With a range of nationalities competing – including crews from as far away as Armenia, Australia, Belgium, China, Cyprus, Estonia, Belgium, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand and the UK – it came down to the last race on the last day to decide the winner in four of the classes at the 37^th Phuket King’s Cup Regatta in Thailand.

Even though THA 72 Vayu won the eighth and final race in their series – both on corrected and elapsed time – and had the same number of points as Team Hollywood, Ray Roberts’ boat took home the coveted IRC Zero class based on one more first-place finish in the series as they won four races while THA 72 Vayu won three.

THA 72 Vayu, and the regatta, were again blessed to have Queen Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana on board for three days of racing ahead of her participation in the SEA Games Thailand 2025.

Heading into the final morning, Team Hollywood and THA 72 Vayu were tied with eight points each, factoring in a drop race, as the class readied for two final windward-leeward races. Aftershock, the other yacht in the class, finished seven points back when sailing wrapped up.

In IRC 1, Rolf Heemskerk’s The Next Factor had a great final day with a second and a first, and won the seven-boat class. Nick Burns’ Blitz had two third-place finishes on the final day, helping them secure second overall and ahead of Craig Nicholls’s Alright and J. Masuda and S. Kida’s Grand Turtle (Char Chan).

Simon James, the Principal Race Officer, had given IRC Zero and IRC 1 two windward-leewards, while giving every other class just one.

In the seven-boat IRC 2, Sergei Muskhin’s Madame Butterfly edged Match Racing star Mati Sepp and his Estonian crew on RTS-Baltic by one point overall, even though RTS-Baltic won both races on the final day. Igor Puzanov’s Jolt placed third in this class.

Ithinai Yingsiri’s Pine Pacific of Thailand had already won the Premier class after an unfortunate incident during the penultimate day’s first race, when it was bumped by Hans Rahmann’s Yasooda on the start line. Neither boat could race on the final day, while Shahtoosh also didn’t compete as it couldn’t improve on its second place.

In the four-boat Bareboat Charter A, Andrei Novikov’s Gloria won the last three races in the series to defeat Feng Chen’s Isabella and Aleksei Brunov’s Moonshine by four points overall.

Bareboat Charter B was also tight, with one point separating the top three finishers in the four-boat class. Hideyuki Miyachi’s Amigo II claimed the title based on one more first-place finish than Takashi Ito’s Team Miyakomuru (Sariya), after both boats finished tied on points. Maximillian Soh’s Piccolo was third, just one point back, after winning the final race on corrected and elapsed time.

The eight-boat Monohull Cruising class was also close. Even though Igor Ginzberg’s Wind of Change and Oleksly Borysov’s Ronin finished tied on points – both had one win in the class – the tie-breaker went to Wind of Change who had one more second-place finish than Ronin. Philippe Dallee’s Swan II was next, three points back.

Ryan Merrill’s Compass Rose was the only boat in the Multihulls class, although it was unable to race on the final day following a minor collision with the start boat.

DINGHY CLASSES

Earlier in the regatta, 81 dinghy sailors battled it out in Optimist, ILCA4 (U18), ILCA 7, ILCA 6, International 420, Open Skiff (U18) and Inclusive S\V14. YRAT’s Surapa Muangngam topped the Optimist class after winning four times and finishing second three times in eight races, as she finished 17 points ahead of China’s Youjia Xu.

In ILCA 4, Pinchanok Klaysomboon of Samut Prakan Provincial Sports Authority (SPPSA) won five of the eight races and twice finished second to finish 12 points ahead of YRAT’s Kitchakhun Somkhanngoen and 15 points ahead of Karit Phramanee. 

ILCA 6 Open, ILCA 7 and International 420 were scored together. By winning four races, Voravong Rachrattanak of the RTNA edged Gass Anton of Kazakhstan by two points to capture the class, with Thorfun Boonnak third.

In the nine-boat Open Skiff, Punthita Werotjanakul won six of the eight races to finish eight points ahead of Andries Kosuge and 14 clear of Owen Wong-Forhart in a clean sweep of podium places by UWC, with all three coached by Seahorse Sailing School’s Scott Duncanson and Garfield Meeyusamsen.

Disabled Sailing Thailand finished on the east coast of the island, just off Ao Po Grand Marina. After four days of racing, last year’s winners’ Suraphong Chitkhong (helm) and Mak Sarawat (crew), retained their title by finishing two points ahead of Tanat Upatising (helm) and Tatiana Kaurova (crew), with Thitapa Saelime (helm) and Martin Holmes (crew) taking third.

After racing was finished, King Maha Vajiralongkorn Phra Vajiraklaochaoyuhua and Queen Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana presided over the royal awards ceremony, held at the Kanda Ballroom in the Beyond Kata hotel.

The Phuket King’s Cup Regatta was again 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.

Sponsors for the 2025 edition included the Kata Group of Hotels (host), Amazing Thailand, Centara Hotel & Resorts, RMA Group, Coca Cola HaadThip PCL, Bangkok Airways, Garmin Thailand, Ford Thailand, RICOH (Thailand), National Telecom Public Company Limited, Primus Marine, Ao Po Grand Marina, B&G Marine Electronics, Bangkok Hospital and Singha.

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