Phuket King’s Cup – Change and consolidation

by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia on 9 Dec 2015 Sorry to report that the weather didn’t come out as promised. ‘Less, everywhere’ was what we got. Less breeze all over both race courses, and shifty fluky stuff for a lot of the time. Both ROs Ross Chisholm and Simon James had plenty to cope with trying to make the most of what was on offer, and there wasn’t a great deal of it. On course Seraph (Cruisers, Charter Boats and Classics) the first windward-leeward was shortened after one rather undercooked sausage, with a second race following on rather more successfully.

The Cruising Multihulls departed on a trip up the coast towards Patong and (judging by the time it took them to come back and finish) probably Burma. Some of these boats are as tall as Spanish galleons, and move about the same speed. The helmsman is perched high on a bridge – James T Kirk would feel at home up there.

It’s very difficult working out what goes on with the cruising fleets. Classes don’t all start together when the flag comes down – not by a long chalk – and many of the boats don’t seem to really know what is going on with all those complicated flags and sound signals. [Ed: we have had this confirmed recently]. Some classes line up in a sort of queue for the start, one at a time. “Is it my turn now?” And they all look the same, which makes for even more of a problem. One 40ft bareboat charter is pretty much the same as the next – high sides, reduced sailplan, pocket-handkerchief spinnakers, and the crew all dressed out the nearest Oxfam shop. However, they all seem to be enjoying themselves, and do a lot of smiling and waving, so that’s alright.

Over on course Marie G, the racing classes were in pretty much the same sort of weather. Bright, but not so breezy, and definitely fading away by the time the third and last windward-leeward of the day was done and dusted.

Windsikher went from strength to strength, scoring two wins today. The top three divisions (IRC 0, 1, 2) have now completed five races, so get to ‘drop’ a race, so Millennium Racing (Ray Roberts) was probably happy to throw out a fifth place from yesterday. The men in red seem found the extra gear that has been missing since the beginning of the Raja Muda and banged in 2, 1, 2 today to take second spot on the IRC 0 leaderboard. The lighter breeze also suited Blue Note (IRC 1) who took two bullets from three races to get to top of her divisional ladder.

The five boats in the Firefly division have all won at the King’s Cup in the past, guaranteeing close racing with no holds barred. Today was Twin Sharks’ glamour outing, with three firsts from three starts, but there’s no room for complacency in this class.

Do we listen to weather forecasts? The jury’s out on that one. Yesterday produced more breeze than forecast, and today offered less than predicted. For the record, two main forecasts are offering mid-to-lower-teens from the east at 1000h tomorrow. Maybe.

Long live the King!

Short Results (full results can be found at www.kingscup.com) An asterisk* indicates a discard.

IRC 0
1. Windsikher 2*, 2, 1, 2, 1 (6)
2. Millennium Racing 5*, 3, 2, 1, 2 (8)
3. Team Premier Oi! 1, 4*, 3, 3, 3 (10)
IRC 1
1. Blue Note 2, 5*, 1, 2, 1 (6)
2. Rerefine 1, 4*, 2, 1, 2 (6)
3. Wan Ma Rang 3, 1, 3, 4, 5* (11)
IRC 2
1. Karasu 1, 2*, 2, 1, 1 (5)
2. Jessandra 2*, 1, 1, 2, 2 (6)
3. Fujin 3*, 3, 3, 3, 3 (12)
Premier
1. Pine Pacific 1, 1 (2)
2. Audeamus 2, 2 (4)
3. Baby Tonga 4, 3 (7)

Bareboat Charter
1. Alexa 1, 1, 1 (1)
2. Malee 3, 3, 2 (8)
3. Sumaleee 4, 4, 3 (11)
Open Charter
1. Popeye 1, 1, 1 (3)
2. Big Boy Sailing Team 2, 2, 3 (7)
3. Venture 3, 4, 2 (9)
Modern Classic
1. Thai Navy 1. 2, 1, 1 (4)
2. Farrgo Express 1, 5, 2 (8)
3. Piccolo 3, 4, 3 (10)
Classic
1. Umeboshi 1, 2 (3)
2. Selma RET, 1 (4)
Cruising
1. Mohawk 1, 3, 1 (5)
2. Slipstream 3, 6, 2 (11)
3. Mustang Sally 2, 5, 4 (11)
Multihull Racing
1. Java 3, 1, 2 (6)
2. Hurricane 2, 2, 1 (5)
3. Wow 1, 3, 3 (7)

Multihull Cruising
1. Minnie 1, 3 (4)
2. Star Fruit 2, 2 (4)
3. Arabella’s Naked Dad DNF, 1 (8)
Firefly 850
1. Twin Sharks 2, 1, 1, 1 (5)
2. Voodoo 1, 2, 3, 2 (8)
3. Moto Inzi 3, 4, 4, 3 (14)
Performance Multihull
1. H3O 2, 2, 1 (5)
2. Sudu 3. 3, 1, 2 (6)
3. Sudu 4. 1, 5, 3 (9)