Phuket King’s Cup 2014, day 3 – A damn good grilling

by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia on 4 Dec 2014 When the sky is blue and the breeze is in, it is very easy to forget how hot it really is. Turn off the fan, and you remember very quickly. Once again everyone was on station for starts at 0900h, and once again there was no ‘f’ in wind – well, certainly not in the edition of the OED that I consulted. (Yes of course I have a 13-volume dictionary with me at all times).

Keeping company with the cruising divisions on Course Bravo – straight out the front door of the Kata Beach Resort and go 270 deg towards the Nicobar Islands – there were catspaws here and there, some of them from quite big cats. But always behind the ruffly patches there was another yawning expanse of glass. Mark boats were dispatched west and northwest on windseeking missions, and even the camera boat joined (must show willing) as much for the chance to get some air across the deck as anything else. After an hour we were rare.

Some young ladies provided an impromptu swimwear display, and a great many crew went swimming. By 1000 most were medium, deck shoes were a necessity to walk anywhere on deck, and if you reapplied sunscreen you heard sizzling noises. By 1100 the camera boat driver had relieved the photographer of the contents of his wallet (THB40) and the card game was over due to lack of funds. The owner of the PCYC, Phuket’s premier antifouling and intergalactic affairs venue, said he was by now 'well done'.

Over on Course Alpha some tech-savvy racing people were broadcasting 'Show me the way to go home' on 72, and the wagons (read: boats) were starting to circle the Committee Boat with intent. General Ross Custer-Chisholm blew three horns succumbed and broke out AP over A at 1200h, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief and headed off back to Kata for cold showers, colder beers and fully Arctic air conditioning.

The cruiser divisions and their Race Officer proved to be made of sterner stuff, even if some envious glances were directed towards the racing fleet passing by on the horizon, and at 1300h patience was rewarded with a gentle but steady 6kts from 230 deg that stayed around for long enough to get all the Bravo divisions away on a 1nm-leg windward-leeward or, in some cases, a triangle.

If you are a Russian speaker, the starts would no doubt have been instructional. Chinese linguists would learn something too. Suffice to say we have a great many interesting photos that make us wonder why the Jury is not inundated with protests. It was rather like watching an Optimist start – ‘bump, bump, bump, go’. Or in this case, oops! there goes the deposit. Bumper cars notwithstanding, all starts were ‘clear’ except for a General Recall, the flag and sound signal for which were clearly not in the charter manual. The ponderous classic, Atlanta, pronged Odin with her bowsprit, but all the other incidents went unremarked (in English, at least).

The breeze held, and so did the sunshine, and just over an hour later all boats were on the way back to Kate Beach. Regatta Director Simon James has called for racing tomorrow – the ‘layday’ or ‘reserve day’ – in order to make up for lost races today. Tomorrow I’ll take more than THB40 in my wallet.

Full results at www.kingscup.com

Short Results to date
IRC 0
1. Beau Geste (7)
2. HiFi (8)
3. Oi! (17)
IRC 1
1. Island Fling (6)
2. Uranus (13)
3. EFG Bank Mandrake (15)
IRC 2
1. TBG Team Premier (6)
2. Foxy Lady VI (11)
3. Windsikher (18.5)
IRC 3
1. Foreign Affaire (8)
2. Kata Rocks (8)
3. Tuay Lek (23.5)
Premier Cruising
1. Pine-Pacific (4)
2. Starlight (5)
3. Zuhrah (12)
Bareboat A
1. Uhura (4)
2. Isabella (8)
3. Papaya (9)
Bareboat B
1. Sarawadee (3)
2. Alexa (8)
3. Shiraz (10)
Open Charter
1. Sailplane (3)
2. Sita (6)
3. Zola (9)
Firefly 850
1. Twin Sharks (7)
2. Voodoo (7)
3. Advanced Racing (9)
Multihull Racing
1. Hurricane (4)
2. Java (8)
3. 3 Itch (15)
Multihull Cruising
1. Minnie (4)
2. Star Fruit (5)
Modern Classic
1. Windstar (6)
2. Remington (7)
3. Mas Alegre (8)
Cruising
1. Lady Bubbly (6)
2. Skyelark (7)
3. H-Trip (11)
Classic
1. Ravensong (3)
2. Atlanta (8)