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's steamy capital that sits on the west side of the peninsula, the customs official took a long look at my board bag and asked what I was doing in his country. I explained that I was heading to the east coast on a connecting flight. "You mad lah?!" came the rather surprising reposte "don't you know it's monsoon season?" Indeed I did and whilst the monsoon initially brings fierce rain storms, they are followed by powerful winds. And so it was on to Kuantan, in the eastern state of Pahang that I headed for the annual, and apparently aptly named Monsoon Madness windsurfing event. Monsoon Madness is the second event on the burgeoning Adecco Asian Windsurfing Tour.
A total of 42 competitors from 7 countries registered for the three days of racing. There was a strong Thai contingent with SEA (South East Asia) Games Gold Medallist Bo Ramsap and 1997 champion Decha Hammanee expected to do well. There was also defending champion TC Chua there from Singapore. Sukdev Singh was on hand to fly the flag for Malaysia - this talented sailor was one of the first windsurfers to "discover" Kuantan and he has been inspirational in the development of the event. Other Malaysians expected to feature were Kenny Kwan, Leo Leow, Leong Peng Onn and the young Kamarul. But hot favourite and fresh from his victory in the previous Adecco AWT event in Penghu, Taiwan was Robbie Radis from Australia.
As the first race day dawned the strong winds of the previous few days backed off to leave us with a gentle breeze. Gradually through the day though conditions improved and by 3.00pm wind speeds were a consistent 14 knots and racing got under way with a series of Masterblasts. In this format all competitors race together round one downwind mark and back to the finish line near shore. With the mark set over a kilometer off shore this was an ideal way to launch into the Monsoon Madness. Robbie quickly made his presence felt with victory in the first round but TC and Bo were fast on his fin. A total of four Masterblasts were held that afternoon with Robbie taking first place in three of them and Bo taking the other. It was close all the way in all the races with Robbie, Bo, Decha and TC gaining and loosing the lead in each race. In the end though Robbie's experience and ability prevailed.
East Coast Malaysia is renowned for its easy charm and the pace of life is slow. Our own evenings in Kuantan were lively but relaxed and the tour sponsor Sol Beer ensured that the party flowed. Malaysia is rightly famous for its food, Team Thailand provided the music and the atmosphere was one of relaxed fun. 
And then suddenly the wind deserted us. After four master blasts and one round of slalom competitors had to resort to beach volleyball and a fun mountain bike race on locally made Le Run bikes.