Phuket King's Cup Regatta 2024 Day 3

by Scott Murray 5 Dec 16:18 NZDT 30 November - 6 December 2024

As the sunlight burst through the late-morning cloud cover, the waters off Naiharn Beach were lit up like a Christmas tree with all the brightly covered spinnakers of the sailboats competing in the 36th Phuket King's Cup Regatta.

Kevin Whitcraft's Vayu TH 72 continues to have a great regatta winning all three of its races in Class Zero to take a five-point lead heading into day four of the regatta. Ray Roberts' Team Hollywood couldn't have been any closer, coming in less than a minute behind Team Vayu TH 72 in all three races (32 seconds in race two). The syndicated Aftershock finished third in all three races in this three-boat elite class.

PRO Simon James also staged three races for the seven-boat IRC 1 class today. And Rolf Heemskerk's The Next Factor (MAS) stole the show winning all three on elapsed and corrected time. Nick Burns's Witchcraft (HKG) also had a good day, with two seconds and a third-place finish giving it a-two-point lead over The Next Factor heading into the second last day of racing in this class. Craig Nicholls/James Bury's Alright (AUS) sits in third spot, four points behind Witchcraft.

Mati Sepp's Gern Kard (Estonia) continued its winning ways, winning two of the three races staged in the seven-boat IRC 2 class. Lee Yi Min's (Singapore), brand-new J99 Jolt, is keeping it close, however, as it won the second race and sits in second place behind Gerd Kard heading into day four. Maksim Lisun's Uminoko (NEU) is third in this class, despite a DNS in race two today.

In the Premier Class, Peter Cremers Shatoosh, a Warwick 75, has a one-point lead over Thailand's Ithinai Yingsiri's Pine Pacific in the three-boat Premier Class, winning both races today as it heads into day four. Pine Pacific was second in both races while Hans Rahmann's Yasooda sits third in this class, the most aesthetically-pleasing in the regatta.

The six-boat Bareboat Charter Class saw the Japanese Luminous-Tiburon have a dominating day winning all three races to take a commanding five-point overall lead over Xiong Tin's Mermaid from China, who was second in all three races today. Yu Zhengjun's BW's Flyingware Sailing Team, also from China, sits in third spot, eleven points behind Luminous-Tiburon.

Igor Ginzberg's Wind of Change (NEU) was another boat taking advantage of the good wind today as it won all three races to lead the seven-boat Monohull Cruising class by five points. William Wu's Team Whitewave from China was second in all three races and sits second overall five points behind Wind of Change. Racing with Team Whitewave is Lijia "Lily" Xu, who won a gold medal in the Laser Radial division of the 2012 Olympic games held in London. France's Philippe Dallee's sleek Swan II, sits in third place in this class.

Ryan Merrill's Compass Rose (THA) and Fang Liang Zhou's Joy Joy (CHN) staged upsets in the six-boat Multihull class today, winning the first and second races of the day, respectively. John Newnham's Twin Sharks (GBR) still sits atop this class followed by Andrew McDermott's Trident (GBR) with ten points, who have a one-point lead over Compass Rose heading into tomorrow's racing.

After four races, the ILCA4 U18 female class has Prin Subying atop the leaderboard with 33 points, after eight races. Next up is Paranee Muangngam (40 pts), followed by Pichayapa Kamutatira (70 pts), all representing the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand (YRAT). The ILCA4 U18 male class was also dominated by Thais with the skillful Ton Rattana keeping his first-place spot (14 pts), followed closely by Darwin Hsu (23 pts) and Sarawut Panphiboon (31 pts), all representing the Royal Varuna Yacht Club (RVYC).

The ILCA6 Open Class has YRAT's Kan Kachachuen still in spot with ten points after eight races. He's closely followed by RTNA's NC Voravong Rachrattanaruk (11 pts) while last year's winner Claudia Nazarov sits in third spot with 22 points.

After six races in the Open Skiff U17 class UWC's Punthita Werotjanakul is in first place (5 pts), followed by India's Eashaan Mehta (12 pts) and UWC's Puttisun Limpanon (9 pts). The local Phuket Yacht Club under the tutelage of former Australian National Junior Champion Scott Duncanson has been a big supporter and promoter of this class, getting many young people involved in sailing for the first time.

The ILCA/7 OK Dinghy class has NRS' Bowonnan Chanram maintaining top spot after eight races with a net total of 10 pts. RVYC's Morten Jakobsen sits in second (12 pts) and RTNYC's Chairat Dangdeemark sits in third place with eighteen points.

YRAT's Suthon Yampinid & Kram Chantarawinij jumped into the lead of the International 420/470 Open Class with 14 points after today's racing in Kata Bay. YRAT's Chalisa Krittanai and Nut Butmarasri are tied with YRAT's Thanapat Siricharoen and Ardchawit Ittivorakul in second place with 16 points. YRAT's team of Pitipoom Jaroenpon & Worrakan Saksiriklom are in third with 20 points.

In the second day of racing in the female Optimist class Surapha Muangngam is still in front with 19 points, followed by Prapassorn Kaewpron (22 pts) & Pariyaporn Chantarawong (27 pts), all representing YRAT. Sorawit Naksuk continues to lead the male Optimist class with 19 points, followed by Suthinan Nakpasom (23 pts) and Adison Ein (15 pts), again all YRAT sailors.

After three days of competition in the SV-14 Open Class, the team of Pol Chitkhong & Mak Sarawat, representing Ocean Marina Jomtien, sit in first place with a net total of eight points. Next up, is the team of Ning Nakchuai & Nils Degenkolw with 11 pts. The team of Nut Saelim and Pattaphon Phoomiravi in third place tie with 18 pts. Khun Nut recently won a gold medal at the Southeast Asia Parasailing Championship in Hong Kong. Each disabled sailor in this class is teamed with an able-bodied sailor.

In total, there are 40 keelboats and multihulls competing (383 sailors) in the big boat classes, while there are 118 dinghies (130 sailors) competing in the dinghy series.

The Regatta's sponsors, including Host Sponsor Kata Group, Amazing Thailand, Centara Hotel & Resorts, Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul, RMA Group, Coca Cola Haad Thip PCL, Garmin Thailand, Ford Thailand, RICOH (Thailand), the Singha Corporation, and National Telecom Public Company Limited.

For more information and results, please visit www.kingscup.com.