Monsoon Cup

Monsoon Cup was first initiated by the former Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi 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 is sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) 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, 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 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 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 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.