Phuket King's Cup 2022 - Keelboat racing day 2

by Phuket King's Cup Media 5 Dec 2022 08:26 PST 5-10 December 2022

5 December 2022, Phuket – Sailors did not have to wait long to get underway at the 34th Phuket King’s Cup Regatta as good wind gusting to 20 knots, held allowing Race Officer Simon James to get in three windward-leeward races for the IRC Zero, and IRC One classes. The IRC Premier Cruising, Charter Cruising and the Multihull classes were each sent on a single passage race.

17 keelboats and multihulls spread over five classes are competing in the Asia’s longest-running and most illustrious regatta, held over five days racing through scenic courses amidst the beautiful Andaman Sea islands. Combined with the 182 participating dinghies it brings the total of participating boats to just below 200. A great bounce back as the regatta was put on hold in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

All eyes are on the three-boat IRC Zero class as all three entries have won the King’s Cup before. Kevin Whitcraft’s TP52 THA72 is up against another TP52 Ray Roberts Team Hollywood as well as Sarab Jeet Singh and Nick Burns’ Welbourne 52 Windsikher. All three yachts have finely-tuned crew and cunning & knowledgeable skippers – this will be a battle for the ages. On day one, THA 72 captured the first two races with Team Hollywood winning the final race of the day, after finishing second in the first two contests. Windsikher had to play bridesmaid today, finishing third in all three races. So, THA 72 leads the class with four points followed closely by Team Hollywood with five and Windsikher in third spot with ten points. The majority of the crew on THA 72 raced as the Vayu team in the TP52 Super Series this past summer in Europe. Don Whitcraft, who helmed THA 72 today, spoke after the race: “It was great to be back on the water. We had a couple of practice days, but today was a big day, hard racing, with three races, nine laps in total. It was really good, windier than previous days, a baptism by fire. The first two races went well for us, the third race we didn’t have a great start and Team Hollywood took advantage of that.”

The six-boat IRC One class has Craig Douglas’ Ramrod, a Farr 40, take home wins in races two and three after finishing third in race one. They stand in first place with six points. A first, fourth and second-place finish in that order have Morten Jakobsen’s Hanuman XXXIX, a VX One, in second spot with seven points heading into day two. In third place with eight points is Garry Holt’s Let’s Get It On, a Corby 37, as it had one second-place finish and two thirds today. You may remember this yacht as it used to be called Jessandra II when it was owned by Andrew McDermott, and most of its crew were ladies.

Kazuki Kihara’s Char Chan, a First 40.7, sits in fourth spot in the IRC One class with 13 points, based on a fourth, and second-place finish today, even the boat did not start the final race. Matti Sepp’s Judy, a Farr 30, was next with 14 points earning two fifths and a fourth-place. Craig Nichols Alright, a Sydney 40 (formerly owned by Scott Bradley and called Emagine), brought up the pack as it had a tough day with 20 points based on two DNFs and a sixth spot in race two.

For full Big Boat and Dinghy results, please go to: www.kingscup.com/result