Asias legendary yacht race under Royal Patronage

USPA NEWS - The Royal Award Ceremony performed by H.E. Admiral M.L. Usni Pramoy on December 6 was held at Kanda Hall, Kata Beach Resort & Spa, Phuket and marked the end of a week of exceptional racing - the 28th Phuket King's Cup Regatta.

The colourful diversity of this annual regatta drew nearly 1000 sailors from all over the globe to take on the challenge in this prestigious sailing event, all striving to win the much coveted King's Cup. Keelboats, multihulls, dinghy's and windsurfers in 14 different classes from all over the world were competing in the stunning Andaman Sea to celebrate His Majesty's the King of Thailand's birthday which is on December 5.

This year the classic race drew 93 boats from 16 countries. It didn't have the biggest fleet in the regatta history but it was probably one of the most competitive. New class ratings resulted in some extraordinarily close racing with occasionally epic close-quarter clashes across the classes. Minuscule micro-wind-systems, even on a one-mile stretch of any course made it necessary to regroup classes closely together to provide every entrant to race under the same conditions.

Weak winds in the beginning of the week had to use the 'layday' to catch up on some racing. Fortunately winds picked up, crews were still hyped and on Saturday, the last day, all classes came to a close with a total of 123 keelboat races and 27 Dinghy races. The altogether 150 individual races is the biggest ever in the regattas history and one of the largest in Asia.

The biggest group of participants came from Thailand. This group of 21 entries included many different nationalities and the next biggest group came from Russia with 20 crews, most of them racing in Bareboat Charter Class A and B. Considering that in 2005, Phuket welcomed the first all Russian crew and in 2009 there were four Russian entries. The 2014 event showed a huge increase of Russian sailors.

Every evening during the regatta, prize giving parties were hosted by high-end resorts on Phuket such as Orchid Resort, Katathani Resort & Spa, Kan Earng Restaurant and the opening as well as the closing party was sponsored by Kata Group Resorts Thailand and hosted by Kata Beach Resort & Spa, the home of the Phuket King's Cup Regatta. All week, the nearly 1000 sailors and guests enjoyed excellent food, drinks, life entertainment and dancing and had a chance to savour the famous Thai hospitality after a fun day racing on the water. Gallery: http://www.ilsegibson.com/kings-cup-regatta-2014.html