Evason Phuket Race Week 2005
AsianYachting Race Reports
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Evason Phuket Race Week 2005 AsianYachting Race Reports |
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The race committee wisely decided to delay the start on the final day by an hour, to allow competitors a little extra time to complete urgent sail and boat repairs after the demolition derby experienced yesterday.
One question recently raised is: How do you know that your staying at a 5 star resort? Easy I would answer - It's when there is a pianist playing a grand piano during breakfast and the friendly staff are ready to pamper to your every need, including spa and massage plus a private Island nearby to lay around on during the day. Twenty three of the 27 yachts left racing were back out on the water for the last race which started in front of the Evason and ran up and down to AO Chalong and back a few times. Specially designed if there is strong wind and provide a spectacle for the coastal dwellers and resort guests along the way. The boys from Skiff-Asia have been out on the tip of Cape Phan Wa taking photos each day of Race Week. Check ‘em out here!
Scott Duncanson's crew on Securicor Somtam Express put in another superb performance of keeping the Phuket 8 upright with the huge asymmetric spinnaker and despite being way out in front of the monohull fleet ended up 2nd on the day and in 3rd place overall.
After gracefully withdrawing from yesterdays race for not rounding the top mark (went around the wing mark instead) Mark Trupp's Maddalena 3rd place today relegated them from the top of the order to 3rd place overall.
Although Bob Mott's Cameleon won the final race today his two retirements from the windy race 4 and 5 held him back from securing an overall victory. Chris Sieber's Kilo was mistakenly reported to have won race 5 yesterday but after late corrections by the race committee finally finished up in 3rd place overall. Full set of PRW 05 results can be found at: http://www.phuketraceweek.com/results.htm View the Quantum Naga Cup web edition with photos goto: http://asianyachting.com/news/QNagaCup05.htm Goto the Post Tsunami AY Website Edition at: http://asianyachting.com/Archive/newsletter/54Tsunami04.htm Once again, if you found this AY Race Report enjoyable, please forward it onto your sailing friends or better still get them to freely Subscribe to the fully automated Online AY Circulation List at: http://asianyachting.com/subscribe.asp |
David Lindhal's Swan 46 La Samudra reported torn sails and heading in for repairs as Mark Horward's crew on Image-Asia Attitude 8 were performing one of their enormous knock downs which destroyed the rudder this time.
Quick action taken by the media boats yet again had the slightly battered crew of Sue and Michel Arnulphy's Cyrene safely onboard and taken to shore, although a little shocked as it all happened very fast. (See Guy Nowell's photos) Fellow cat sailors Bob Mott on Cameleon and Wolfgang's Mozart were on the scene shortly after and stood by to help in favor of completing the race. As we write a salvage attempt is being under taken.
After racing into contention with 2 wins yesterday David Lindhal's retirement and 4th place today on La Samudra has cost him the title. While others were having difficulties around the course the Andy Stephens skippered RPM Switchblade scored two 3rd places and climbed into 4th spot overall.
Stuart Crows's Cinders fell of the pace to score two 4ths but still maintains 3rd spot overall. Mike Bean's Lee Marine Suk San claimed two 3rd places today but trails in the points by placing poorly in earlier races.
Christine Caufman's 2nd place on Rastegaisse allowed them to climb the rankings above Matt Mcgrath's Gator who could only manage a 3rd placing. All racers in Club Class happily finished the passage race set for them.
After Cyrene's capsize most of the multihull fleet either retired to assist them or were experiencing difficulties of their own. Chris Sieber's Kilo in the Performance Cruising Multihull class was the only competitor to complete both races today which takes them to the top of the class leaderboard. Full set of PRW 05 results can be found at: http://www.phuketraceweek.com/results.htm |
Evason Phuket Race Week 2005 AY Race Report 2
What a great day to debut a locally built and designed high tech racing catamaran. Olaf Riese's brand new 26ft Firefly design Voodoo Child, this time skippered by Phuket based Aussie cat designer Mark Pescott blitzed the Racing Multihull fleet in sheer boat speed around the entire course to score 2 first and fastest's and relegate day 1 winner Henry Kaye on Charro down to 2nd place. Sue and Michel Arnulphy's Cyrene kept them honest by scoring 2 third places and themselves in the running.
The close battle between Mick Kealy's Minx and Stuart Crows's Cinders in IRC 2 continued with mixed results. Minx scored a 1st and 3rd and Cinders a 2nd and 1st to keep Mick Kealy's team in 1st overall for the time being. Paul Kendall's Simba rebounded with a 2nd in race 3 to maintain their 3rd spot overall.
In the Premier Multihull class Bob Mott's Cameleon scored a 2nd and 1st place to hold the lead over Wolfgang's Mozart with a 4th and 2nd place. They will have to keep a weather eye on Chris Sieber's Kilo who scored a 1st place in race 2 but dropped back to 4th in race 3 to edge himself within 1 point of Wolfgang's Mozart in the overall standings. Full set of PRW 05 results can be found at: http://www.phuketraceweek.com/results.htm |
Course 5, a Passage Race around Ko Bon, Ko Hi, Ko Aeo and Ko Lon was chosen for the majority of the fleet and racing got underway in 8 to 10 knots of breeze. One unlucky competitor was Dutchman Joost Van Der Post who bumped the rocks off Ko Bon on his chartered Ava, that cracked the hull and started to uncontrollably take in water. A quick decision was made to beach the vessel on Ko Bon and the sailors taken off safely. Retrieval efforts are expected to swing into action latter today.
Matt Mcgrath's Gator got the better of Mark Trupp's Maddalena and Christine Caufman's Rastegaisse in Club Class which sees a very diverse range of small cruising boats in their midst.
Continuing on his winning ways since the BMW RLIR 05, Bob Mott also pulled of the daily double on Cameleon in the Premier Multihull class. Wolfgang on Mozart could not close the gap on Cameleon to finish 2nd with Frank Cusack's Chakra trailing in their wake to end up in 3rd spot. Full set of PRW 05 results can be found at: http://www.phuketraceweek.com/results.htm |
Being billed by organizers Image Asia Events as Asia's most exciting new regatta, the 2nd Evason Phuket Race Week is shaping up to be a regatta to remember. Held in the middle of the SW monsoon season for sailors to experience racing in stronger wind and rougher conditions than usual, which did not materialize at last years inaugural event (See PRW 04) but as the South Westerly breeze is presently pumping in at around 18 - 20 knots and the west coast beaches are having 1 to 1 1/2m surfable waves, this year for the 30+ yachts taking part will definitely be a year, to behold!
Among the sponsor line-up for 2005 are the islands three marinas: Royal Phuket Marina, Yacht Haven and Boat Lagoon plus a number of marine businesses and the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta (Asia’s biggest yachting event) have pledged sponsorship support in a move that augurs well for future co-operation between yachting events in Thailand.
This atmosphere of mutual support sits well as one of the Royal Thai Government’s major tourism platforms. Both the Ministry of Tourism and the Tourism Authority of Thailand are currently working on a combination of marketing and regulatory measures designed to substantially increase Yachting Tourism and turn Thailand’s coastline into a world-class marine tourism destination. |
Event organisors, Grenville Fordham and Andy Dowden, Directors of Image Asia Events, provide an interesting insight into life on Phuket during the low season and staging a racing event in the middle of the SW Monsoons as life just keeps rolling along, despite a down turn in Marine Tourism pursuits.
Evason Phuket Race Week 2005 "Running a new regatta in post-tsunami Phuket has given us more than a few headaches", said Grenville Fordham of Evason Phuket Raceweek organizers, Image Asia Events. According to participants, the inaugural Race Week, held in July 2004, was a great success.
"Getting sponsors interested this year has been a major challenge", said Fordham. "It's a new event and island businesses are suffering badly from the huge downturn in tourism that has followed in the wake of last December's tsunami, while off-island potential sponsors seem to be turning their backs on Phuket this year", he said, adding that a major, high profile title sponsor pulled out two months ago, just before signing contracts.
"We're effectively promoting Phuket lifestyle, demonstrating that a good time can be had in Phuket all year round, not just in the high season," said Fordham. Also good news is the number of entries. "We got caught out on numbers last year," said Andy Dowden, ex-King's Cup President and a director of Image Asia. "We made assumptions that turned out to be over-optimistic," he added.
If the organizers make these numbers it will be a real achievement. This year saw both Phang Nga Bay Regatta and Samui Regatta set sail with lower numbers than previous years. At the same time, another new yacht race in Thailand, the Top of the Gulf Regatta, was launched earlier this year giving sailors even more choice of when and where to compete. Evason Phuket Raceweek will be staged in five classes: Racing/Sports Boats (4 confirmed); IRC (13 confirmed); Club Class (5 confirmed); Ocean Sports Multihull (6 confirmed) and Ocean Performance Multihull (5 confirmed).
For more information visit www.phuketraceweek.com or email raceweek@image-asia.com Evason Phuket Raceweek sponsors are: Evason Phuket Resort & Six Senses Spa, Raimon Land, Royal Phuket Marina, Phuket International Hospital, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Sunsail, Latitude 8 Yachts, Thai Marine Leisure, Sea-phuket.com, Perfection Spa, Yacht Haven Marina, Phuket Inter Woodwork, Electrical Marine, SIMRAD, Yacht Haven Marina, Emergency Asia, Boat Lagoon Marina -------------------------------------------------
The 2005/06 SEA Season officially kicks off with the 2nd Phuket Race Week. The two-day NAGA Cup for one-design Phuket Sports 8 class will be held prior to the main event over the weekend 23-24th July. Also a day of Skiff Asia - Byte, 29er and 59er dinghy racing on the 27th (Registration day). Race Week has been shortened to 4 action packed days beginning on 28th and ending with a gala prize giving party at the 5-star Evason Phuket Resort and Spa on the 31st July. Organizers also advise that Sunsail have a number of charter yachts available as " Fly in, Have fun in Paradise, Fly out" parties are becoming very popular especially during the southern hemispheres winter and a crewing section can be found at: http://www.phuketraceweek.com or make contact directly at: raceweek@image-asia.com. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once again, if you found the above AY report enjoyable enough please forward it onto your sailing friends or better still get them to freely Subscribe to the fully automated Online AY Circulation List at: http://asianyachting.com/subscribe.asp AsianYachting
Ventures Sdn. Bhd. (Co.
No. 627106-T) |
31
July 2005: It's all over, bar the shouting...
About
9:00am while most media where enjoying the superb 
The
passing storm seemed to leave a vacuum for awhile but by the 11:00 start
time the breeze returned and gradually built up to a gusty 12-15 knots
during the race.
In
IRC 1 John Vause's Ruby Tuesday came into today's
final race with an insurmountable points lead and choose not to race as
he did not want to repeat his 
When
in a similar position of winning the class went out and broke the mast
in the final race in which they did not have to compete in to win the
series. In Ruby Tuesday's absence David Lindhal's La Samudra
rebounded after a bad day yesterday by winning today's race to regain
2nd spot overall.
Paul Kendall's late charge of consecutive wins on Simba was just
not enough to dislodge Mick Kealy's well sailed Minx in the IRC
2 class, who scored three 1st and three 2nd places to take out
the title. Despite Stuart Crows Cinders not fronting up today
he still finished up in 3rd place overall and discarded the DNS.
Christine
Caufman's Rastegaisse with Rowdy on the
helm scored 3 wins in a row to lift the Club Class trophy
on their first try. Matt
McGrath's 2nd place on Gator
today was enough to keep him in 2nd spot overall.
In
the Racing Multihull class Henry Kaye's Charro
recaptured the lead with a fine display of boatspeed and crew work to
beat Olaf Riese's brand new 28ft Mark Pescott designed and skippered Voodoo
Child, who are using this event to iron out a few teething problems
that come with a new boat. Sue and Michel Arnulphy's Cyrene that
unfortunately capsized yesterday still managed to score 3rd place overall
despite only completing 3 races.
All
the Performance Cruising Multihulls were back out on
the water today despite experiencing difficulties yesterday. Wolfgang's
Mozart was awarded redress for helping the capsized Cyrene
to score 1st place in race 4 and with a 2nd place today is enough to win
the title and take the trophy home. 
30
July 2005: Too much wind for some...
On
the first downwind leg some heavily reefed yachts chose to goose wing
the genoa instead of flying spinnakers. The 1 to 1 1/2 meter swell had
the gamer crews with spinnakers up experiencing some fantastic rides with
the occasional uncontrollable broach seen.
Just
as the cameras were focusing on Josh Lee's Vino by Watermark
taking off on a wave, out of the corner of my eye, the shock of all horrors,
I noticed what looked like upturned catamaran hulls with the dagger boards
sticking up.
Another
change on the leaderboard in IRC 1 sees John Vause's
Ruby Tuesday catapulted to a insurmountable points lead by scoring
2 bullets or 1st places today. Scott Duncanson's Securicor Somtam
Express climbed back to 2nd place overall after scoring two 2nd places
and his crew managing to keep the Phuket 8 flying around at the front
of the fleet.
In
IRC 2 the silverware was shared evenly between Mick Kealy's
Minx and Paul Kendall's Simba with a 1, 2 each, to give
Mick Kealy's team a unbeatable lead coming into tomorrows final race.
The
Club Class only had one race today which saw Mark Trupp's Maddalena
extend their overall lead with another victory.
Henry
Kaye's Charro won the first race despite running over the spinnaker
and a ripped jib which forced them to retire from the 2nd race.
29
July 2005: Champagne racing conditions...
In
IRC 1 David Lindhal's Swan 46 La Samudra jumped
into the lead after scoring 2 wins today over John Vause on Ruby Tuesday
with 2 second places. This result leapfrogged them above day 1 winner
Scott Duncanson's Phuket Sports 8 Securicor Somtam Express that
could only manage 2 third places on day 2.
Mark
Trupp's Maddalena came to the fore today in Club Class
by scoring 1st and 2nd places to edge Matt Mcgrath's Gator with
2nd and 3rd places into 2nd spot overall. Christine Caufman's Rastegaisse
recovered from a bad 5th place in race 2 with a 1st place in race 3 to
have a grip on 3rd spot overall.
28
July 2005: They are off and racing...
The
SW monsoon which has been very active in the last week took a little breather
today and allow competitors to settle into a rhythm before it is expected
to increase again over the coming days.
Scott Duncanson took the opportunity to steer his Phuket Sports 8 Securicor
Somtam Express into a commanding position to lead the fleet around
the course and eventually pull of the daily double of Line and handicap
honours in the IRC 1 class. John Vause's Ruby Tuesday initially
stayed up with Somtam and finished not far behind to fill 2nd place. David
Lindhal's La Samudra took 3rd and is always on the prowl for
podium places at regattas they enter.
In
IRC 2 class the battle between Mick Kealy's Minx and Stuart Crows's
Cinders was renewed with Minx getting the better of
them in this opening round. Paul kendall's Simba from Singapore
filled 3rd place and with the expected increase in breeze they will be
one to watch over the next few days.
The
Multihull Class has been divided into Racing and Premier divisions which
is based on the yachts performance. Long time competitor on the Asian
racing scene Henry Kaye, this time on Charro come to the fore
yet again in the racing class to eclipse Sue & Michel Arnulphy's Cyrene
who took out Line Honours. A Youth Team on Ceberus sailed into 3rd spot
and expect to pick up the pace in the next few races.
Evason
Phuket Race Week 2005
"Running
a new regatta in post-tsunami Phuket has given us more than a few headaches",
said Grenville Fordham, Director of Race Week organizers, Image Asia Events.
"Getting sponsors interested this year has been a major challenge"
added Fordham. "It's a new event and island businesses are suffering
badly from the huge downturn in tourism that has followed in the wake
of last December's tsunami".
Demonstrating
that they too see the synergy of bringing together the various regattas,
as well as recognizing the lifestyle aspects of yachting, King’s
Cup sponsor, top property developer 
Hi
please find a Evason Phuket Race Week
press release (below). AY
is on a journey north to Tsunami savaged Phuket and aims to get some media
coverage going a little earlier than most events. While there, I hope
to get a good look around and see how the islanders are coping with earning
a living in the worlds newest tsunami prone region, that relies heavily
on tourism.
However, in the final run-up to the regatta, things are looking good.
Evason Phuket Resort, the host sponsor last year, have come on board in
a bigger way in 2005 as title sponsor, while major property developers,
Raimon Land, who in the past year have become Thailand's strongest yacht
racing supporters, are sponsoring Phuket's only major low-season event.
"Raimon Land will make a huge difference", said Fordham.
Also
among the sponsor line-up for 2005 are the islands three marinas: Royal
Phuket Marina, Yacht Haven and Boat Lagoon, while the Tourism Authority
of Thailand (TAT) and a number of island marine businesses are also supporting
the event.
This
year, after being in direct contact with all potential entries, Dowden
is confident of over 30 boats. "These numbers are as solid as we
can get at this stage; each one has been confirmed individually with the
boat owners," he said.
Race
officials are being flown in from overseas for the second year running
to ensure the highest standards of race management. Evason Phuket Raceweek
is run under the auspices of Ao Chalong Yacht Club.
04:07:05
July AY
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