2008 Phuket King’s Cup - Results and more

by Rob Kothe and Jaroonroj 'Knot' Satitkasem on 6 Dec 2008 It was a dramatic final race at the 22nd Phuket King’s Cup, when Australian Ray Robert’s DK46 Quantum Racing out sailed two Hong Kong Grand Prix racers, Paul Winkelmann’s TP52 Island Fling and Neil Pryde’s Hi Fi, to snatch a narrow victory on count back.

Roberts and his tactician, Stephen McConaghy, have a great track record in Phuket. The boat is set up for the light weather conditions here and today in the last race they sailed in 5-8 knots of wind, they found the shifts that delivered second place on IRC handicap, behind Frank Pong’s Reichel Pugh 75 Jelik, attaining overall victory.

Both Quantum Racing and Hi Fi finished with 20 points overall, but Roberts had the better winning record, with three bullets to Pryde’s two earning him the series.

The Australian sailor has been the most successful campaigner on the Asian circuit for the last five years, but this week he and his team had to work very hard to win the series.

Their DK46 is a proven light weather performer and their tactician Stephen McConaghy, M30 World Champion and triple 11 metre world champion, has a wonderful track record in the tricky wind conditions of the Asian circuit. McConaghy called tactics on Toby O’Connell’s winning boat in 2006, as well as sailing with Ray in 2005 and 2007.

In 1995 Roberts won the King’s Cup when sailing a Bashford 41 Millennium. Then, in 2005, he won the series with the DK46 Drumstick Quantum Racing in the last race Unfortunately for them, in 2007 they lost in the last race to Jelik aboard Quantum Racing.

Standing on Kata Beach this afternoon Roberts said, ‘‘we are very happy to win the King’s Cup against such a high quality fleet. Over the last 12 months both Hi Fi and Island Fling have been reworked and they are both world class racers with very good sailors on board.’

Neil Pryde remarked, ‘we have beaten Quantum Racing in long races (like the 2008 Raja Muda series), but in stop-start regatta conditions it is a lot harder.

‘Our new rig is a huge improvement, and the boat has specifically been set up for acceleration. We enjoyed the series; it could not have been closer.’

Quantum Racing won the Koh Samui regatta back in May, but the competition is much tougher in Phuket.

In October the Hong Kong based TP52 Island Fling won the China Coast Regatta.

Steve 'Taff' Dodd from Island Fling commented, ‘we would like to have had a little more breeze this week, but it was good racing.’
IRC 1 Division had a very impressive win from Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Commodore Matt Allen and his high calibre Australian crew aboard the Beneteau 44.7 Ichi Ban. In second place was Ben Copley's Swan 42 CS Katsu, with Rob Bottomley's Beneteau First 47.7 Sailplane in third.

In the IRC 2 fleet, Royal Thai Navy 1 came back from a horrific start to the regatta. She was dismasted during practice and missed the first race, but quickly came back into the series.

In second place overall was Royal Thai Navy 2, followed by Peter Dyer's Madame Butterfly in third.

Scott Duncanson's Raimon Land The Heights won first place in overall series result with just eight points. In second place was Kenchi Takahashi's Motor Net ahead of Morten Jakobsen's Emma Mathilde Ji-Zip, who won on handicap today’s race.

Racing remained tight in the Fire Fly fleet, though conditions were too light for the little Thai built cats to really fly today. Today Peter Dyer's Sea Property had a tough day at the office , finishing fifth place , yet she still won the series. Hans Rahmann's Voodoo Child was second overall. She finished behind Brent Gribble’s Twin Sharks today, but beat the Shark who finished third overall.

Achim Griese's Princess Anna has won the Sunsail One Design series after winning four out of the five races. Jan Ruedel's Princess Arieta came second, with Nick Rose's Princess Christina in third.

Russian sailors Krasnoperov Olegs from Vladivostok sailing Thalassa, their Beneteau Oceanis 423, won the Ocean Rover Series after three victories on handicap. We can expect to see more of them in the future, as the boat spends the winters in Korea and Asian regattas due to mid-winter temperatures dropping to minus thirteen in Vladivostok. .

Second place in the Ocean Rover Class went to Keitaro Kurihara's Magic Lady, with Chapus Marc's Zorba third.

In the Classic Class series, Paul Brunning's timber gem, Dondang Sarang, beat James Stoll's beautiful Bangkok built sailing school Schooner's Argo and was also ahead of Ralph Goetz's Waconda.

The final results in Bareboat Charter Class was that Toru Inoue's TAG won the series with Jan Kisteit's Little Eva on her stern, and Mike Crisp's new Hanse 400e VENTURE third.

In the ever competitive Multihull 1 Division, Radab Kanjanavanit's SEAMICO Cedar Swan won the regatta ahead of David Liddell's Miss Saigon and Bob Brindley's X Catriot.

David Ross' veteran Swan 53 Macquarie-Frangipani Girl won the Premier class.
The Singapore entry features Friends From Around the World and she grabbed the overall series result after winning on handicap today. In second place was Peter Cremers' Shahtoosh, with Jon Wardill's Cassidy 55 Australian Maid third.

Ross who is the Fedex Regional Vice President, South Pacific, said, ‘ Macquarie Fragipani Girl is a beautiful old girl. This is her third year here. We enjoy coming up to a well organised regatta, with friends and family from around the world.

‘There should be more events with Premier class racing like this one. The organising committee are fantastic; we were very impressed with how they managed through the Bangkok airport crisis.’

Kevin Whitcraft, the President of the Phuket King’s Cup Organising Committee, stepped off his IRC 1 Class Octopussy today, all smiles. He had a mixed series on the water, but he was certainly pleased with the week long regatta.

He said, ‘The week started with a major transport challenge, but sailors from around the world made it to Phuket with perseverance and fortitude. We had a fleet of 93 boats, after eight cancellations due to transport issues. .

‘We appreciate the support of owners, skippers, sailors, race officials, volunteers and sponsors.

‘We look forward to an even better event in 2009.’

http://www.kingscup.com/2008results/series_results.htm