Phuket King’s Cup 2014- Life in the 40-something zone

by Guy Nowell. Sail-World Asia on 30 Nov 2014 With racing starting on Monday and a 92-boat fleet registered (and there are always a few latecomers), the 2014 Phuket King’s Cup looks to be a vintage edition of this Asian classic. Inaugurated in 1987 as a birthday tribute to His Majesty King Bhumiphol Adulyadej, ‘The Sailor King’, who won a gold medal at the SEA Games when Peter Cummins was still a lad, the King’s Cup grown in size and stature ever since, attracting sailors from hard-core racers to the rather more relaxed bareboat charterers, and including fly-in professional regatta crews as well as local competitors. With sunshine, warm breezes, warm water and a non-stop party schedule on offer, this is Asia’s answer to Antigua Week, or Hamo.

At the top of the sheet, in IRC 0, three previous King’s Cup winners go head-to-head – Neil Pryde’s HiFi, Peter Ahern with Oi!, and Frank Pong back again with the RP76 Jelik. Joining them is Karl Kwok’s Beau Geste, a TP52 on its last outing under present colours, having been sold recently. Over the last decade Kwok has amassed an impressive collection of trophies at races all over the world, most recently the Audi IRC Australian Championship with this same boat. In October Beau Geste set a new record for the Hong Kong to Hainan Race. It’s good to see this Hong Kong-flagged crew back on the Asian circuit.

Move down a division to IRC 1 and we are in 40-footer territory. Look carefully and you’ll see that these are all sprit boats – and IRC 2 is a collection of 40 ft pole boats. Says PKC Regatta Director Simon James, 'We are trying to encourage one-on-one racing by separating the pole and the sprit boats. The weather forecast is looking fairly soft at the moment, so I would prefer to see boats of similar characteristics racing against each other in the same part of the course than somewhere else in different conditions'. If you agree that encouraging overall numbers is a good thing, rather than boats – any boats – an excuse to hang back, saying, 'oh, we can’t compete against…' then this has to be a good idea. Once upon a time Simon James drew a line in the sand and classified cruisers by saying 'boats with doors, boats without doors'. Now it looks as if he has made an equally common sense call.

Competition in both IRC 2 (Sprit) and IRC 3 (Pole) divisions is likely to be fierce. After coming oh-so-close in the Raja Muda just last week, Paul Winkelmann’s JV42 Island Fling has a point to prove, and will be aiming to lead from the front. The ‘new’ EFG Bank Mandrake, now a Sydney GTS43, has some proving to do as well. Wan Ma Rang (Kevin Whitcraft) was hitting really good speeds by the end of the Raja Muda, and Alexey Takhovski’s Farr 400 Lero 3 is all kitted out with a shiny new certificate – can she sail to the numbers? The Royal Malaysian Navy’s Uranus (Norhafisam nbin Ahmad, DK47) knows her way round this patch of water, so is in the game too.

Nine boats in the pole division, with Bill Bremner and Foxy Lady straight from a second consecutive win in the Raja Muda leading the charge. Actually, Foxy Lady is rolling on a 9-regatta winning streak right now, but for sure there are plenty of people looking to knock the Lady boys off their perch. Top of the ratings list is Mati Sepp’s Dubois 40, Blue Note, with ‘old’ Mandrake now owned by Patrick Kwong and skippered by Hannes Waimer just 0.004 behind. Sarab Jeet Singh’s Windsikher will provide Bremner with some Singapore Derby match action, and Peter Sorenson at the helm of multi-winner Fujin – formerly Ichiban – will keep everyone on their toes. When Michael Spies runs an IRC optimisation programme, it generally sticks. So watch out for newcomer Jessandra II, a Corby 36 with a suitably modest 1.069 rating.

It will be boat-on-boat in IRC 3 as well. The hardy annuals, Royal Thai Navy 1 and 2, have been displaced in recent years, and the likes of Madame Butterfly, three Platus, two Farr 1104s in the shape of Hippocrates (aka Piccolo) and Pinocchio will all be very keen to keep it that way.

If good looks are what you are after, pay attention to the Modern Classic division where Windstar, a beautifully-presented S&S 42 and Capt Jim Ellis’s pretty Remington (Galatea 42) will be on display. Both these boats are past King’s Cup winners, and the racing will be 100% serious.

Ten boats in Premier Cruising will no doubt make a goodly sight on the start line, beginning with the biggest boat in the PKC 2014 fleet, Gerhard Ruether’s 100ft SWS, Zefiro. Almost small by comparison, Geoff Hill and the Antipodeans at a mere 72ft play strictly for keeps, and proved it by winning the PC class at the Raja Muda. Hill himself had to fly out of Langkawi straight after racing that day, so missed the moment in the spotlight at the prizegiving and will surely be looking to make up for it this week in Phuket. Andy Cocks’s Simonis 56 Starlight proved to be very quick last week, and a little more practice at going round the corners will make her a very serious competitor. After a short hiatus, Peter Cremers is back with a new Shahtoosh, a new Warwick (of course) 75, and the unknown quantity in the pack will be a China entry, Yun Fang with a Jeanneau 57, September Wolves.

Open Charter, Bareboat A and Bareboat B make up fully one-third of the King’s Cup fleet, including the boat that gets a prize (before the event starts) for the longest name in the list: Team Across Four Oceans Sailing Club. Snappy, huh? If they are ever OCS then they’ll be up at the windward mark before the RO has called their name. Maybe.

20 Russian entries, 8 Chinese, and then all the usual culprits – Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, the UK. This is not quite the biggest King’s Cup fleet on record, but it is a properly international fleet. Most of the boats – and the vast majority of the crews – are visitors. Some have arrived at leisure, some made their way up the Malacca Strait via the Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta, and some have got here in a lather of a hurry – EFG Bank Mandrake left Hong Kong around the time the Raja Muda started (15 November) so had some serious miles to cover to be here on time. There’s a practice race on the cards tomorrow, when PRO Ross Chisholm gets to find out that the ‘P’ and the ‘S’ flags have been incorrectly marked on the hoist, and he needs a new stopwatch was ‘battery not included’. Photographer on course will make a note to self to bring memory cards the next time. I was advised a long time ago that 'the practice race is not for the benefit of the sailors – it’s for everyone else.'

After that, there will be a Skipper’s Briefing before everyone troops down to the delightful surroundings of the Kata Beach Resort & Spa gardens for the opening ceremony, ringing the bell, hoisting the flag and general congratulations all round that Asia’s senior inshore regatta is about to roll again, for the 28th consecutive year.

Long live the King!