Light boats favoured for start of King’s Cup racing

by Tracey Johnstone on 29 Nov 2009 The forecast for the first day of racing in the Phuket King’s Cup, which commences tomorrow, indicates the boats set-up to handle light airs will have a significant advantage over their rivals.

Unlike the last two years when the fleet started the regatta is 20 plus knots, the forecast for this year’s start is around eight knots with the longer range forecast expecting 12 plus knots on day two and then a much stronger breeze of up to 15 knots by day three on Wednesday.

Right now though, all the crews are looking at how to lighten the load on board.

Over three quarters of the record 110-boat fleet headed out during this afternoon testing sails and crew in the light afternoon breeze. It was a stunning sight for tourists and locals as the boats participating in the practice race sailed in front of the packed Kata Beach, gliding across the Andaman Sea horizon under a picture perfect blue sky.

PRO Jerry Rollins reported the on-water team worked well this afternoon using the practice race to double check all systems were ready. He also acknowledged there were probably a few nervous skippers out this afternoon.

One boat that did not get out until later afternoon was Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban, defending champion of the division IRC1. Having arrived in late last night Allen found himself during the early afternoon waiting for two sails to be measured by the very busy IRC measurer, Malcolm Runnalls, He then had to contend with some fur on the bottom of the boat grown there since Ichi Ban was put in the water at Port Klang quite a while ago.

Allen said he was not concerned by the light air forecast. 'Last year we started off with just on 20 knots and then it lightened out during the week. We had a lot of races in the low to mid-teens. Our boat is pretty much set-up for light airs. We might be a bit shorter in sail area and a little bit lower rated than our other sister-ships, but it would only be very marginal. We hope we can cover that either with the rating or just by sailing smarter.'

Straight out of the tactically challenging Raja Muda regatta, Hong Kong’s Geoff Hill, owner of the TP52 Strewth, said the differences in performance in the King’s Cup Racing Division this year will come down to crew work and wind. In preparation his team has changed the boat’s rig settings. 'We have also had a look at some of the crew work and positioning, and basically organised our crew work accordingly.'

Strewth started the practice race completing the first windward and leeward legs before tacking away to do more tweaking, try a few new tricks and line up against other boats in their division to look at their boat speed in the light wind.

No dramas for Evolution Racing’s Ray Roberts as he appeared late in the afternoon to register. 'No problems, all ready' he said rushing through registration. His only concern he chuckled may occur overnight if he loses any of his crew.

IRC racer Katsu avoided the practice race using the afternoon to allocate crew positions across the 10-man crew. With only three crew from the Raja Muda aboard, owner Ben Copley was keen to get some practice time with the new team.

At the Regatta Briefing, PRO Jerry Rollins confirmed the racing divisions would race a probable eight or nine races over windward/leewards courses with long island courses only being set on 'reliable wind ' days. Ross Chisholm, RO for the cruiser/racer divisions confirmed these fleets would have less emphasis on windward/leeward courses instead enjoying a mixture which wil include coastal courses.

In the Phuket King’s Cup Dinghy Regatta six windward/leeward races were conducted. On day one in the Taser class G-String skippered by Phil Lawson and crewed by Thanasorn Chookate, was the dominant boat winning two races. In the Topazs Jonas Johansson and Tanawat Sarawaree were clear leaders with 3-1-1 results. The Laser class, with adults and youth racing side by side, 16-year-old Anusorn Loywat was the winning skipper.

Day two of the regatta saw the fleet again racing in light airs. PRO Mark Pryke said he found across the three classes very close racing. It was the last race of the second day that proved the trickiest for Pryke with the breeze swinging significantly before it finally settled just before the gun to give the fleet a downwind start.

The final winner’s results, after one drop, were Topaz – Jonas Johansson and Tanawat Sarawaree 3-1-1-1-1-1 and in the Tasars – Phil Lawson and Thanasorn Chookate 2-1-1-1-2-2. In the Laser division the Radials out gunned the full rigs with Anusorn Loywat finishing first with six first places. Full results of the dingy regatta can be found at http://www.kingscup.com/showFile.cfm?fid=1099.

With the closing of two days of registration and sail measurement the King’s Cup event organisers are now getting ready for the Phuket King’s Cup Opening Ceremony to be held this evening at Kata Beach Resort which will herald the start of the event. Phuket’s Vice Governor Khun Tri Akaradecha and Vice Admiral Apiwat Srivardhana will be honoured guests at the function. The Master of Ceremonies will be Christopher King, past president and founder of the Phuket King’s Cup.