Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek 2019
by Guy Nowell 17 Jul 2019 09:11 PDT
18-21 July 2019
Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek 2019. The Lighthouse Bar © Guy Nowell
OK so the lighthouse doesn’t feature too strongly at the Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek, but I walk past it every time I go to my room, and thought it deserved a mention.
I’ve posted plenty of pictures of this regatta venue before – sunshine, palm trees, neatly-manicured greensward – and it is a truly delightful place. Sadly, a thunderstorm raging overhead and torrential rain has prompted this evening’s opening ceremony and party to be moved indoors, but there’s always tomorrow…
Ironically, this event was started in 2003 in response to a painful run of super light breeze at the Phuket King’s Cup, which takes place every year in December – ‘high season’ in Thailand. “Why not have a regatta in the low season, summer, when the south west monsoon blows (and it rains!). Sailors don’t mind getting wet, and there’s plenty of breeze.” Over the last couple of years, Phuket Raceweek has delivered in spades – sunshine AND breeze, and Grade A racing. Why on earth this event didn’t win a ‘Regatta of the Year’ title in 2018 is a mystery, but then who gets what when the awards are handed out is always a bit of a mystery, isn’t it?
There were 34 entries on the card this afternoon, but word now has it that Chong Wei Yong’s chartered TP52 East Sail (which is/was Ray Roberts’ previous steed) has dropped out for lack of crew (thinks: one phone call to the Main Bar at RHKYC could have fixed that) denying us the pleasure of a TP52 match race for the IRC0 division – the other one of course is Ray Roberts’ current ride, Team Hollywood (formerly Provezza 8).
Further fresh news is that Garry Holt’s Eastern Creek Karts, prepared and tweaked by Michael Spies, has withdrawn from IRC 2 due to unspecified damage. Spiesy was last seen in front of a computer trying to get a few points sliced off the handicap, so we are sorry not to be seeing that particular lil’ Aussie battler out on the racecourse.
That leaves four 40-somethings in IRC1, and three well-campaigned boats in IRC 2, including Niels Degenkolw’s ¾ tonner Phoenix gunning for a fourth consecutive title. 10 entries in the IRC Cruising division makes up the biggest division of the regatta, and some of those would be perfectly happy in IRC 2. Five Firefly 850s and eight other Racing Multihulls – a mix of slippery trimarans and more muscular cats. Alan Carwardine’s Phantom won by a whisker last week at the Multihull Solutions Regatta, and once again goes up against Warwick Downes’ Bonza (formerly Fugazi, formerly 3itch), and the new Fugazi (Dan Fidock) is in there too. Are you still with me?
Like I said at the beginning, sailors don’t mind getting wet, as long as there is breeze. And this is Phuket, so the rain is warm anyway. The forecast for the next few days is “unsettled”, which really means that there is some chance that the garden party venue might not be flooded again tomorrow. Why do we look at forecasts anyway? If it says the weather is going to be rubbish does that mean you stay in bed and don’t go out to the start area? No, it doesn’t.
I am very happy that I bought plenty of camera waterproofing with me, and we’ll see you on the start line for the first race of the 2019 Cape Panwa Hotel Phuket Raceweek, tomorrow. By the way, the breakfast here is brilliant…
Standing by on 72.