Phuket King's Cup Regatta 2019 - Day 2
by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia 4 Dec 2019 05:40 NZDT
2-7 December 2019
What goes up... Phuket King's Cup 2019 © Guy Nowell / Phuket King's Cup
Today started in grand style, with lashings of sunshine and 18 kts on the start line. The combined Cruising divisions managed to mistake the windward mark boat with Start Boat B, which is tricky when the latter has a BIG sign on it that says "Start Boat B" and the former doesn't. Never mind.
RO Simon James prescribed Course #8 for Bareboat A and B, Cruising, and Multihull Cruising - an offwind start followed by the Koh Kaeo Noi gate, Koh Hi to starboard, and then back again. Remarkably, many boats tried to start on starboard at the boat end, but were foxed by the fact that the breeze was at almost 90 degrees to the course, and sailed all the way along the line to the pin and then tacked onto port and started. It made for entertaining viewing.
It was bouncy castle sailing all the way to the southern end of Koh Hi - wind over tide made for some short, steep, and very uncomfortable seas. After that there was some relief and flatter water inside the islands, but it was still a beat that demanded some tactical thinking. As the first boats rounded the northern end of the course, the breeze was dropping, and it was rather less than a n adrenaline rush under spinnaker back to the Koh Kaeo Noi gate and then the finish. Lars Zika's She-Ra led the pack from wire to wire, but was relegated to 3rd on corrected time while Andrey Novoderezhkin's Kata Rocks Sea Escapes cruised home, literally, for a third win in three races.
Rob Hossack's Raptor, sailing in Multihull Cruising, let herself down with a premature start - just 60 seconds early so maybe someone needs to buy a new watch. We believe that 'PreMature Start' is a much more evocative expression than 'On Course Side', and Sail-World Asia intends to raise a campaign to have the terminology reinstated. Success of this project depends on World Sailing having a sense of humour. Nevertheless, the Raptors got back on the programme and finished in second place behind the CHN crew on the Andaman Cabriolet, Da Vinci.
Meanwhile, back at Start Boat A there were no complications - to begin with. PRO Ross Chisholm fired off a windward leeward race for all classes, and followed up by sending the Racing divisions off after the Cruisers, around Koh Hi and Koh Aeo. Some confusion arose concerning the laying of a new mark on the race course, intended to separate the boats starting the second race of the day from those still trying to finish the first. If you want full details visit www.kingscup.com/notice/protests
However, we note that the Sailing Instructions specifically allow the RO to put new marks on the course and to advise competitors of such by radio, and that "not hearing the radio" just doesn't count. The flurry of protests that appeared later were eventually dismissed by the Jury. Never let it be said that a Jury came to a hasty decision.
By the time everyone was finishing, the breeze was down, so it was good to finish on a reach. Home, Ska Bar, cold beer, whatever. No party tonight, but make sure you are on the beach for Dunkirk-in-Phuket tomorrow. 0700h on the beach.
Standing by on 72.
Full Results at www.kingscup.com/result