Please select your home edition
Edition
Rooster 2025

Sail-World Asia at the Phuket King's Cup.

by Guy Nowell 6 Dec 2018 07:41 PST
Under the watchful eye of the Buddha. Phuket King's Cup 2018 © Guy Nowell / Phuket King's Cup

Of course it’s all about the Phuket King’s Cup at the moment: 32 years after it was started as a tribute to the late King Bhumiphol Adulyadej, the ‘Sailor King’ of Thailand, and two years after his sad demise, the King’s Cup continues albeit with a somewhat reduced entry list. If you want to max out the numbers as much as possible, then 72 keelboats and 97 dinghies make it, once again, far and away the biggest regatta in Asia. Going into the Lay Day after three days of good sailing breeze (even if it was a bit soft on the Tuesday) with all scheduled races completed, and the cream is starting to float to the top of the divisions. Ray Roberts went shopping for yet another TP52 (formerly Provezza 8) in order to beat Kevin Whitcraft’s all-conquering THA72 (formerly Provezza 7), and so far the Team Hollywood programme is bang on target. Mandrake III (Nick Burns/Fred Kinmonth) would very much like to follow-on from a win at the Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta last month with an IRC 1 win at King’s Cup. Yes, they are leading with seven of the ten-race card completed, but they’ll have to fight for it, with the top three boats scoring presently on 13, 13.5 and 14 points.

Antipodes (Geoff Hill) and Firstlight (Andy Cox) are level on points in the Premier division, while Team Scallywag are being given a good thrashing on corrected time by Dan Fidock’s 40ft tri, Fugazi. The Charter and Bareboat divisions are dominated by Russian (12) and Chinese (7) entries. If you want to grow your regatta fleet around here, we suggest you make friends with a nearby charter operation, and start issuing NORs and SIs in Russian and Chinese!

The China Cup people (Across Four Oceans Sailing Event Management) are spreading their wings. The 2019 Inaugural Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao-Greater Bay Area Regatta & Macao Cup International Regatta is, presumably, a way to better occupy the huge office secretariat that runs CCIR - we have always wondered why it takes so many salaried staff to run one five-day regatta per year. And of course it gives the China Cup fleet of Beneteau 40.7s something to do.

“Organized by the Sports Bureau of Macao SAR Government and China Cup International Regatta Organizing Committee, the inaugural Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao-Greater Bay Area Regatta & Macao Cup International Regatta is scheduled to take place 10-13 January 2019,” in the turbid waters off Hac Sa Beach, Coloane. “We hereby sincerely inviting international teams to join and participate in this first ever sailing carnival in Macao,” says the blurb.

One month is rather short notice for most people, and not everyone will be willing to fork out HKD10,000 to charter a boat of highly questionable one-design-ness. The China Cup Beneteau fleet is notorious for being far from ‘One Design’, and the skipper of one of the entries this year described the sails as “the worst-cut sails I have ever seen. I had a sailmaker in the crew, and we were intending to re-cut the No 1 before the event started, but that would have been against the One Design regulations. So I guess they were all just as bad.”

In the current climate of anti-corruption and anti-excess promoted by the central Chinese government, sailing is an aceptable way of spending dollars because it is a sport. And as all boat owners know, you can spend a lot of dollars on a boat - every year. Just saying.

If you are interested in a few days in Macau, all expenses paid (except for the entry fee, of course), please contact Yuna Zhu yuna@chncup.com

Meanwhile, standing by on 72.

Related Articles

A brief history of marine instrument networks
Hugh Agnew has been involved since the outset, and continues to develop at the cutting edge One man who has been involved since the outset, and continues to develop at the cutting edge, is Hugh Agnew, the Cambridge-educated mathematician who is one of the founders of A+T Instruments in Lymington, so I spoke to him to find out more... Posted on 25 Jun
Harald Findlay on the 2025 Edgartown Race Weekend
A Q&A with Harald Findlay on the 2025 Edgartown Race Weekend When it comes to racing sailboats on the East Coast of the United States in the summer months, few places are as classic as the waters surrounding Martha's Vineyard's northwestern flank. Posted on 18 Jun
Sailing and the summer solstice
Celebrating sailing and the longest day of the year If you love long evenings and early mornings, this is one of the best times of the whole year, as the summer solstice (Friday, June 20) and the entire rich expanse of summer are about to burst into bloom. Posted on 17 Jun
Video Review: The Amazing Cure 55
Composite Construction meets Cruising Convenience It was two years ago at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show that I talked to Dave Biggar about his ideas and plans for the Cure 55. At the 2025 show I got to step on board the yacht and see how his ideas became reality. Posted on 17 Jun
The Big Bash
Every summer the tournament rolls into town. A short format of the game. Fun and excitement abound. Every summer the tournament rolls into town. Local and international players. A short format of the game, run over a relatively compact six-week season. Posted on 15 Jun
The oldest video footage of Kiel Week
A look back into our video archive at the Kieler Woche of the 60s and early 70s In our series of articles looking back in time through our video archive, we visit Germany. Kiel Week is been a crucial event on the world circuit, and here we look back at the Kieler Woche of the 60s and early 70s. Posted on 15 Jun
Nick Olson on PredictWind's newest features
Nick Olson discusses PredictWind's newest features PredictWind has long been a leader in presenting high-quality marine forecasts. Nick Olson discusses the company's newest features. Posted on 12 Jun
The X-Yachts Gold Cup Experience
A celebration of sailing, of X-Yachts and, most importantly of all, people Having just returned from Haderslev, Denmark - which is the home of X-Yachts and played host to the X-Yachts Gold Cup 2025 - I was left wondering if this was a racing event, a rally or a social celebration amongst close friends. Posted on 10 Jun
Getting excited for the Van Isle 360
Quoting a famous line from Pink Floyd's "Time" As I pack for the first half of the 2025 Van Isle 360 International Yacht Race, I find myself thinking about the last time I did this race, a certain Pink Floyd song, and the great adventuring, sailing and time with friends that awaits. Posted on 3 Jun
Robert Burke on HRCS's Dyckman Marina facility
Robert Burke discusses the upcoming closure of HRCS's Dyckman Marina facility Community sailing organizations are a fantastic and affordable way of drawing new sailors into the sport. Unfortunately, the Hudson River Community Sailing is being forced to close one of its two locations in January. Posted on 3 Jun
PredictWind - GPS 728x90 BOTTOMRS Sailing 2021 - FOOTERArmstrong 728x90 - Performance Mast Range - BOTTOM