King's Cup Racing Class: photo by Capt. Marty – www.asianyachting.com

Phuket, home to four very different yacht races, last month said goodbye for another year to the oldest and biggest of them, the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, now going into its 25th year. The King’s Cup, inaugurated in 1987 to celebrate the 60th birthday of His Majesty the King of Thailand, saw 105 yachts compete across 10 classes between 4th and 11th December. There were 10 ‘King’s Cups’ up for grabs – one for each class – and competition was intense.

The people and the boats that finished the week with top honours, presented by His Majesty the King’s personal representative at an intensely formal Royal Awards Ceremony, were: Ray Roberts' Evolution Racing (Racing), Matt Allen's Zhik Ichi Ban (IRC 1), Peter Dyer's Team Sea Bees (IRC 2), Peter Sorensen's Baby Tonga (Premier Cruising), David Liddell's Miss Saigon (Multihull), Hans Rahmann's Voodoo (Firefly 850), Ilya Ermakov's Sarawadee (Bareboat Charter), Paul Brunning's Dondang Sayang (Classic), Richard Macfarlane's Aida (Cruising) and Jean Rheault's Souay 1 (Modern Classic).

The participants, who came from 16 countries, comprised sailors of all levels, from yacht club weekend racers to America's Cup, Olympic and World Champion yachtsmen. At the top of the most competitive classes, though, there were few ‘weekend sailors’…
In the Racing Class, ultimate racing machines, the final results saw just one point difference between Evolution Racing and HiFi. By winning this year, Ray Roberts joins an exclusive group of just three Racing Class sailors who have won four King's Cups in their sailing careers.

Phuket's regattas are famed for their parties

While the IRC 1 class was won easily by Matt Allen's Beneteau First 44.7 Zhik Ichi Ban, in IRC2 Team Sea Bees and Royal Thai Navy 1 came down to the wire with just one point separating them.

The Multihull Class, with some of the fastest and most hi-tech boats in the fleet – yet strangely looked down on by the ‘monohull brigade’ – saw the lead change halfway through with Andy Pape’s fast cruiser, the Andaman Cabriolet Da Vinci, leading for the first half only to be beaten in the end by both Miss Saigon and Henry Kaye’s Thor. That only two points separated Miss Saigon (1st) and Da Vinci (3rd), the latter racing with standard Dacron cruising sails while most of the fleet carries ‘best-money-can-buy’ racing sails, is a worry for the majority of multihulls in this year’s upcoming regattas… Da Vinci, said owner David Roberts, is about to get serious with her sail wardrobe; the order's been placed.

After four days of light-to-moderate (if you were lucky) breezes, the regatta ended abruptly, with all racing cancelled, on the Saturday morning. In the early hours a strong, unseasonal, westerly wind and an accompanying two-metre swell in Kata Bay, that generated an increasingly savage surf break, wreaked havoc with the fleet that found itself unexpectedly on a lee shore in the worst possible conditions. 12 yachts were swept ashore, suffering varying degrees of damage, and providing a spectacle for Kata Beach’s tourist population that they’re unlikely to ever witness again.

King’s Cup over, if somewhat dramatically, for a year, Thailand’s yachting community – and those overseas sailors who have “been there, done that”, with the King’s Cup and are ready for something a little different – look forward to a further three regattas, all off Phuket Island’s east coast.

Top left, clockwise: Evolution Racing, Da Vinci, Team Sea Bees, IPPAI (Tuay Lek), Team Sea Bees [again], Royal Thai Navy, Surf Patrol, Moonblue, Andaman Cabriolet Niña

The first is The Bay Regatta (formerly called the Phang Nga Bay Regatta). Coming into its 14th year, this one leaves the rest for dead if you’re into racing around magical scenery. Running from 9th - 13th February, this regatta attracts up to 50 yachts each year racing around the islands of Phang Nga Bay, with a casual beach party in a different location each night. A change of organising authority sees the Ao Chalong Yacht Club holding the reigns in 2011, so participants can expect courses that avoid the windless far northern reaches of the bay and offer a little more breeze than in previous years. For information visit www.acyc-phuket.com/bayregatta.htm.

Then it’s a break until July, with the yacht club’s first Club Racing series filling the gap. From 15th - 17th July, the multihulls gather in Chalong Bay for the region’s only Multihull Regatta. Last year attracting about 20 yachts, this is one of the fastest-growing events on the Southeast Asian calendar. Rapidly becoming the most popular type of yacht in the Andaman Sea – ideal for comfortably cruising the islands and beaches yet fast and competitive enough for exciting racing – the multihull fraternity is determined to make its mark on the regatta scene. Interestingly, at least one monohull owner with an expensive racing yacht has also acquired a small, fast catamaran (Voodoo), on which he raced and won the King’s Cup. He says he just can't get over the speed and the thrill! For information about the Multihull Regatta visit www.acyc-phuket.com.

With just a few days break after the multihull event, it’s Six Senses Phuket Raceweek, now in its eighth year. A five-day, five-star extravaganza of beachside parties and exhilarating mixed fleet racing off Phuket’s southeast coast, ‘Raceweek’ has become the favourite of many sailors and sponsors. Reliable southwest monsoon winds, top-notch race management, a superb venue in the Evason Phuket and a proper commercially managed approach to sponsors have all combined to lift ‘Raceweek’ head and shoulders above other events in many respects.

The 2011 regatta runs from 20th - 24th July. As that’s low season in Phuket, there are great deals to be had on hotel accommodation and charter yachts. A magnificent time for southern hemisphere dwellers to escape their winter... and there’s no better way for Europeans (and Asian expats) to take their summer vacation – combining four days of racing and five nights of parties with a few days, before or after, cruising the area in a charter yacht. For information visit www.phuketraceweek.com.

Phuket has grown up. Four international regattas on a small, yet sophisticated, tropical island surrounded by the best cruising area in the world. Seems much too good to be true.