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Phuket King’s Cup Regatta Day 3 - Just what the doctor ordered

by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia 7 Dec 2017 06:11 GMT 2-9 December 2017

Be careful what you wish for! Yesterday the request was for lots of breeze and some sunshine – well, we got both in spades, but for some it didn't work out so well.

Sunshine: no problem there. Breeze: started in the 18kts department, topped out for a moment at 28kts, and never got below 12kts anywhere that we saw on the racecourse. There were two geometric races for the Cruising divisions, three windward/leewards for the Racing classes (except IRC 0 and 1 who got three), and just one for the Premier Cruisers.

Kevin and Tom Whitcraft's THA72 had no trouble firing off three more bullets in IRC 0 to further cement their position at the top of the board, but WindSikher (Sarab Jeet Singh) struggled in the heavier breeze with a boat which is substantially optimised for light airs. And then the bobstay broke in the first race of the day. "Right now we are very happy to have a bowsprit," said Singh, "but we'll back after the lay day." Team Hollywood (Ray Roberts) reported hitting 22.5kts in 25kts of breeze, which felt "pretty special."

Class leader Karasu (Yasuo Nanamori) raced once, then went home and reported their retirement for the rest of the day to the Regatta Office – no further details available. That left a gap on the start line that there were plenty of people willing to fill. Otonomos Mandrake III (Nick Burns, with Fred Kinmonth cheering from afar) went 1, 3 to end the day at the top of the division by four points, and Shenzhen Seawolf (Yan Yuye, CHN) pulled out their very best race of the series so far, winning the day's last trip round the cans. Fujin (David Fuller) blew up a spinnaker – "It feels pretty silly crodssing the finish line with a poled-out headsail," said helmsman Jamie Wilmot.

IRC 2 said goodbye to Judy (Dean Chisholm) after the first race, and Kata Rocks Madam Butterfly (Peter Dyer) increased their class lead. Another CHN boat, Big Boys Racing Farrgo Express (Shen Sheng) also scored their maiden win.

With plenty of breeze to hand, the Premier Cruising division went off on a 40nm excursion to Koh Mai Thon and back. First home was Geoff Hill's Antipodes, beating second finisher Pine-Pacific (Yingsiri Ithinai) by 30 minutes on the water but a mere 2 minutes on corrected time.

Twin Sharks (John Newnham) made it look easy in the Firefly 850 races, scoring two more wins, but the Pulse 600 class had a major casualty of a day. Four boats, two races: two DNF, two DNS, and two RET. Multihull Racing had a high attrition rate, too. While Henry Kaye's Thor recorded two more wins to keep their unblemished record intact, there were three DNS and a DNF among the rest of the boats.

Tomorrow is listed as a reserve day, and with the racing programme well on schedule that's what it will be.

Full results at www.kingscup.com/result

Standing by on 72

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