Last Gasp: Phuket Raceweek 2022 at Cape Panwa Hotel

by PRW Media 4 Jul 2022 02:30 PDT 29 June - 03 July 2022

The 19th Phuket Raceweek came to a close yesterday, as the old saying goes “not with a bang, but a whimper”. But never mind - when the regatta calendar has been minced as badly as it was over the last couple of years, three days of good racing in beautiful surroundings was more than enough to bring out the smiles. Twenty boats, divided over six classes, sailed in the event, with 200 sailors from 20 countries. PRO Simon James squeezed in six races for every class, two on each day, so there was a ‘drop’. Smiles all round – welcome back, Phuket Raceweek.

After an enforced leave of absence, Ray Roberts took up his usual place in the Cape Panwa breakfast room, and also resumed his proper place on the racecourse – first. Team Hollywood landed back in Thailand with a bang, scooping the four-boat IRC 0 honours with some nifty sailing and manoeuvring on the water. James Bury and Craig Nicholls’ Alright followed on in second place, Garry Holt’s Let’s Get it On placed third, and Ramrod (Douglas/Ketelby) finished fourth. The peripatetic Aussies now know that sails in un-airconditioned storage for a couple of years is not a viable option. Actually, ALL the IRC 0 boats were crewed by sailors from Australia who flew up specifically to sail in the regatta. That says something, surely?

IRC 1 was IRC 0 without Teeam Hollywood. Alright took top prize, Let’s Get It On (ex-Jessandra II) ran in second, and Ramrod collected the “Thank You for Coming” trophy for third place.

Nobody could, or was ever going to, get close to Dan Fidock’s Parabellum in the OMR Racing Multiclass. Helmed by Joel Berg, the Extreme 40 took line honours in each race, winning on handicap too, and drawing the admiration of everyone involved. Warwick Downes’ Bonza played second fiddle, followed by Alan Carwardine’s Saffron and Glywn Rowlands’ Twister 2. Carwardine and Asia Catamarans have been a long-standing supporter of Phuket Raceweek, and the organisers are delighted to note their sponsorship of day 3 racing and prizegiving.

John Newnham has been here before, and knows his way around the race course. So it was that Twin Sharks edged out Hans Rahmann’s Voodoo for the Firefly 850 title, with Ray Waldron (Surf Patrol) and George Eddings (Blue Nose) coming in third and fourth respectively.

The IRC Cruising division was the tightest battle in the regatta. APW Endeavour of Whitby and Phoenix finished tied on points atop the leader board with seven points each. The tiebreaking formula goes like this: first, it’s the highest number of wins, then it’s the highest number of second-place finishes, followed by the highest number of third-place showings. If they are still even after that — and they were — it boils down to who had the highest placing in the last race, and that was APW Endeavour of Whitby. If we know Niels Degenkolw, he’ll be back with a smoother bottom next year.

Toshiro Furuta’s Japanese crew on Sakura came third in the class, followed by Kirill Stashevsky on Agata. Fred Haes’ Venture finished fifth, and Kantus Bride, the only all-Thai entry in the regatta, helmed by Kampon Sutara, was sixth.

Tristan Hamilton’s Pulse Grey swept every race (six in a row) to take the Pulse 600 class, with Paul “Flatty” Baker skippering Pulse Yellow, and collecting the consolation prize in what had unfortunately become a two-boat division.

The founders of Phuket Raceweek, Andy Dowden and Grenville Fordham were on hand for the third night’s ceremony presenting digital and printed versions of their Southeast Asia Pilot to the class winners on the day. They set up Phuket Raceweek in July 2004 as an antidote to a long run of light wind winter season King’s Cups, and taking advantage of the good winds brought in by the southwest monsoon.

The Closing Party and final series prize giving were staged at the host venue, Cape Panwa Hotel. The Guest of Honour was Vice Admiral Sompong Nakthong of Navy 3 Area Command, who presented the Final Series Awards. Many thanks to Wicky Sundrum for being the Master of Ceremonies for the opening and closing night festivities, while James Haste did the honours on race days one and three.

PRW Organisers have set the dates for the 20th Phuket Raceweek, 28 June – 02 July 2023. That gives Byron and Rung Jones rather more notice to put together the next event. This year, the event was not confirmed until the first week of May… less than eight weeks ago. All credit to them and to the Cape Panwa Hotel staff for pulling the event out of a hat so quickly and so well.

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