Race day 2 results

Once again the Boatshedphuket yacht sales team are taking time out from our busy schedule of boat sales to bring you the results of Asia’s premiere Regatta

Racing in day two of the 23rd Phuket King’s Cup got off to a clean start with the fleet of 111 boats across 11 divisions revelling in the light air and flat sea.

But it eventually came down to a matter of finding a 'get out of jail card' for many of the yachts in today’s racing as continuing light winds and strong coastal currents played havoc with the results of the mid-fleets boats. For division leaders from yesterday’s race, most found their card and used it well achieving in some cases lucky breaks and in others clever tactical decisions in what was generally summed up as a brilliant day’s racing.

All fleets were sent on a coastal course allowing the fleets to converge at the Ko Kaeo Noi first gate before heading to round Ko Hi and Ko Aeo islands before heading back through two gates and then to the finish off Nai Harn Beach.

The Racing division’s 28 nautical mile course was to see Frank Pong’s Jelik II continue their dominance on the line and the smaller boats dominate on handicap. Russ Parker’s Foxy Lady, Ray Roberts’s Evolution Racing and Chris Mead’s Full Metal Jacket chose the boat end of the start line to get a clean start while Jelik II was blocked in between Geoff Hill’s Strewth and Markus Fiala’s Tazo Too. She initially found it hard to gain clear air off the line.

At the first mark Full Metal Jacket with America’s Cup helmsman Chris Dickson in charge, was already showing good speed in the light airs maintaining a mid-fleet position. In the lead were Hi-Fi, then Evolution Racing and then Jelik II.

It was not until the top end of the course that Jelik II stormed ahead of the Racing division. She came down the run under asymmetric spinnaker pushing for every bit of speed and distance she could gain on her smaller rivals. Crew weight was out and aft as Pong looked for separation. Jelik II finished first but this was not enough to gain handicap honours.

Back on shore and Pryde was confident Hi-Fi would have a good result today, possibly even a win. He was right. They took out their second top place of the regatta. In second place was Full Metal Jacket steered by Chris Dickson, with Evolution Racing coming in third.

Provisional overall results after four races has Hi-Fi on eight points ahead of Jelik II on equal 13 points with Nick Burns’s EFG Bank Mandrake.

IRC1 division saw the continuing dominance by Matt Allen and his Beneteau 44.7 team on Ichi Ban. Looking for pressure on the right hand side of the course, Ichi Ban held back on the start line enough to sneak through past the committee boat and quickly onto port.

Ben Copley’s Katsu started at the pin end finding themselves caught up in the fleet and struggling to get boat speed in the four knots of breeze. By the first mark Katsu had recovered with Ichi Ban behind and then Yasuo Nanmori’s Switchblade. The real battle for this division came when they went on the wind and headed up to the top mark at Ko Aeo island. But it was Ichi Ban that finally prevailed. Second in the race was Katsu followed by Tantrum. On overall handicap Katsu holds onto second place with eight points ahead of Peter Wintle’s Koull Baby on 18 points.

IRC2 sailed a 22 nautical mile course. The clean start saw Koji Kikuchi’s Platu25 Puma slip in around the committee boat well clear of its rival Peter Dyer’s Team Bentley who started at the pin end. It seemed Dyer didn’t want to loose sight of Puma as they tacked quickly onto port and headed out right on the same course as Puma. It was a very close battle between these two boats throughout the race. At the finish though it was Team Bentley ahead of Stuart Williamson’s 34-foot Skandia Endeavour of Whitby followed by Niels Dgenkole’s Phoenix.

Overall, after four races, these results place Team Bentley on eight points, ahead of Puma on 15 points and then Skandia Endeavour of Whitby just one point behind on 16 points

Anthony Hasting’s Baby Tonga-Hideaways Club did it again today, taking out line honours ahead of Robert Tanner’s Shahtoosh, Australian Maid finished third on handicap. After two races Baby Tonga-Hideaways Club is ahead of Shatoosh and Australian Maid who are both on five points.

The Bareboat Charter division’s 25 boats had a frustrating day as between the light breeze and strong currents in the passage between Ko Bon and Ko Aeo islands, the fleet struggled to complete the 22 nautical mile. Only four boats eventually finished. First was Mike Crisp’s Venture almost an hour and half ahead of second placegetter Princess Anna. In third was Terry McLaughlin’s Princess Sharda. Overall this leaves these boats in the top three places.

The Modern Classic fleet also encountered the same breeze and current challenges with only three boats finishing; Peter Wood’s Windstar, Nick Band’s Emerald Blue and Reinhard Haiber’s Pytheas Aura. Overall after two races these boats also hold the top three places.

The number of finishers was a bit stronger in the Cruising division with Simon Piff’s Rainbow Dream ahead of Bob Ashman’s Simba followed by Rod Heikell’s Skylax. The top two boats were only a minute apart on elapsed time. Overall results place Simba ahead of Skylax and Rainbow Dream.

The light-weight Firefly 850 sports boats also struggled in the challenging conditions with five of the seven boats in the fleet finishing. Brent Gribble’s Twin Sharks achieved her third bullet of the regatta while Hans Rahman’s Voodoo was eight minutes behind in second. In third place was Damian Ford’s Sea Property. On overall results Twin Sharks retains their lead with five points ahead of Voodoo on eight points and then Sea Property on 12 points.

Most of the Multihull division finished with Thor holding a commanding lead throughout the race to finish first. Fergus Wilmer who said he was trying to remain inconspicuous during the regatta as he was supposed to working, not sailing, could not have been more conspicuous as he steered Thor across the line in among the big boats.

The Classic division saw all three boats finish. Rene Tiemessen’s Alondra was first
ahead of Simon Morris’s Sirius and then Christopher Edwards’s Schwalbe in third. Sadly in the Multihull Cruising division, neither boats finished the race today.

Unfortunately the boatshedphuket boat sales team were too busy to attend today but we will be doing our up most to make it for the party.