The Yacht Sales Co Regatta 2024 at Phuket Yacht Club - Day 1
by Phuket Yacht Club 11 Jul 18:29 NZST
9-15 July 2024
The Yacht Sales Co Regatta 2024 Day 1 at Phuket, Thailand © Peter Theimann
Things have gotten off to a wild start in Phuket, Thailand for this year's edition of the Yacht Sales Co Regatta.
As competitors from 15 yachts gathered in Chalong Bay to await the start of the 2024 Yacht Sales Co Regatta they were met with four knots of wind. But that quickly turned into a squall with winds gusting up to thirty knots as boats flew through the first race of the regatta. Needless to say, no kites were needed as most skippers were just trying to keep their boats and crew intact.
Two races were run for the day in what were blustery and tropical wet conditions.
In Monohull Racing, Craig Nicholls and his team on Alright picked up two firsts and even carried their kite across the line in the first race. Aftershock, skippered by Steve McConaghy got a 2nd for the day, followed by Neil's Dgenklow on Phoenix, in 3rd followed by Madame Butterfly being skippered by Peter Dyer.
In Mono Cruising Boyd Jackson's Morningside enjoyed the mixed cruising course set by RO Simon James.
The 8 strong Multihull Racing class saw plenty of action with a number of boats experiencing gear and sail damage from the squall. However, all look set to start on Day Two. Day One saw fierce competitions between the 3 8.5M Firefly catamarans and 4 Stealth catamarans. John Newnham's Firefly Twin Sharks took the day with two 1sts, followed by George Eddings Firefly, Blue Nose in 2nd. John Hearn skippering his Stealth 11.8, Boreas took 3rd for the day and leads the group of Asia Catamaran Stealth cats!
In Multihull Cruising Andy McDermott Corsair Trident was consistently ahead of James Baxter's Zephyrus.
With 4 more days of racing competitors are looking forward to clearer skies and the tropical sun synonymous with Phuket, Thailand!
More information and results can be found here.