The return of the Phuket King’s Cup after three years has been a breath of fresh ocean air to the Kata Beach business community.
A great bounce back as the regatta was put on hold in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a boost the local Kata Beach business economy who perennially depend on the Thai and foreign sailor influx.
Hotels, restaurants and shop owners are ecstatic to see sailors of Asia’s most prestigious regatta roaming the streets and cruising the waterways again.
17 keelboats and multihulls spread over five classes are competing in the Asia’s longest-running and most prestigious 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 almost 200.
Race Officer Simon James sent the IRC Zero, and IRC One classes on a windward-leeward for their first race and a coastal race for their second while sending the IRC Premier Cruising, Charter Cruising and the Multihull classes off on a separate passage race.
The two TP52s, Team Hollywood of Ray Roberts and THA 72 of Kevin Whitcraft, are staging their own mini-Super Series in this regatta as Ray Roberts sailed to two victories Tuesday giving it five points and a one-point lead over Whitcraft’s THA 72 going into race day three.
Sarab Singh and Nick Burns’ Windsikher, who won and dominated the Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta just over a week ago, trail the TP52s with eleven points overall.
The six-boat IRC One class had Garry Holt’s Let’s Get It On and Kazuki Kihara’s Char Chan flip flop in first and second place in the two races the class sailed today.
Let’s Get It On and Craig Douglas’ Ramrod sit tied at the top of the leader board with eight points with Char Chan trailing by a point.
The Thai vessel Pine Pacific expertly skipped by Ithinai Yingsiri won the three-boat Premier Cruising class narrowly beating Peter Cremers Shatoosh by less than two minutes on corrected time with Simon Piff’s Firstlight coming in 45 minutes later on corrected time.
Pine Pacific and Shatoosh are tied for the lead in this class with three points followed by Firstlight with seven.
The Charter Cruising Class saw a repeat placing of day one with Torben Kristensen’s Kinnon winning the race and leading the class with two points. Jakod Handte’s Fei Jian was second and remains in second overall with four points.
The Royal Awards Ceremony will be on 10 December 2022 at Beyond Resort Kata, Kata Beach, Phuket.
