Record fleet for 20th Phuket King's Cup Regatta

Created by doina. Last modified on 2006-12-04 14:37:28
Topic: Rallies
Countries: Thailand

Over 100 yachts will form the biggest fleet on record when racing starts off the southern resort island of Phuket today. The Phuket King’s Cup Regatta celebrates its 20th year and the regatta’s patron, His Majesty the King of Thailand, celebrates the 60th year of his accession to the Throne. This year’s fleet will be the biggest on record anywhere in Asia, no wonder this event was named Yachting Event of the Year at the prestigious Christofle Asia Boating Awards in Singapore. The competition is expected to be tough in all 13 classes, which will race over a variety of island passage races on the Andaman Sea and windward/leeward courses directly out off Kata Beach.

The IRC Racing class is stronger than ever and dominated by Hong Kong-based boats except for Karakoa from the Philippines. The Multihull classes have blossomed in recent years with a healthy boat building center in Phuket, which now includes a fleet of colorful Firefly 850 Sport cats that are renowned for their speed and excitement. Several owners have traded up into very big premier cruising class yachts which are always a great sight to behold as they set their huge sails and line up together on the start line.

The Ocean Rover division is open to all bonafide visiting yachts and cruisers with at least ten entries this year from a variety of countries. To encourage cruising yachts to take part the entry fee was halved from 16,000Baht to 8,000B.

The first day of racing, sponsored by Chivas, starts today and is a race around the south islands of Phuket, a long passage race favored by the larger yachts and the small, fast Multihulls. The principal sponsor of the Regatta is Raimon Land PLC, who are joined by Kata Group, TMB Bank Plc, Chivas Brothers (UK), Royal Phuket Marina, Thai Beverages PLC, Thai Airways International PLC, Mom Tri’s Boathouse, Coutts Bank, Sunsail, Phuket Magazine, The Nation, Phuket Gazette and a host of local businesses which support the event.

Fore more information on the event, go to http://www.kingscup.com