37th Phuket King's Cup - Day 4
by Scott Murray 5 Dec 03:28 AEDT
29 November - 6 December 2025
37th Phuket King's Cup 2025. Red Rum chases Skadoosh © Guy Nowell / Phuket King's Cup
Queen Suthida was on board Vayu THA 72 for the second straight day today for the 37th Phuket King's Cup, and brought with her a pinch of good luck as the Thai boat took line honours in both races in the IRC Class Zero, won the second race on corrected time and maintained their lead in the division after four days of competition.
PRO Simon James took the sailors to the same spot as yesterday to find wind between Koh Kaeo Yai and Koh Kaeo Noi just off of Rawai. He then sent IRC Zero, IRC 1 and the Premier classes on course 25 twice, a two-lap windward-leeward course, while sending IRC 2, Bareboat A & B, the Monohull Cruising class and the one multihull racing on one windward-leeward course. He had hoped to get the big boats off on an around-the-islands course, but the wind started to wane just before the second race, so the windward-leeward race was repeated instead.
Steve McConaghy's Aftershock had its best day on the water yet, winning the IRC Class Zero opener and finishing second in the race, flipflopping results with Kevin & Tom Whitcraft's THA 72, Vayu. Ray Roberts' Team Hollywood didn't fare so well, finishing third in both races. After four races, THA 72 Vayu has a three-point advantage over Aftershock and Team Hollywood.
The seven-boat IRC 1 class saw Rolf Heemskerk's The Next Factor first across the line, beating Craig Nichols's Alright by 00:03:19 on corrected time with Nick Burns' Blitz by 00:01:33 behind Alright. After four races in this class, The Next Factor has a three-point advantage over both Blitz and Alright.
Thailand's Ithinai Yingsiri's Pine Pacific continued its strong showing in the regatta winning its fourth straight race, beating Hans Rahmann's Yasooda by 00:06:37 on corrected time. Peter Cremers' Shahtoosh was third in the class today, almost twenty minutes behind Yasooda. So, after four races Pine Pacific has a five-point advantage over Shahtoosh and a seven-point advantage over Yasooda.
The seven-boat IRC class 2 saw Sergei Musikhin's Madame Butterfly beat Mati Sepp's RTS-Baltic (Estonia) by 48 seconds on corrected time, though Mati's Sepp's boat was first across the line with an elapsed time of 00:52:59. Viktor Zakharov's B2 (Getaway Ichi) placed third, just over three minutes behind Sepp's crew. After four races, Madame Butterfly sits in first spot in this class, with a two-point advantage over RTS-Baltic and an eight-point advantage over B2 (Getaway Ichi).
The four-boat Bareboat Charter A class saw Andrei Novikov's Gloria (ARM) first across the line beating Aleksei Brunov's Moonshine 00:02:35 on corrected time. Feng Chen's Isabella (CHN) was third, 00:08:48 behind Moonshine. After three races in this class, Gloria has a two-point advantage over both Moonshine and Isabella.
The four boats competing in the Bareboat Charter B class saw Hideyuki Miyachi's Amigo II win on both elapsed and corrected with Takashi Ito's Team Miyakomuru (Sariya) second 00:11:05 behind on corrected time, and Maximillian Soh's (CHN) Piccolo third, finishing 00:13:05 behind Sariya. After three races in this class, Amigo II sits in first spot with one-point advantage over Sariya and a five-point advantage over Piccolo.
Eight boats are competing in the monohull cruising class and Oleksly Borysov's Ronin was first over the line in this class today, claiming victory over Igor Ginzberg's Wind of Change by 00:03:57 on corrected time. The sleek Swan II, skipped by Philippe Dallee, was third 00:03:32 behind Wind of Change. Overall, after three races, Swan II has a one-point advantage over Oleksly's Borysov's Ronin and a two-point advantage over Duan Duan.
Ryan Merrill's Compass Rose is the only boat racing in the multihull class, and the catamaran again raced with cruising monos to give the crew some company on the water, though Simon did shorten the course for them as the wind started to die down.
The evening's party and prize presentations were at the Ska Bar, while tomorrow's lay day has been canceled to make up for Tuesday's lack of wind, and lack or racing, so there are two more days of racing scheduled in the 37th Phuket King's Cup and almost all podium positions are up for grabs.