King’s Cup: Hi Fidelity moves ahead

PHUKET: In the first of two races today in the Racing Class of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, veteran sailor and 2001 winner Neil Pryde steered Hi Fidelity to provisional honors, followed by Spanish boat Pris Play with Fred Kinmonth’s Stella-Minter-Ellison finishing third. The highly rated Thai boat Pasaya, which is being chartered by a team from Switzerland this year led by Andrew Bienz, had a disappointing day and finished well back. In the second race, Ray Ordoveza’s Clariden-Karakoa grabbed provisional honors, followed by Hi Fidelity while a much improved Hollywood Boulevard finished third. Peter Ahern’s Yo!, which won the first race in the regatta, could manage only a sixth and a fifth place today. Ray Roberts’ Hollywood Boulevard made one of the more unusual moves before racing started this morning. As one of the media boats was making its way past the sleek Racing Class boat, crew members signaled for it to move in closer. Three crew were then transferred from the racing boat to the media boat. The reason given was to make Hollywood Boulevard lighter. With the three crew offloaded, it was hoped the boat would be a bit quicker, but it was not to be, at least in the first race. Hollywood Boulevard came a disappointing seventh. In the second race, however, the weight loss paid dividends and Hollywood Boulevard managed a better finish, in third place. It is now unclear if the three crewmen will be asked to lose kilos before the next race or be relegated to the media boat for the rest of the regatta. In the first race in the Sports Boat Class Scallywag took provisional honors for Jeremy Muller with Panic!, skippered by Stuart Harrison, coming in second and David Hamilton aboard Luk Loma third. The two new Phuket 8 boats – Securicor Somtam Express and Image Asia Attitude – which look great on the water, had a disappointing day and finished at the back of the pack. The second race was a repeat of the first with Scallywag beating Panic! and Luk Loma third. John Wardill’s Australian Maid took provisional honors in the first race of the Cruising Class today, closely followed by Marcel Liedts’ Hocus Pocus 2 and X-tream, sailed by Suwan Poopoksakul. Regular King’s Cup campaigner Big Buzzard, with George Olivet at the helm, won the second race in the Cruising Class today, with X-tream second and Australian Maid third. Rob Williams’ Di Hard took provisional honors in the first race in the IRC 1 Class. Hot on his heels was Ruby Tuesday with John Vause at the helm. David Lindhal was third on La Samudra. Di Hard fell back into third place in the second race, which was won by La Samudra with Octopussy second. Those enthusiastic young sailors aboard Royal Thai Navy 1, who won the IRC 2 Class on the first day’s racing, finish last today, but their comrades on Royal Thai Navy 2 saved some face by finishing third. Jock Combie’s Fi Tuen was second behind Juanita Spencer’s Dewi Bayu Gotcha Lagi. Race organizers moved some boats from IRC 3 to the IRC 2 class yesterday in an effort to see more competitive racing. Bob Ashman, at the helm of Simba, who finished second in the IRC 3 Class yesterday, went one better today to take provisional honours in his class. Bettering his first day’s result was Graham Lind, whose boat Sumatra finished second today, a step up from yesterday’s third place. The Thai-registered Aproache Sailing, with Antonia Escribano as skipper, finished a close third in the IRC 3 Class, which was hotly contested today in good winds of between 10 and 15 knots. Ray Bradshaw took provisional honors in the unusually named Gladys Guttenburg in the Ocean Rover Class, followed by Ok-La with George M Jonannes at the helm and John Fenn’s The Four Winds. In the Classic Class, Stephen Pepperell’s Long White Cloud took provisional honors, but not before a battle with Julian Hill’s Sanook, which finished second, and Marc Massari’s magnificent Sylvia, which cruised elegantly into third place. The Ocean Multihull Class was another division which was closely contested today. Phil Atkinson’s Fine Pitch was declared the provisional winner, despite some controversy over where the finish line was placed. Mark Pescott finished second aboard Cyrene and King’s Cup veteran Radab Kanjanavit piloted Cedar Swan into third place. Conditions were near-perfect for racing, starting with good, steady winds gusting up to 15 knots off Kata Beach Resort with a few patches of sunshine. The wind picked up to between 15 and 18 knots early in the afternoon for the second race of the day, for the leading four classes of boats. Three protests were lodged after today’s sailing, keeping the international jury busy.