Phuket King’s Cup 2014 - last day. Short strokes and last thoughts

by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia on 8 Dec 2014 It may have been a soft start to the week, but the 28th edition of the Phuket King’s Cup finished with a right royal flourish, 10 knots of breeze, true blue skies and a new name on the King’s Cup (which of course is not actually a cup at all). Breeze from south of east allowed two windward-leeward races for most classes – 'We’d like to have sent you out and about a bit more,' said PRO Ross Chisholm, 'but conditions have been against us.' On the Seraph course (Cruisers and Charter boats), Simon James noted that 'the competition was a lot more intense than I expected. There was some serious racing going on – not always very fast racing, but serious for sure.'

By our calculations, most of the divisions were done, dusted and decided at close of business yesterday, meaning that today was principally about crossing the Ts and dotting the Is. A notable exception was the Firefly 850 Sports catamaran class where there was everything to play for right down to the last race. At the start of the day Hans Rahmann’s Voodoo and Neil Ayre’s Advanced Racing were sitting level on 13 points after drops, with Twin Sharks (John Newnham) only two points adrift. After two races on the closing day, it was Voodoo (3,1) and Twin Sharks (1,2) on 17, and Advanced Racing with 18 points. Voodoo and Sharks were both tied on two bullets apiece, so the countback went to second places - Voodoo 4, Sharks 3. Proof, if proof were needed, that in one-design racing every point in every race counts.

After a series of close races between Beau Geste (Karl Kwok and the Brady Bunch) and HiFi (Neil Pryde), and going in to the last day with a two-point lead, Beau Geste cemented their overall win with a bullet to start the day, and then declined the last race. Fair enough – we remember when John Vause on Ruby Tuesday had a King’s Cup sewn up with a day to spare, went out ‘politely’ to finish the series, and lost the rig! If you don’t actually need to race, it’s up to you… There hasn’t been a Beau Geste racing in Asia for a long time – 14 years, apparently – so it was very good to see them back again.

No surprises in IRC 1 where Island Fling took 1, 2 to finish at the top of the list by 4 points from EFG Mandrake. Obviously the ‘new’ Mandrake was getting the hang of it as the regatta progressed – 4,1,4,4 for the first four races, and ones and twos at the end. The IRC 2 division – pole boats as opposed to sprit boats – was an even more open and shut affair with TBG-Team Premier (Hannes Waimer) rolling in to the last day with a 10-point lead over Foxy Lady, score a third the first race (their worst score all week), and then go home. Greg Reynolds’ Mumm 30, Foreign Affair, dominated the IRC 3 all week, winning by 9 points after 10 races and leaving Peter Dyer’s Madame Butterfly in second place.

There was good corner-banging competition in all the IRC divisions, and even in the charter and cruising divisions although it is always hard to tell on the water because they all look the same. One Jeanneau 409 is not immediately identifiable from the next one. But in some divisions there is little or no competition at all. The Multihull Cruising class consisted of only two boats – meaning that there is a prize at the end of the week for coming first, and another for coming last.

Interested in demographics? In 2009 there were four Russian entries in the King’s Cup – this year there were 23, including 16 out of a total 23 boats in the Bareboat and Charter classes, and there was even a Russian IJ. When will the Sailing Instructions be issued in Russian?

Weather conditions mean that 2014 is unlikely to go down in the history books as a vintage year for the Phuket King’s Cup. A light start to the week, one day’s racing abandoned for the Racing divisions, the use of the reserve day, and then an upbeat finish. It seemed like a very long week. The Race Officers worked hard on the water to get through the programme, and it was quite a big programme in the end! 117 starts over 143 divisions may be a record in its own right. Congratulations to all concerned.

Last thought: when did the King’s Cup last include a race out to Koh Racha – the long reaching leg out and back? This year’s event involved one islands race for the IRC divisions, and four days of windward-leeward races. A conversation with some competitors on Sunday morning at the airport indicated that more variety would be welcome. 'Regattas need to try to differentiate themselves,' we were told, 'otherwise they are all just the same'. All regattas in Asia, please pay attention.

Full Results can be found at www.kingscup.com

Short Results:

IRC 0
1. Beau Geste (13)
2. HiFi (19)
3. Oi! (27)
IRC 1
1. Island Fling (14)
2. EFG Mandrake (20)
3. Uranus (28)
IRC 2
1. TBG-Team Premier (13)
2. Foxy Lady VI (18)
3. Wind Sikher (29)
IRC 3
1. Foreign Affair (10)
2. Madame Butterfly (19)
3. Royal Thai Navy 1 (32)
Premier
1. Pine Pacific (9)
2. Zuhrah (12)
3. Starlight (14)
Bareboat A
1. Uhuru (14)
2. Papaya (16)
3. Lychee (18)
Bareboat B
1. Sarawadee (7)
2. Phalin (26)
3. Malee (29)
Open Charter
1. Kata Rocks 3 (7)
2. Sailplavne (13)
3. Sita (21)
Firefly 850 Sports
1. Voodoo (17)
2. Twin Sharks (18)
3. Advance Racing (18)
Multihull Racing
1. Hurricane (9)
2. Java (19)
3. 3 Itch (32)
Multihull Cruising
1. Minnie (9)
2. Star Fruit (11)
Modern Classic
1. Sansiri Windstar (12)
2. Farrgo Express (14)
3. Remington (15)
Classic
1. Ravensong (5)
Cruising
1. Lady Bubbly (15)
2. Skyelark (19)
3. Odin (22)