Tropical finish for 19th Phuket Kings Cup

by Rob Kothe on 10 Dec 2005 On the final day of the 19th Phuket Kings Cup regatta sponsored by Raimon Land, the fleet sailed a trapezoid course off Kata Beach, in light breezes that varied between five and ten knots, on the warm waters of the tropical Andaman Sea.

Australian Ray Roberts reinforced his dominance in the racing division with his DK46 Drumstick-Quantum Racing winning on handicap, from Neil Pryde’s Hi Fi, ahead of Frank Pong’s Boracay third.

Quantum Racing with ten points, with a worst placing of fourth discarded, won the regatta overall from Hi Fi on 15 with Nick Burn’s Mandrake third on 20.

Roberts and his crew left for the airport soon after reaching Kata Beach; their next racing engagement is on another Quantum Racing, this time a Farr 40, for day two of the Rolex Trophy series in Sydney tomorrow morning. The smiling Australian commented; 'We won here back in 1985 and our second Kings Cup has been a long time coming.’

Today another Australian boat, Brian Hayden's Frers 51 Vida, the smallest boat in the Coutts sponsored Premier Division, took line honours. With Jamie McPhail on the helm, Vida outgunned the fleet. They won on handicap followed by Geoffrey Hill’s Strewth and Suwan Poopoksakul’s Lawana. Vida won the Premier Division overall from Strewth with Andrew Rickard’s Moonblue in third place.

In the Multihull Racing fleet, in the final race, the consistent Moto Inzi Firefly 850 (Roger Kingdon) buzzed to a handicap win, ahead of Cedar Swan (Radab Kanjanavanit) second, and Xcatriot (Bob Brindley) third. Kingdon had retired from yesterday’s race with a headboard problem, leaving the door ajar for defending champion Kim Thomas, who had helmed his Radical Bay 7000, CoCo Blues to a Kings Cup victory in 2004. However, today CoCo Blues could only manage fourth place and the result was that Moto Inzi won the series from Cedar Swan and CoCo Blues.

In the Sports Boat series final race, consistent performer Happy Endings ( Jonathan Mahony) finished first, Somtam Express (Scott Duncanson) second with Vino (Phil Wardrop) third. However the series overall was won by Morten Jakobsen’s Emma Mathilde XX, from Sontam Express and Happy Endings.

As Morten Jakobsen's Emma Mathilde XX has wrapped the series and did not need to race toda, he lent the boat to Riku Ruokolahti's Yachtpro 106 team forced out of the series by an accident on the third day of racing. They won the final race, showing that would have been competitive on the water.

In the IRC Race 7 Octopussy (Viroj Nualkhair) won on handicap. In second place was the red hulled Switchblade (Robert Bailey), with Ruby Tuesday (John Vause) taking the third spot. Across the series, Octopussy triumphed from Ruby Tuesday on a count back, with Switchblade third.

David Lindhal’s La Samudra won IRC 2 Race 5, with Royal Thai Navy 1, skippered by Lt. Peera Sagultem second, with the Royal Thai Navy 2, NC Poltep Sukudom and crew in third. The Royal Thai Navy 1 team took the series from La Samudra with the Royal Thai Navy Team 2 in third place.

In IRC 3 Race 5, Sumatra (Graham Lind) took first, with Patrice III (Ian Wilkinson) second and Minx (Mia Gallow) third. Patrice III won the series from Minx and Sumatra.

The Sunsail One Design Division provided a tight battle for the top honours, with Princess Anna (Christian Eschenburg) winning Race 5 and the series, from Princess Christina (Tony Oates) and Princess Sharda (Philip Bowring).

Bareboat Charter race 5 had Fidgi skippered by Boukje Van Venrooy first, with Andrew Foster’s Constanza second and Team Camel Toe (Tompa) and skippered by Andrew Pearson, third. Keith Blankley’s Bitang won the overall series ahead of Team Camel Toe and Fidgi.

In Multihull 2 Race 5, Chimera (Christopher Edwards) was first, Charro (Merv Owen) was second and Raimon Land Chameleon (Pook Mackinson) finished third. The same three featured in the overall results, in exactly the same order.

Sanook, skippered by Julian Hill was first in the Classic Division Race 5, with Silvia (Bryce Rassmussen) in second, followed by Wade Kimpton’s Lady M.
Again, it was the same order in the Overall results.

Ocean Rover Race 5 saw Jemini Jo (Simon Andrews) first, Shockwave (Dominic Di Latte) was second and Waconda (Simon Jupe) finished third. Overall Jemini Joe (Simon Andrews) finished first, with Aquavit III (helmut Schutte) second and Amadeus (Derek Holding)in third.

HM The Kings Personal Representative Rear Admiral ML Usni Pranoj will this evening, be presenting the original Kings Cup at the official function at the Kata Beach Resort. Replicas of the Cup will be presented to winners in each class. The evening will continue under tropical night skies on Kata Beach.

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