The Phuket King's Cup Regatta is Asia's biggest and most popular regatta. Inaugurated in 1987 to celebrate the 60th birthday of His Majesty the King of Thailand, the event has been held every year since during the first week of December.
With the Royal Patronage of His Majesty the King, the Regatta is organised by the Phuket King's Cup Regatta Organizing Committee under the auspices of the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, in conjunction with the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand, the Royal Thai Navy and the Province of Phuket.
King's Cup racing machines rev up as record fleet hits Phuket
It is less than two days before the start gun fires in Thailand's 23rd Phuket King's Cup and many of the crews are already talking up regatta challenges.
Leading the record international fleet of 110 boats will be the 11 Racing Division yachts ranging in size from Kevin Whitcraft's GP42 up to Frank Pong's 76-foot Jelik II. In the middle though is a group of 50-foot yachts that are fast, competitive racing machines, ready to do battle.
Top of the list at the start of this year's event is the Ray Roberts team. Winners of last year's King's Cup Racing Division with the DK46 Quantum Racing, Roberts, is back again, this time with his TP52, Evolution Racing.
After using last week's Raja Muda Selangor Regatta "as a training run" to fine-tune the boat and assess their competition for the King's Cup, and after finishing second to Neil Pryde's Hi-Fi in this regatta, Roberts has decided some small tweaking of his yacht's sail wardrobe is necessary before the first race on Monday.
"From that regatta we have decided to get a new spinnaker. Half the racing in the King's Cup is like a coastal course and often you find you are in very tight reaching conditions. We are getting a specialist sail made for those tight reaching conditions to try and get us between the transition when you get wind shift, a tight angle to the mark or around an island. We saw that we needed that sail in the Raja Muda." Roberts says the sail will be built at his Evolution Sails loft.
He will also add another important element to his already well-performing yacht and crew lead by Steve McConaghy with the inclusion of New Zealand Olympian and Finn class sailor, Dan Slater.
With an eye on the competition, Roberts is expecting to encounter some good, close racing. "We have now got five 50 footers racing on the Asian circuit so that means the racing is extremely good across the five boats. They are all very good boats and are all sailed by very good, competent crew. You have got to get it right all the time. If you make any small mistake then somebody jumps in and knocks you out of a place."
Other entrants in the Racing Division are Frank Pong's Jelik II (RP76), Markus Fiala's Tazo Too (Farr 11s), Geoff Hill's Strewth (TP52), Russ Paker's Ffreefire (TP52), Bill Bremner and Andy Cocks's Foxy Lady IV TP52), Nick Burns's EFG Bank Mandrake (Mills 51), Regatta President Kevin Whitcraft's AA (GP42), Audrey Arbuzov's PH Plus (Elliott 46) and Chirs Meads's Full Metal Jacket (Corby 43 custom).
Neil Pryde fully intends keeping Roberts out of first place this year when the numbers get counted at the end of the prestigious King's Cup."Evolution Racing will be a tough competitor. They are very, very similar in speed to us. We learnt that already from the Raja Muda; the difference in boat speed is negligible. They have to give us a little time. They actually have to beat us on the water. So they are going to be tough competitors and they have a very strong crew on that boat."
There has been some recent changes made to Hi-Fi during August and September in preparation for this year's King's Cup. The recent Raja Muda was the testing ground for the success of those changes. The bulb was changed to make the boat stiffer and some weight was taken out of the boat hull to counter the changes to the keel.
"The Raja Muda was the first regatta we really sailed with the new configuration. We were pretty satisfied with the performance. We learnt a little, but the second time (racing) in the Kings Cup we will hopefully capitalise on some of the lessons we have learnt."
Pryde, like Roberts, has stacked the rails with an impressive crew most of whom have raced with Pryde for quite a while. Those crew include his tactician and "right-hand man" Kevin Costin, trimmers Andrew Parkes, Bruce Clarke, Tony Rae and Phil Houghton. "I have a very strong crew," Roberts said.
Costin, an eight time veteran of the King's Cup recognises that while there are a lot of boats to watch, he will be keeping a close eye on Evolution Racing. "They would be the closest after the Raja Muda. With Evolution Racing, as he has moved from the DK46 to the TP52, we are now racing him as opposed to watching him. Before we were racing him on handicap, now are racing him boat on boat. It will be exciting."
While the tussle between Evolution Racing and Hi-Fi will be exciting, Pryde has not forgotten that this year most of the competition in his division is in similar size boats as opposed to in previous years where he found himself racing his big boat with a high handicap against smaller boats with low handicaps.
"I understand from the entry list there are some pretty good smaller boats in the division this year."
The Phuket King's Cup, in the opinion of both Roberts and Pryde, is probably "the most prestigious regatta in Asia in terms of its high profile, the quality of sailing." Both also agree it can be a difficult regatta in terms of the wind conditions and currents.
Pryde said the regatta is often quite challenging. "You often have conditions where you start in strong winds and then the wind shuts down during the race. For handicap racing it makes it difficult for high handicap boats because, actually it can work for or against you when the wind shuts down. Ray has done well in the last couple of years because he was a low handicap boat (DK46). He was often blowing home in wind, we would be way ahead on the water, but the clock was running against us."
For Roberts it will less of a focus on handicaps and more on racing harder and faster than the rest of the fleet, including Hi-Fi. "We just have to sail smarter and manage the boat around the course more effectively if we are going to beat him at the end of the day."
The 23rd Phuket King's Cup is the fourth event in the prestigious 2009/10 Asian Yachting Grand Prix Championship which comprises 10 events run across Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore.
There is a practice race tomorrow afternoon with the first scoring race scheduled to start after 0900 hours on Monday 30 November.
For media who will not be at the Phuket Kings Cup event in Phuket, the website Media Centre will be circulating news
Media wishing to cover this event need to register online at www.kingscup.com
High Resolution images will be available for news editorial purposes from the media centre.
Media Contacts:
Joseph Henry (English)
Mobile: +66 085-834-5557, Email: joseph.henry@vivaldipr.com
Ms. Natinee Sattha (Thai)
Mobile: +66 089-495-8531 Email: natinee@prispriority.com
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