22nd
Phuket King's Cup Regatta 2008
“Another AY Grand Prix Championship Event”
|
22nd
Phuket King's Cup Regatta 2008
“Another AY Grand Prix Championship Event” |
|
Goto the KC 08 Photo Gallery
Two low pressure systems hovering around in the South China Sea and to the west of Sumatra are presently producing a North Westerly air flow at 15 to 20 Knots across the Peninsula and expected to last until Tuesday when racing starts in earnest. Associated with these weather systems sailors can expect scattered showers and local thunderstorms that can whip up some difficult conditions before they hit. Predictions for the rest of the week are moderating as the northern system dissipates and the southern system moves further out into the Indian Ocean, then picking up again towards the end of the week for the final push to the finish.
Nine of the speedy Firefly 850 Sport catamarans designed by Aussie Mark Pescott and all built in Phuket have entered the 2009 King’s Cup. Voodoo Child, Moto Inzi, Mamba and SEA Property, are the four favorites - all winners in this class before - all talented and highly competitive sailors and most sporting new sail wardrobes. The rest of the fleet are also anxious to climb on the podium, Brent Gribble is welcome back aboard Twin Sharks, they showed early form last year and will be a strong threat this year with brand new sails. The Frog with a top team from the Solent are also here again. The Kimble family of boat builders with Mark Horwood from Latitude Eight are sailing the brand new Blue-Noze and last but not least, there is a very fine team of keen yachtsman from Korea sailing with local entrepreneur and experienced charterer Chris Jongerhuis. The fleet will give these new recruits a warm welcome and it’s a healthy step for sailing in Asia, that they are keen to compete in these very fast evenly matched one design catamarans.
Several IRC classes are divided by the size of boat and the handicap rating to have boats of similar speed racing against each other. This can some times be the cause of disputes amongst skippers but are normally settled by their performance on the water. Two Mum 30's from Singapore Happy Endings and Panic are a hard act to follow and although the two Royal Thai Navy Farr MRX's suffered a setback yesterday by breaking the mast, the one left standing will almost certainly make up for the loss.
The growing number of Corsair trimarans built in Vietnam and the suitability for sailing multihull craft in the tropics has seen the Multihull class rapidly expand over the last few years. Six different Corsair models make up the ten entrants that will be taking on Matt McGrath's Stiletto 27 catamaran Typhoon and Bob Brindley Whitehaven 11.8 Xcatriot that has led the pack on many occasions. Although Radab Kanjanavanit's Farrier - 9A Cedar Swan has several King's Cup trophies in the bag already this closely knit team will be working hard at securing another win for Thailand sailing.
More PKCR 2008 news and results can be found at: http://www.kingscup.com Online AY
Race Reports with photos can be accessed from: AY Race Reports are proudly sponsored by the following advertisers.
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The
racing action delayed for a day
Most
class winners from the recently concluded Raja Muda Regatta have made
their way north and completed preparations to add the prestigious Phuket
King's Cup to there already impressive CV. Frank Pong's defending champion
Reichel-Pugh 75 Jelik is poised to strike again and make it two
in a row. Neil Pryde was so happy with modifications made to his Welbourne
52 Hi-Fi that he allegedly phoned Hugh Welbourne in the UK during
the middle of the night and for the first time did not complain about
the boats speed but instead was over exuberant, so maybe times are a changing.
Paul Winkelmann's TP52
Island Fling is returning after a years break and may prove to
be the nemesis of the other fifty footers after taking out the wind swept
China Coast Regatta in spectacular style in October. Feeling deflated
after the Raja Muda performance Ray Roberts has put his DK 46 Quantum
Racing crew through some extensive training this past week and expects
to be back on the pace by the start of racing. Fred Kinmonth / Nick Burns
Mandrake round out the five racing class competitors and providing
all their crew make it from Australia they expect to be amongst the front
runners again this year.
It's
amazing how so many boats appear just to compete at the King's Cup that
have not been seen at any other Asian events. Ten exquisitely fitted out
yachts are in the Premier Cruising class. Anything from Dr Ian Nicolson's
Dubois 80 Intrigue to David Ross' Swan 53 Macquarie - Frangipani
Girl that just missed out on the top spot by a whisker last year
and expects to make amends this time around. Dr Jon Wardill's Cassidy
55 Australian Maid has competed at 16 King's Cup, the most any
yacht has ever done and after a lot of deliberation has been allowed to
join the premier cruisers.
This
regatta is designed to cater for all types of sailing craft which make
up the bulk of the fleet. Sunsail have chartered six one design Princesses
that make up there own class and with seventeen entries the Bareboat Charter
Class is the biggest class by far encompassing a huge variety of yacht
designs. The Ocean Rover Class caters for the heavier cruisers with full
interiors and the Classic Class is for the grand old ladies of the sea
that have graced the waterways for 25 years or more.
In
the Sportsboat Class three Platu 25's are going up against two devastatingly
fast Phuket 8's and Kipsan Beck's Shaw 650 Pornstar that resoundingly
won at Koh Samui in June. Defending champion Scott Duncanson's Phuket
8 Somtam Express is always hard to beat and his crew have benefited
recently from going up against the likes of Dean Barker (TNZ) at the match
racing series in New Zealand.
As
promised we kick off the "Sailor Chick
of the Regatta" with Tum's team of Thai girls that
were conducting a regatta survey nearby the yacht registration that kindly
offered to sell some AsianYachting gloves while they were there. And sell
they did, within four hours the entire stock disappeared. Judge for yourself
whether it was the low price of the quality gloves or the friendly smiles
and girls good looks that got the sailors reaching for their wallets to
make an impression.
The
organizing committee and principal sponsor, Raimon Land recently held
a signing ceremony to commemorate Raimon Land's commitment to a 5 year
sponsorship deal. Raimon Land CEO Mr. Nigel Cornick said, 'We're pleased
to be continuing our support of the Phuket King's Cup Regatta for another
five years. The positive impact the regatta brings on the sport of sailing
in Thailand as well as the local economy of Phuket is outstanding. We
are proudly presenting our latest property, the prestigious Amalfi this
year in conjunction with the regatta, so our sponsorship is one of the
special ways we can give back to the community that has given so much
to Raimon Land.'
