Phuket King's Cup 2009 heading for a record fleet

by Rob Kothe on 20 Nov 2009

Phuket King’s Cup fleet 2008, Kata Bay SW

The 2009 Phuket King's Cup fleet list is now heading towards 105 boats, a new record for this 23rd annual regatta. The latest entry list released last night by Regatta Director Simon James includes draft entries from a number of boats currently in transit. Notable amongst these is the new racing class GP42 owned by the King's Cup President Kevin Whitcraft and Sam Chan's TP52 Ffreefire.

Considered to be Asia's biggest and most popular regatta, the event was inaugurated in 1987 to celebrate the 60th birthday of His Majesty the King of Thailand and has been held every year since, during the first week of December.

With Royal Patronage, the Regatta is organised 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.

Regatta Director Simon James was certainly upbeat this week with a big fleet and good weather expected.

‘Certainly the Phuket King's Cup 2009 is heading for another big year, with a record fleet and even the wind is on schedule, with a strong north easterly now settling into its regular pattern.

‘This year the King's Birthday is on the closing Saturday, so we willl have the sail past in the morning. We'll then race. In the evening there will be the presentations and then we’re straight into the candlelight ceremony, so that changes the design of the last night a little bit.

James continued ‘Chang, one of our strongest sponsors, is putting on a Full Moon party on Karon Beach. They are opening up the party to the whole island so we’ve got a big regatta party, which is after our normal presentation party, starting at nine o’clock. Estimates vary but between 15 and 20,000 people could be in attendance. It’s certainly going to be a big night.

‘The Phuket economy is picking up. It’s been a fairly quiet year as far as hotels and flights but there are a lot of positive things happening. Thai Airways have just opened up direct flights from Hong Kong again, which have been missing since before the Tsunami.

‘Air Asia has established Phuket as one of its regional hubs so there’s now flights straight in from Indonesia and the surrounding areas. Last week we had the first direct flights from Berlin into Phuket, so it’s all on the up.

‘The recession might be flagged as finishing now but it normally takes people about nine months to book their holidays, so there is a little lag, but it does seem we are heading for a better 2010 and a great 2011’ concluded Simon James.

The 2009 Phuket King's Cup sailing instructions are expected to be posted to the event website www.kingscup.com in the next 24 hours.

Here is the latest entry list

Provisional Entry List 19^th November 2009
	Class/Division	Boat Name	Sail No.	Skipper	Type

1	Racing	Jelik II	HKG800	Frank Pong	RP76
2	Racing	Evolution Racing	AUS 8898	Ray Roberts	TP52
3	Racing	Tazo too	UAE 74111	Markus Fiala	Farr 11s
4	Racing	Strewth	GBR 5211	Geoffrey Hill	TP52
5	Racing	HiFi	HKG 2112	Neil Pryde	Welborne 53
6	Racing	Ffreefire 52	HKG2238	Sam Chan	TP52
7	Racing	Foxy Lady IV	SIN 28752	Bill Bremner/Andy Cocks	TP52
8	Racing	EFG Bank Mandrake	HKG 2166	Nick Burns	Mills 51
9	Racing	AA	CRO 1379	Kevin Whitcraft	GP42
10	Racing	PH Plus	BVI 33	Andrey Arbuzov	Elliot 46
11	Racing	Full Metal Jacket	NZL 1011	Chris Meads	Corby 43 Custom

	Class/Division	Boat Name	Sail No.	Skipper	Type
12	IRC	Katsu	AUS 1943	Ben Copley	Swan 42 NYOD
13	IRC	Koull Baby	HKG 1978	Peter Wintle	Kerr 11.3
14	IRC	Tantrum	SIN 270	Robert van Paridon	Beneteau First 44.7
15	IRC	Walawala	HKG 1507	Steve Manning	Beneteau First 44.7
16	IRC	Aquavit 5	28000	Hellmut Schutte	Beneteau 45
17	IRC	Sail Plane	GBR6612R	Peter Sorensen	Beneteau First 47.7
18	IRC	Ichi Ban	AUS 6038	Matt Allen	Beneteau First 44.7
19	IRC	Blue Juice	SUI 4901	Beat Bosshard	J120
20	IRC	Emma	JPN 6373	Toshio Furuta	Mumm 36
21	IRC	Switchblade	SIN 888	Yasuo Nanamori	Farr 43
22	IRC	Rip Jaw	SIN 298	M. Yazid	Beneteau First 42s7
23	IRC	Octopussy	THA 99	Malee Whitcraft	Farr MX41
24	IRC	LÕautre femme	SIN 1231	Brent Morgans	Beneteau First 40.7
25	IRC	SITA	THA 007	Nikolay Shkurin	Beneteau 45f5
26	IRC	Ruby Tuesday	NZL 6800	Wilfred Nagel	Young 11
	Provisional IRC 2 SPLIT			Provisional IRC 2 SPLIT
27	IRC	Madam Butterfly	GBR 4497	Peter Dyer	Modified Humphrys ¾ Ton
28	IRC	Waka Tere	SIN 333	Ken Eyears	Nelson 10m
29	IRC	Pheonix	JPN 777	Niels Dgenkole	X 3/4T Mk 2
30	IRC	Royal Thai Navy 1	THA 1993	Royal Thai Navy	Farr MRX
31	IRC	Royal Thai Navy 2	THA 817	Royal Thai Navy	Farr MRX
32	IRC	Royal Thai Navy 3	THA 816	Royal Thai Navy	Farr MRX
33	IRC	Abraxas	HKG282	Greg Coops	X-372
34	IRC	Simba	KS 5438	Bob Ashman	Dehler 39

	Class/Division	Boat Name	Sail No.	Skipper	Type
35	Sportsboats	Puma	THA 114	Koji Kikuchi	Platu 25
36	Sportsboat	Somtam Express	HKT 801	Scott Duncanson	Phuket 8
37	Sportsboat	Tua Lek	THA 118	Mike Downard	Platu 25
38	Sportsboat	Latitude 8	THA 125		Platu 25

	Class/Division	Boat Name	Sail No.	Skipper	Type
39	Premier	Intrigue	NZL 8818	Dr Ian Nicholson	Dubois 80
40	Premier	YoMo	GBR 1201	Bob Yapp	Next 56
41	Premier	Australian Maid	AUS 4100	Dr. Jon Wardill	Cassidy 55 Custom
42	Premier	Baby Tonga	MAS 99	Barry Eade	Beneteau 53f5
43	Premier	Lawana	THA 666		X 512
44	Premier	Ocean Agassy	RUS 1	Ermakov Ilya	Beneteau 53F5
45	Premier	Big A	MLT 1295	Horst Lankits	S&S Swan 53/55
46	Premier	Obsession II		Mario Zanasi	CMI Custom

	Class/Division	Boat Name	Sail No.	Skipper	Type
47	Bareboat Charter	Zola	DC2		Harmony 52 1.75 tandem
48	Bareboat Charter	Venture	5643	Mike Crisp	Hanse 400e
49	Bareboat Charter	Uhuru	B46	Murray Read/ R Adams	Baveria 46
50	Bareboat Charter	Emmjay	E1	Shizuo Furuya	Beneteau Cyclades 50.5
51	Bareboat Charter	Hugo	DC1		Harmony 47 1.60 tandem
52	Bareboat Charter	Kinnon	A11	Toshihiko Iijima	Hanse 400
53	Bareboat Charter	Danaya	S16	Jim Wallace	Sunsail Cyclades 43
54	Bareboat Charter	Sailom	S10	Sproncken	Sunsail Cyclades 43
55	Bareboat Charter	Morakot	S15	Chinyew Seah/Peter Leung	Sunsail Cyclades 43
56	Bareboat Charter	Sandy Ann	40	Alexander Ratkin	Jeanneau Sunodyssey 40
57	Bareboat Charter	Kamala	S9	Withers	Sunsail Cyclades 39
58	Bareboat Charter	Princess Anna	S1	Griese	Sunsail Odyssey 35
59	Bareboat Charter	Princess Arieta	S2	Ruedel	Sunsail Odyssey 35
60	Bareboat Charter	Princess Athena	S3	Jakob Handte	Sunsail Odyssey 35
61	Bareboat Charter	Princess Christina	S4	Maxim Titarenko	Sunsail Odyssey 35
62	Bareboat Charter	Princess Isabella	S5	Mcleod	Sunsail Odyssey 35
63	Bareboat Charter	Princess Sharda	S6	Tony Oates	Sunsail Odyssey 35
64	Bareboat Charter	Rachawadee	YP7	Naoki Wada	Beneteau Cyclades 39
65	Bareboat Charter	Shiraz	10	Daniel Schwalb	Baveria 38
66	Bareboat Charter	Tag	GB6010T	Toru Inoue	Feeling 10.90
67	Bareboat Charter	Little Eva	B34	John Ford	Baveria 34
68	Bareboat Charter	Fei Mao	B33	Shohtaroh Unno	Baveria 33
69	Bareboat Charter	Sarawadee	YP6	Chris Devonshire Ellis	SunOdyssey 32i
70	Bareboat Charter	Fidgi	THA	Keisuke Nagamatsu	Jeanneau Sunlight 30

	Class/Division	Boat Name	Sail No.	Skipper	Type
71	Cruising	Patrick	F8	Philippe DallŽe	Beneteau 43
72	Cruising	Aida	F183	Richard Macfarlane	Beneteau Oceanis 411
73	Cruising	Skylax	113968	Rod Heikell	Warwick Cardinal 46
75	Cruising	Lurline III	3	John Sanby	Davidson 54
75	Cruising	Rascal	HR53	Gavin Welman	Halberg-Rassy 53
76	Cruising	Rainbow Dream	19	Simon Piff	Lavranos 34
77	Cruising	Salamandra		Umberto Benvenuto	Beneteau Cyclades 43.4

	Class/Division	Boat Name	Sail No.	Skipper	Type
78	Firefly 850 Sports	Twin Sharks	FF 298	Brent Gribble	Firefly 850 Sport
79	Firefly 850 Sports	Moto Inzi	FF 222	Roger Kingdon	Firefly 850 Sport
80	Firefly 850 Sports	The Frog	FF 690	John Newham	Firefly 850 Sport
81	Firefly 850 Sports	Pagatoon	FF 007	Pierre Forsans	Firefly 850 Sport
82	Firefly 850 Sport	BlueNoZe	FF 959	Damien Kimball	Firefly 850 Sport
83	Firefly 850 Sport	Voodo	FF 777	Hans Rahman	Firefly 850 Sport
84	Firefly 850 Sport	SEA Property	FF 888	D. Ford	Firefly 850 Sport

	Class/Division	Boat Name	Sail No.	Skipper	Type
85	Multihulls	Thor	SW01	Henry Kaye/Fergus Wilmer	Seacart 30
86	Multihulls	Zhuka	1	Richard Eyre	Corsair
87	Multihulls	Miss Saigon	GBR 720M	David Liddell	Corsair C37
88	Multihulls	Shanghai Baby	213	Neil Ayre	Corsair 28R
89	Multihulls	Semico Cedar Swan	THA 94	Radab Kanjanavanit	F-9A
90	Multihulls	Da Vinci Nina		Grenville Fordham	Andaman Cabriolet
91	Multihulls	Little Soul	LS 1100	Nigel Cross	11m One Design
92	Multihulls	The Sting	11	David Wales	Corsair 750 Sprint
93	Multihulls	Pimalai Charm		Bob Garner	Farrier F31R
94	Multihulls	Storm	THA 747	Kim Thomas	Bi Plane
	Provisional IRC 2 SPLIT		Provisional IRC 2 SPLIT		Provisional IRC 2 SPLIT
95	Multihulls(Cruising)	Nipper		Timothy Robins	Lagoon 500
96	Multihulls (Cruising)	Sunfish III	3	Yoshiaki Fujitani	Prout Event 34

	Class/Division	Boat Name	Sail No.	Skipper	Type
97	Modern Classic	Windstar		Peter Wood	Commanche 42
98	Modern Classic	El Oro	GBR 2080	Simon Blundell
99	Modern Classic	Aleph	72	Clive L Gessing-Richardson	S&S 36
100	Modern Classic	Emerald Blue	48	Nick Band	S&S 48 Ketch
101	Modern Classic	Waconda	WYT	Simon Jupe	Hardin 45

	Class/Division	Boat Name	Sail No.	Skipper	Type
102	Classic	Alondra	1	R Tiemessen	Phillip Rhodes
103	Classic	Schwalbe		Christopher Edwards	Baltic Fishing
104	Classic	Sirius	None	Simon Morris	Schooner