Phuket King's Cup 2022 - Measurement Day
by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia 3 Dec 2022 07:12 PST
5-10 December 2022
Phuket King's Cup 2022: back in the Land of Smiles © Guy Nowell
On 08 December 2019 I took the transport from Kata Beach to Phuket Airport, in company with that old media stalwart, Martins Rijkuris. The Phuket King’s Cup 2019 was over, but it was the end of an era in more ways than one. A week later Capt Marty had unexpectedly passed away, and a month later Covid-19 engulfed us all. International travel went on hold, and spells of quarantine became the soup du jour anytime you wanted to move from A to B. Regattas, of course, were cancelled willy-nilly. That was then, and it seems like a million years ago, and the world has changed for ever.
A full three years later, as the world reapproaches some sort of normality, here we are back in Phuket, waiting for the King’s Cup to kick off again. It’s been a long wait, especially for those of us who have been hampered by C-19 ‘regulations’ more than others. It all looks very familiar, but a seat in a roadside restaurant is easy to come by, the bars are thinly populated, and there are a great many shuttered shop fronts.
But you have to start somewhere, so three cheers for the Phuket King’s Cup, the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand and the regatta’s principal sponsors – Kata Group, RMA Group, Coca Cola, Ford, and B&G Electrical Marine – for putting a hand in the air and saying, “yes, we’re back.”
It’s no surprise that the fleet entry is a little reduced this year. Top honours will be contested by Ray Roberts’ Team Hollywood, Kevin Whitcraft’s THA 72, and Sarab Jeet Singh’s Windsikher, fresh from (another) victory at last week’s Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta in Malaysia. All three boats are past King’s Cup winners, driven by steely-eyed missile men, and expecting no quarter to be given.
Three more King’s Cup veterans – Shashtoosh, Pine Pacific, and Firstlight – will line up for the Premier Cruising start. For sure, entries have been badly affected in the wake of the global Covid-19 pandemic, with international visitors in short supply, but the important thing is to “get back on the horse” so to speak. Asia’s most celebrated regatta is in business once again after a two-year break, and the big boat divisions are massively supported by a dinghy fleet of well over 100 boats. It’s time to sail, and it’s time to party afterwards. Last one off the beach and into a longtail is a custard tart. So let’s get measured and get registered, and let's get it on!