Perfect conditions at Phuket Kings Cup

by Rob Kothe & Al Constable on 4 Dec 2007 Blazing sunshine and glorious sailing conditions for the record 103 boat fleet on race day two at the 21st Phuket Kings Cup in Thailand.

Racing started in 12 knots of north easterly breeze, which built during the morning up to 20 knots. The Racing fleet sailed two windward leewards, five miles offshore in the beautiful Andaman Sea. Frank Pong's Jelik continued her dominance in the Racing class today, winning Race 2 line and handicap honours.

It had been a close start for the racing fleet, with helmsman Dong Qing pushing Microlab Moonlight Shadow, the former Sydney Hobart race Yendys, to the right.

Ray Roberts’ DK46 Quantum Racing was well placed and the newest boat on the Asian circuit, Full Metal Jacket, skippered by Hong Kong based Kiwi Chris Meade, and Stephen Reith’s now repaired Foxy Lady III all had a fast start and went right.

At the top mark for the first time Jelik stretched away from Mandrake and Microlab, Full Metal Jacket was ahead of Quantum, but the little Sydney 40 Foxy Lady III was close.

On the second beat it was Jelik then daylight, however Quantum who was on the right hand side sailed through Microlab and Full Metal Jacket and was doing particularly well.

Jelik took the gun and beat Ray Roberts' Quantum Racing over the line by approximately twenty minutes and by nearly four minutes on handicap. Foxy Lady III finished a creditable third.

The second race started in a building seaway. Jelik had a fast start from the Committee boat, while Microlab was mid line. In a winning move Quantum Racing went hard left as did Full Metal Jacket, Fortris Mandrake and Foxy Lady III. The left paid and Quantum Racing won from Foxy Lady III, with Full Metal Jacket third.

After three races, overall Jelik leads from Quantum Racing and Fortris Mandrake.

After racing Quantum tactician Stephen McConaghy commented ‘In our absence yesterday, our motley crew did well. Today we picked the shifts well.’

Sailing with the Full Metal Jacket team this week is the respected British race boat designer John Corby. ‘The boat is performing well upwind, down wind there is work to be done, but we are pleased with progress.’

In the Sportsboat class, Scott Duncanson's Raimon Land repeated yesterday's performance winning Race 2 on handicap and line honours. Risotada (Keisuke Nagamatsu) was second with Emma Mathil XX debuting on the podium in third place.

Raimon Land continued her class dominance in Race 3 again taking the double.
Tuay Lek (Asia Marine) was second, with Kevin Scott's The Weasel third.

Raimon Land with three straight wins leads the class overall from The Weasel and Risotada.

IRC1 Race 2 was won by Jeff Davidson's Panic from Fi Tuen, skippered by Thai national Buniou Pitphirom. Kevin Whitcraft's Octopussy was third.

In Race 3 Switchblade, Sail in Asia's Farr 43 took the handicap win from Jeff Davidson's Mumm 30 Panic and Walawala, Steve Manning's Beneteau 44.7.

Overall, Octopussy leads IRC 1 from Walawala with Panic third.

Peter Dyer's Madam Butterfly put in another strong crew performance today to take IRC 2, Race 2. She finished two minutes ahead of Royal Thai Navy (Lt Peera Sagultem) with Tropic Bird (Michelle Pippin) third.

In IRC 2 Race 3 it was Madam Butterfly’s win yet again, with La Samudra second and Royal Thai Navy 1 third.

Overall, Madam Butterfly leads the IRC 2 class from La Samudra and Royal Thai Navy 1.

Wings (Fredrick Roswold) continued on her winning way today in IRC 3 class, Race 2 taking the line honours, handicap win for the second day in a row. Remington (James R Ellis) was second on handicap; Sarabande (Angela and Basil Diethelm) was third.

Overall the top three placings In IRC 3 are Wings, Sarabande and Remington.

In the Premier class Race 2, Frangipani Girl skippered by David Ross grabbed the handicap win from Geoff Hill's Strewth, with Peter Cremers' Shahtoosh third.
Yasooda, Hans Rahmann's Judel/Vrolijk was fastest boat on the water in this class.

The top three placings remained the same in Premier Race 3, with Yasooda again fastest boat on the water.

Overall, Frangipani Girl leads the Premier class, from Strewth and Shahtoosh.

In the Firefly class, Mamba (Henry Kaye) won Race 2 on handicap from Pagatoon Pierre Forsans) and Voodoo Child (David Hill).

Mamba again took Race 3, but Voodoo Child reversed the placings taking second, with Pagatoon third.

Voodoo Child leads the Fireflys overall, from Mamba and Pagatoon.

In the Sunsail Race 2 Princess Anna was triumphant over Arieta, with Sharda in third.

In Multihull 1 Race 2, Summersalt, Mark Pescott's Pescott 10m was first on handicap, with a corrected time of less than a minute from David Wales' Corsair The Sting. Cedar Swan, Khun Radab's Corsair was third.

The Sting recorded the fastest time to take line honours in Race 2.

In Race 3 Summersalt again won on handicap from Spirit of Isuzu (Charro) Christopher Edwards' Pescott Summerhaven. The Sting was third. The fastest time was recorded by The Sting.

In the Multi 2 class, Race 2 went to Larry Pollock's Running Cloud, from Bob Mott's
Chameleon and Don McGrath's Out of the Bag.

Tzigane (John Greenwood) was the handicap winner of Race 2 in the Ocean Rover class. Rusalka (Kevin and Sheila Perkins) was second, with John O’Dell’s Adams 13, Grisly Adams third.

Results to date are provisional and may be subject to change.

Meanwhile yesterday’s mystery disappearance of two boats from the starting fleet has been explained. The Mumm 36 Emma and Foxy Lady III disappeared from their moorings on Kata Beach.

Jamie McPhail and the Foxy Lady III crew found their boat seven miles off Kata Beach, while Emma was a few miles further south.

Foxy Lady III had been anchored downwind of Emma and the two boats had matching damage. It appears that the Mumm 36 dragged its anchor and then fouled the chain of the down wind boat. In 25-33 knot winds they locked together and kept smashing into each other.

MacPhail commented ‘We could not race yesterday; we spent our time repairing the significant damage to the top sides where the two boats had hit together. It was good to get onto the race track today and even better to get two placings.’

Today's races are sponsored by Thai Beverage PLC, Siam Winery and Coca-Cola.

Tonight's party and prize-giving is being held at Jungceylon - a new, high-end shopping centre located in Patong.

Principal sponsorship again this year comes from Raimon Land, who has announced support of the event until 2012. Also joining the event as sponsors are Kata Group, TMB Bank Plc, Nautica, Thai Beverages Plc, Thai Airways, Mom Tri’s Boat House, Sunsail, Siam Winery, Coca-Cola and a host of local Phuket businesses which support the event. Media sponsorship in part comes from Phuket Magazine, The Nation and Phuket Gazette.

With the Royal Patronage of His Majesty the King, the Regatta is organized by the Phuket King's Cup Regatta Organizing Committee under the auspices of the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, in conjunction with the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand, the Royal Thai Navy and the Province of Phuket.