Fastest racing boats overcome light conditions on Friday's Phuket King's Cup Regatta

In IRC0, Windsikher II skippered by Sarab Jeet Singh made the best of the light running, finishing race seven first on corrected times, just 4 seconds beyond the reach of Team Premier Oi! Line honors went to Duncan Hine skippering Alive, which finished 4th on corrected times (elapsed 51:50, three minutes out in front). Winds picked up for race 8, and so Frank Pong’s Jelik was victorious, beating out Windsikher II by 40 seconds on corrected time. Windsikher faltered in race 9 with a third place finish, leaving Millennium Racing and Alive to joust it out; and it was Duncan Hine’s Alive team that put in a great last run for the day to win.
Among the IRC1 entrants, Kenn Eyears and Rerefine (formerly Windsikher) took race seven, finishing fifth but enjoying a positive handicap correction. EFG Mandrake III was second. Kevin Whitcraft’s GP42 ran well in the second race of the day, besting all runners for a comfortable finish on both elapsed and corrected times.
Japanese team Karasu skippered by Yasuo Nanamori came on strongly today to best their close rivals Roland Dane’s Jessandra II team, which was second – with just seven seconds to split between them on corrected times. IRC2 will belong to one of these fierce rivals. Karasu couldn’t quite do the double, finishing runner-up in race 8 behind Fujin skippered by Mick Tilden, with Jessandra II in 3rd place.
Defending Champions Pine Pacific has already won the Premier Class after another two victories today. None of the remaining Premier fleet could match the blazing pace of Pine Pacific, which took line honors again today in both races.
Races six and seven of the Firefly 850 Sports Class went to John Newnham and Twin Sharks yet again, with a massive effort to place the boat two-and-a-half minutes in front of the pack in the first race; and what a close race it was between the rest, with just 6 seconds separating Moto Inzi and Voodoo, while Advanced Racing were half a minute behind. This is the sort of action we have come to expect from the one-make catamaran class, and it has not disappointed so far in 2015. Twin Sharks is sitting pretty ahead of the final day’s racing.
A good win for Asia Catamarans Hurricane today in the Multihull Racing Class race 6, with Alan Carwardine and his team finishing quickest on corrected times in today’s first run. Honorable mention must go to Danny Moore and Three Itch, which completed the course in a very quick 36:43 on elapsed time, four clear minutes ahead of anyone else. Danny’s crew built upon their strong turn of pace to take victory in race 7, leaving the class open going into the final day by overcoming a difficult handicap.
Performance Multihulls was won by Elizabeth Schoch who has been on exceptional form throughout the regatta. She enjoyed a six whole minute lead today, with Multihull Solutions H3O unable to do anything about a Corsair Pulse 600 racing multihull that has never looked back.
Sponsors of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta include Principal Host Sponsor Kata Group, and Strategic Partners: The Government Lottery Office (GLO), Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), and Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). Co-Sponsors: Central Pattana, PTT PLC, Siam Winery & Montclair and Haadthip PCL. Media Partners includes Phuket Gazette, PGTV, Prestige, SailWorld.com, Yachtstyle, Sea Yachting, Phuket Magazine, Image Asia, RL Magazine, The Guide Phuket, Phuket Marine Guide, and Art & Culture.