It took a couple hours of waiting around under the hot sun, but when Mother Nature decided to cooperate, she did so in full force and anyone who was lucky enough to be in the area was able to see the majesty of the Phuket King’s Cup under full sail.

Famed lensman Guy Nowell was able to capture the beauty of the scene and his fabulous images are on the regatta’s website. There are so many highly skilled sailors competing in this regatta, including Olympic participants and champions as well as many veterans of the famed Rolex Sydney-Hobart race.

There are also a couple World Match Racing stars, including Adam Minoprio sailing on Team Hollywood (he also sailed in the America’s Cup) as well as Mati Sepp, helming Gern Kard.

Regionally, Maxi Soh, who is helming Di Hard, is a Singaporean who won the inaugural Match Racing League at the Marina Barrage, the Hong Kong Match Racing International, and the Chicago Match Race Center’s Summer Invitational.

In the ever-so-close Class Zero — the battle of the TP52s — Ray Roberts’ Team Hollywood beat Kevin Whitcraft’s Vayu TH 72 by eight seconds in the first race and by ONE second in the second with Team Vayu capturing the first race when handicap was applied. Although Team Vayu already has won this class, the whole King’s Cup sailing community is abuzz with anticipation as Her Majesty Queen Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana will sail on Vayu tomorrow in the final day of racing.

The seven-boat IRC 1 class is still up for grabs as Nick Burns’s Blitz (HKG) won race one today and Rolf Heemskerk’s The Next Factor (MAS) the second, so Blitz leads the class by one point heading into tomorrow’s racing. Craig Nicholls/James Bury’s Alright (AUS) has a commanding hold on third spot. Blitz narrowly avoided disaster at the beginning of the second race when it got caught on the anchor rope of the start boat. Some quick thinking and deft maneuvering by the three boats immediately following it avoided a major crash.

Mati Sepp’s Gern Kard (Estonia) has the seven-boat IRC 2 class wrapped up, but the rest of the spots on the podium in this class are undecided with Lee Yi Min’s (Singapore), sitting in second with 17 points, Maksim Lisun’s Uminoko (NEU) in third with 20 points, and Kevin Mahney’s Boomers on Madame Butterfly (GBR) in fourth with 23 points.

The Premier Class winner is also coming down to the final day with Peter Cremers Shatoosh holding a one-point lead over Thailand’s Ithinai Yingsiri’s Pine Pacific. Hans Rahmann’s Yasooda, despite winning many of the races in his class on elapsed time, will finish third overall due to handicap.

Luminous-Tiburon has the six-boat Bareboat Charter Class wrapped up while Xiong Tin’s Mermaid from China has second spot sewn up. But third place is still a dogfight as Yu Zhengjun’s BW’s Flyingware Sailing Team (CHN), sits in a third-place tie with Allen Chai’s Penghu Ocean Mists (TWN), both with 24 points.

Igor Ginzberg’s Wind of Change (NEU) has won the seven-boat Monohull Cruising, but second and third place are still undecided. Currently, William Wu’s Team Whitewave from China sits in second with 17 points, France’s Philippe Dallee’s sleek Swan II, is in third place with 19 points, and Tim A Hartnoll’s magnificent Cariad is in fourth with 21 points.

The six-boat Multihull class is still close because of the performance handicap system PRO Simon James is using in this class. John Newnham’s Twin Sharks (GBR) still sits atop this division with eight points, followed by Andrew McDermott’s Trident (GBR) with 13 points. They have a two-point lead over Ryan Merrill’s Compass Rose (THA) heading into tomorrow’s racing. Fang Liang Zhou’s Joy Joy (CHN) and James Baxter’s Zephyrus (GBR), are both close behind with 17 points each.

Moving over to the dinghy racing series: after ten races, the ILCA4 U18 female class has Prin Subying maintaining her lead atop the leaderboard with 39 points, after ten races. Next up is Paranee Muangngam (49 pts), followed by Pichayapa Kamutatira (90 pts), all representing the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand (YRAT). The ILCA4 U18 male class has the deft Ton Rattana keeping his first-place spot (23 pts), followed closely by Darwin Hsu (26 pts) and Ton’s twin brother Torn (39 pts), all representing the Royal Varuna Yacht Club (RVYC).

The ILCA6 Open Class has YRAT’s Kan Kachachuen still in spot with 13 points after ten races. He’s closely followed by RTNA’s NC Voravong Rachrattanaruk (11 pts) while last year’s winner Claudia Nazarov sits tied in third spot with Chatree Makmul, both with 31 points.

After seven races in the Open Skiff U17 class, UWC’s Punthita Werotjanakul and Puttisun Limpanon sit one-two with 9 and 16 pts respectively, followed India’s Eashaan Mehta (20 pts).

The ILCA/7 OK Dinghy class has NRS’ Bowonnan Chanram maintaining top spot after ten races with a net total of 16 pts. RVYC’s Morten Jakobsen sits in second (19 pts) and RTNYC’s Chairat Dangdeemark sits in third place with 25 points.

After seven races, YRAT’s Suthon Yampinid & Kram Chantarawinij kept their lead in the International 420/470 Open Class with 17 points after today’s racing in Kata Bay. YRAT’s Chalisa Krittanai and Nut Butmarasri is second with 21 points while YRAT’s teams of Pitipoom Jaroenpon & Worrakan Saksiriklom are tied with Thanapat Siricharoen and Ardchawit Ittivorakul for third spot, each with 24 points.

In the third day of racing in the female Optimist class Prapassorn Kaewpron (25 pts) has a narrow lead over Pariyaporn Chantarawong (28 pts), followed by Surapha Muangngam with 36 points, all representing YRAT. Adison Ein (15 pts), has jumped into the lead in the male Optimist class, followed by Nattapon Chailob (33 pts) and Suthinan Nakpasom (35 pts), and again all YRAT sailors.

In total, there are 40 keelboats and multihulls competing (383 sailors) in the big boat classes, while there are 118 dinghies (130 sailors) competing in the dinghy series.

The Regatta’s sponsors, including Host Sponsor Kata Group, Amazing Thailand, Centara Hotel & Resorts, Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul, RMA Group, Coca Cola Haad Thip PCL, Garmin Thailand, Ford Thailand, RICOH (Thailand), the Singha Corporation, and National Telecom Public Company Limited.

For more information and results, please visit www.kingscup.com.

by Scott Murray