Phuket King’s Cup Regatta battles light winds

PHUKET: Very little early wind yesterday brought most of the fleet competing in the 28th Phuket King’s Cup Regatta off Kata Beach to a momentary rest, with racing action to resume today.

Thursday is traditionally reserved as the “reserve day” to accommodate days of very light weather such as suffered yesterday, but today will be used as a full racing day.

Several boats did take to the water yesterday, with the partial fleet mainly competing in keelboat classes, which began later in the day and consequentially picked up on late winds.

Bareboat Charter Class A ran a single race, culminating in a tight group at the finish. Uhuru skippered by Andrey Duvanov did enough to secure victory over similarly handicapped opposition, compatriot Anatoly Kuzmenko on Isabella.

Sergey Musikhin’s Sarawadee took the Bareboat Charter Class B win in a group dominated by Russian and Chinese competition; the team are looking unbeatable on early form.

Open Charter was won by Tony Pfeiffer’s Kata Rocks 3 team ahead of rivals Sailplane, making it three wins out of three. The boats were close over the finishing line, but Sailplane‘s handicap saw it drop some six minutes on corrected time.

Modern Classics played host to a great run by Thai team Sansiri Windstar, which came home in under an hour and by a tidy margin over the rest of the field. New Zealand team Farrgo Express was runner-up.

In the Cruising class, British team Skyelark performed well over a closely contested run against Chris Mitchell’s Lady Bubbly, making it the boat to beat of the cruisers.

In Multihull Cruising, Japanese competitor Minnie won by a large margin over rivals Star Fruit skippered by Konstantin Kalmykov.

Of the Classic boats, SY Ravensong had less of a handicap to overcome to beat rivals Atlanta.

The Phuket King’s Cup Regatta International Dinghy Class concluded yesterday, with Saranwong Poonpat winner in Optimist class, ahead of Intira Parnpibul in second.

The Laser class was won by Nattawut Paenyaem, with Apiwat Sringam overall winner in Topper class.

All results are provisional and subject to any protests filed.

For the full results, visit www.kingscup.com

Inaugurated in 1987 to celebrate the 60th birthday of His Majesty the King of Thailand, the event has been held during the first week of December every year since.

Under Royal Patronage, the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta is organized by the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta Organizing Committee under the auspices of the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, in conjunction with the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand, the Royal Thai Navy and the Province of Phuket.

Sponsors of the 2014 Phuket King’s Cup Regatta include Kata Group Resorts Thailand, PTT Global Chemical, Jaguar Land Rover, FINCA de MALPICA by Siam Winery, Singha Corporation, and Haadthip PLC. Media Partners include Phuket Gazette, Phuket Today, Sail-World.com, SEA Yachting, YachtStyle Asia, Prestige, Real Life Magazine, The Guide Phuket, Image Asia, Art & Culture, and Phuket Marine Guide.

This event is proudly sponsored by the Phuket Gazette and PGTV’s nationwide ‘Phuket Today‘ show, which broadcasts daily on True Visions channels 85 and 59.