Bangkok--8 Dec--Vivaldi Public Relations
Phuket, Thailand, 04 December 2009 — On a day where winds reached speeds of up 20 knots, and choppy seas took a toll on smaller boats, Neil Pryde’s HiFi logged in a brilliant day four performance to all but ensure overall honours for the 2009 King’s Cup.
After handicap, Pryde was just 38 seconds behind Frank Pong’s Jelik II and is all but assured of winning the overall King’s Cup title, although there is a small mathematical chance to fall short if he fails to finish tomorrow’s race. Pong came in first, Pryde second and Ray Roberts on Evolution Racing finished third. Today’s race day sponsor is Mom Tri’s Boathouse.
Said Pong, “wind conditions were good but the short choppy waves proved challenging.” The long course and strong winds proved a much bigger challenge to many of the smaller boats. Pattaya-based skipper from the boat The Sting, said, “I saw several boats with broken masts. In our smaller boat I could feel every wave as we hit.”
In IRC 1 Class Ichi Ban continues to come up aces with another first place finish, followed by L’autre femme in second and Switchblade third. Drama for the Royal Thai Navy would be an understatement as the Royal Thai Navy 1 skippered by Wiwat Poonpat upset Team Bentley to take first place today and a slim overall lead. It was not all good news for the Royal Thai Navy teams, however, as Royal Thai Navy 2 broke their mast forcing the team to withdraw from the Regatta.
Race day four results in the Premier Class were a mirror image of day three, with Shahtoosh first, Anthony Hastings second and Australian Maid taking third.
Brent Gribble on Twin Sharks is flirting with perfection having finished first in all seven races. With the overall title in his sights, he was followed by SEA Property and Voodoo Child.
Henry Kaye’s Thor has been leaving Multihull Racing Class competitors in his wake all week finishing first again today — a clean sweep to date. Miss Saigon and Shanghai Baby finished in second and third respectively.
One of the top events in the yachting world, the Phuket King's Cup Regatta is now in its 23rd year and continues to set its mark both as a magnificent maritime event and an annual attraction for up to 2,000 high spending visitors.
Asia's biggest and most popular regatta, the event was inaugurated in 1987 to celebrate the 60th birthday of His Majesty the King of Thailand and has been held every year since, during the first week of December.
Under Royal Patronage, the Regatta is organised by the Phuket King's Cup Regatta Organizing 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 of the 2009 Regatta include Kata Group Resorts Thailand, Chang Beer, Mont Clair, Mom Tri's Boathouse and The Moorings. Media Partners include Asia Pacific Boating, Blue Wave 90.5FM, Ensign Media, Multihull World, The Nation, Phuket Gazette, Prestige Thailand, Sail-World.com, Superyacht Asia magazine and Yacht Style.
For more information:
Website: www.kingscup.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=70268823885&ref=ts
Provisional Series Results — Day 4:
Racing Race 7
Sail No. Boat Name Place
HKG800 Jelik II Frank Pong 1
HKG 2112 HiFi Neil Pryde 2
AUS 8898 Evolution Racing Ray Roberts 3
SIN 28752 Foxy Lady IV Bill Bremner/Andy Cocks 4
GBR 5211 Strewth Geoffrey Hill 5
Premier Race 5
Sail No. Boat Name Place
HKG 1985 Shahtoosh Robert Tanner 1
MAS 99 Baby Tonga-Hideaways Club Anthony Hastings 2
AUS 4100 Australian Maid Dr. Jon Wardill 3
NZL 8818 Intrigue Dr Ian Nicholson 4
RUS 1 Ocean Agassy Ermakov Ilya 5
IRC 1 Race 7
Sail No. Boat Name Place
AUS 6038 Ichi Ban Matt Allen 1
SIN 1231 L’autre femme Brent Morgans 2
SIN 888 Switchblade Yasuo Nanamori 3
GBR6612R Sail Plane Peter Sorensen 4
HKG 1978 Koull Baby Peter Wintle 5
IRC 2 Race 7
Sail No. Boat Name Place
THA 2008 Royal Thai Navy 1 CPO.3 Wiwat Poonpat 1
GBR 4497 Team Bentley Peter Dyer 2
SIN 333 Waka Tere Ken Eyears 3
JPN 777 Phoenix Niels Dgenkole 4
MAS 88 Skandia Endeavour of Whitby Stuart Williamson 5
Modern Classic Race 5
Sail No. Boat Name Place
48 Emerald Blue Nick Band 1
72 Aleph Clive L Gessing-Richardson DNF
GBR 2080 El Oro Simon Blundell DNF
CAN 13 Pytheas Aura Reinhard Haiber DNF
WYT Waconda Simon Jupe DNF
Firefly 850 Sports Race 7
Sail No. Boat Name Place
FF 298 Twin Sharks Brent Gribble 1
FF 888 SEA Property Damian Ford 2
FF 777 Voodoo Child Hans Rahman 3
FF 690 The Frog John Newham DNC
FF 959 BlueNoZe Damien Kimball DNC
Multihull Racing Race 7
Sail No. Boat Name Place
SW01 Thor Henry Kaye/Fergus Wilmer 1
GBR 720M Miss Saigon David Liddell 2
204 Shanghai Baby Neil Ayre 3
AC001 Da Vinci Nina Grenville Fordham 4
1 Zhuka Richard Eyre 5
Media contact:
Joseph Henry (English)
Managing Director
Vivaldi Public Relations
T: +66 85 834 5557
F: +66 2319 9303
[email protected]
http://www.vivaldipr.com
Wijitra Pechpalakorn (Thai)
PR Executive
Vivaldi Public Relations
T: +66 85 834 1116
F: +66 2319 9303
[email protected]
http://www.vivaldipr.com