18th Kings Cup in Phuket - Day 5
by Phuket King's Cup press 11 Dec 2004 10:03 GMT
Action from the final day of the 18th Phuket King's Cup regatta in Thailand © John Everingham / ARTASIA
King's Cup winners celebrate victory
The Phuket King's Cup Regatta finished today with several changes on the leader board and a fantastic representation on the winner's podium from boats built or registered in Thailand. Sailing conditions have been consistently good all week and today's 15-20 knot winds provided a tremendous final race.
The fiercely contested Racing class was won by Neil Pryde's High Fidelity, a regular and very successful King's Cup contender, knocking Yo! off its top spot into second place. Third was Mandrake which has finished first in every race of the event. In the Sports Boat class Thai built Buzz 8 claimed victory dominating the class with six consecutive wins. Second, and ten points behind, was Jativa and third was Pink Pussy Cat.
In the closest class of the competition, the Premier Cruising, the eventual winner Yendy's won by the slimmest margin. Equal on points to second place Vida both boats were identically matched in their results across the week. After consulting the Racing Rules of Sailing the judges awarded it to Yendy's based on their final placing on the very last day. Yesterday's leader Hocux Pocux 2 was relegated to third despite being first home, the only boat to complete the course in under two hours.
In the Sunsail class Christian Eschenburg in Princess Anna finished his amazing week winning every race in the class. Princess Arieta came second with Princess Athena in third place. The IRC1 class finished two races on the final day and was eventually won by New Zealand boat Ruby Tuesday. Second went to Foxy Lady and Di Hard was awarded third.
Dominating the IRC2 class the Royal Thai Navy 1 and 2 were awarded first and second place respectively. Third place La Samudra was a consistent challenger all week with all other boats in the class experiencing mixed fortunes.
In the biggest class IRC3 Abraxas won the series with Minx second and Patrice III third. Again dominated by three boats the Ocean Rover class was won by Aquavit III with Cordelia second and Tarawadee third.
Twin-masted, twin-sailed catamaran Coco Blues won the multihull class from Charro concluding a tight series that was tied on points after yesterday's race. Third place was awarded to Ceberus and all the first four in the class were Thai boats.
In the Classic race Greensleeves won the series with Phuket Sail Sanook second and recently built Sunshine third. The King's Cup is the first race for newly built Sunshine which was originally designed in 1900.
The prize giving will be completed this evening by His Majesty the King's representative, Mom Luang Usmi Pramoj. The King's Cup Regatta is held under the Royal Patronage of His Majesty the King, and organised by the Phuket King's Cup Regatta Organising 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.
For full results check www.kingscup.com