Phuket and go sailing - Yacht Charter in Phuket, Thailand2).pdf · racing division, all cats were charter cats in this case operated by Faraway Sail and Dive Expeditions Phuket.

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The Evason Resort Phuket once again hosted Phuket Race Week with Image Asia as the driving force behind the event, now in its second year. After some debate and with careful consideration, Grenville Fordham and Andy Dowden of Image Asia made the decision to introduce the two divisions and two starts for the multihulls.

The larger performance cruising cats were all Austra-lian designs too, with three Tim Mumby alloy cats and one Schionning composite cat. Much the same as the racing division, all cats were charter cats in this case operated by Faraway Sail and Dive Expeditions Phuket. www.far-away.net

The first day had bustling activity with an enthu-siastic bunch of yachts and multihulls running the start, setting up time runs and testing the angles and breeze. The 100-year-old schooner Seraph served as committee/start boat, standing by in an-ticipation of the starter’s gun with divisions flags fluttering in the building morning breeze. Swarming multihulls were soon off on a starboard tack start heading for the first island rounding.

Sailing in comfortable light-to-medium conditions both divisions headed off for an around the islands race with plenty of spin-naker gybes as the order of the day.

Phuket and go sailing...Evason Resort Phuket Race Week

Report by Bob MottPhotos by Guy Nowell Photographywww.guynowell.com (unless otherwise noted)

The separation worked well, allowing the smaller, lighter cats to get underway in clean air with well-matched competition. Interestingly enough all the racing cats were Australian – Mark Pescott designs. Coincidentally, all cats were charter cats operated by Latitude 8 Charters Phuket. www.latitude8yachts.com

The general characteristics dividingthe divisions were as follows:

Racing Multihulls Performance CruisingUnder 38 feet / 11.58 m Over 38 feet / 11.58 mUnder 6,000 kg / 13227 lb Over 6,000 kg / 13227 lbOutboard driven Inboard diesel driven

Charro, Chimera and Ceberus

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Charro was leading in racing class, followed by Cyrene, Chimera and Ceberus with Chameleon leading the pack in performance cruising followed by Mozart, Kilo and Chakra.

On rounding Koh Bon to port, spinnakers were set shy for a close reach to Koh Kae followed by port rounding of a safe water mark at Cape Panwa. The next obstacle was the famous Stafford Rock, named after Stafford Steer the skipper of the catamaran No Fixed Address. Stafford perched NFA on the rock many years back,

punching various holes in her bottom. Remarkably the only cat to make the pass in one tack was Chameleon. A little luck, a few lifts, and crew standing by to do a crash tack, plus one crew standing over the dagger-board, Chameleon managed to slip past.

The only casualty of Day One was a small monohull named Ava. Ava struck a submerged rock a few hundred meters off Koh Bon, pushing the keel up

into the hull. Taking water she was dragged to a nearby beach and grounded with the help of the regattas infl atable RIB.

Unfortunately, the incoming tide and sea conditions broke her up on the beach before a rescue effort could be organized. All aboard escaped without in-jury and were taken back to the Evason jetty aboard the RIB.

Mozart, Chameleon and Kilo

Phuket

ThailandIndonesia

IndianOcean

SouthChinaSea

Gulf ofThailand

Rawai Beach

Lone IslandMai Thon Island

Kaew IslandKoh Hae

Bon Island

Kaew Yai Island

Chalong Bay

Friendship Beach

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Day Two had an increase in wind and two races were completed with some tight around-the-buoys racing in the two fleets. It also had the debut of Voo-doo Child (considered by many to be likened to a Nacra on steroids) a new Mark Pescott Firefly design. Voodoo Child was conservatively sailed for the first races to check out all the gear. Mark Pescott was at the helm with regular crew Phil Bender and team, and, a very impressed new owner Olaf Reese from Pattaya. Later at the party, Olaf wore an ear-to-ear grin when asked how his new cat performed. Impressive is the word that comes to mind. It was worth the wait! Mark Pescott worked tirelessly into the wee hours during the month leading up to EPRW to get Voodoo Child in the water on the afternoon of the first day’s racing. She had only been out for a short test run before competing in the second day’s races.

A relieved Mark Pescott was also seen downing a few beers, having lasted the day without any major problems. Even with a conservative run, Voodoo Child proved her worth, by taking line honors in the racing class along with dual wins on handicap with Charro a close second and with Cyrene holding down third.

Two races were contested on Day Two.Chameleon dominated the performance cruising

class with two over-the-line wins in both races with one first on handicap and one second, losing to Kilo by a mere 13 seconds. Mozart came in third in the first race and had a DNF on the second due to a mishap with a turning mark rope catching on her daggerboard. Chakra struggled at fourth with fam-ily and friends aboard – notably all non-sailors apart from Frank Cusack the owner. Chakra with-drew during the second race with mainsheet blocks blown and other minor damage.

The wind and sea kicked in on Day Three causing numerous casualties, mostly gear failures. One casualty was Chameleon with headsail tack damage. Much to the disappointment of those aboard, it required a trip to the local sail repair shop in Chalong – Palm Sails. Even though Rick at Palm Sails had his staff standing by, the repair could not be finished in time for Chameleon to make the start of the second race.

Cyrene, a 38-foot Mark Pescott designed cat, beam-flipped in a strong gust of around 30 knots in medium-to-rough sea conditions close reaching with a spinnaker up and both daggerboards fully down. Without getting into details, it must be said that

Darryl, Red, Miguel and Guy Nowell (right)are off to rescue the crew of Cyrene (below)

Cyrene powered up

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the incident had nothing to do with the cat and a lot to do with the choice of sails – too much sail up and a lack of coordination aboard. It was a text-book example of how not to sail a cat in windy conditions and a perfect example of how to capsize a catamaran. Mozart imme-diately withdrew from the race and stood by for assistance until the sit-uation aboard Cyrene was secure.

Fortunately, the eight aboard escaped with minor injuries being quickly plucked out of the water by the large inflatable RIB camera boat. The boys, Darryl and Red provided the dinghy and volun-teered for the task. Their only wish was to be fed plenty of beers in the evening. Darryl and Red were kept busy during the regatta serving multiple roles as photography boat, dropping off media and rescuing wet sailors from the warm waters of Phuket.

Mozart later rejoined the race with a time adjustment to take 1st place on handicap against Kilo in the performance cruising class. Later in the second race, Mozart took line honors and 1st, she was the only cat that completed the course with Kilo and Chameleon withdrawing due to sail damage. Chameleon went out as a spectator to follow the fleet while testing her repaired headsail. Well worth it, as she trailed Mozart to see the big 14.4-meter alloy cat effortlessly lift a hull and gently place it back in the water a few minutes later. At the time, Mozart had one reef in the main and two-thirds of a headsail out pushing close hauled into Chalong Bay with an apparent breeze of 30 knots plus.

Mark Pescott withdrew Voodoo Child from the second race to help secure Cyrene and make her ready for righting. Using some rusty diving skills – it had been five years since the last dive – he re-moved and buoyed the broken rig. She was then towed over to a secure anchorage in the lee of Phuket Island near the Evason resort.

With the events of Day Three still fresh in every-one’s minds, accompanied by the unsettling sight of a huge water spout circling the race area, and with some ominous black clouds drifting past, the fleet opted for reefed sails.

The day unfolded to be a pleasant sunny day with constant winds of around 12 to 15 knots. The reefs were shaken out before the start for a short windward fetch, followed by a long spinnaker run up Chalong Bay. From there, a one-mile close-hauled run and a two-mile close-hauled run to the windward turning mark. Two of these circuits were covered with all of the boats back to their moorings by one in the afternoon. Chameleon took first in the performance cruising class having pasted all but one yacht/cata-maran – Voodoo Child. Chameleon did have a better elapsed time than Voodoo Child, but it must be said one daggerboard had separated on Voodoo Child and they were still sailing conservatively. Mozart came in second and Kilo a distant third in this class.

In the racing class, Voodoo Child crossed first with Charro second over the line and Ceberus took third with the sail-training youth team aboard.

The heavens opened up later in the afternoon with strong winds and heavy rain seemingly giving their approval to the finish of the second Phuket Race Week activities whilst washing the salt spray off the competitors boats and crew.

Some more good reasons to sail in Phuket

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The host Evason Resort was the venue for all the parties; all held at the “Into the Beach Bar” right near the action. Five parties – plenty of Tiger Beer and spirits along with a refreshing change of some home-grown Thai wine – red and white to test the palate and not too bad either.

There were varieties of nibbles – finger food for three of the five parties and a splendid buffet for the other two nights included traditional Thai dishes and much western cuisine – even varieties of ice cream – cream caramel – bread and butter pudding accompanied by copious amounts of fresh fruit for those watching their waistline.

Music was by way of a resident disc jockey playing tunes that brought one back to the 60s, 70s and 80s.

As usual, the events Madre De Bill O’Leary stum-bled through the prize-giving ceremonies with the regular mispronunciation of boat names a seem-ingly well-practiced art to “have a go” at the vari-ous owners. Bill it is Chameleon not Camelot!

Grenville Fordham and Andy Dowden haven’t re-invented the wheel with this racing event but they have added some new racing-tread tires. A slightly changed quote from an old movie may apply here “They have done for racing what Stonehenge has done for Rocks!” Running the event during the off

season in windy conditions was a big bonus. It has paid off with The Evason Phuket Race Week securing itself as an event to be at – for that matter the only event timed for the South West Monsoon season. Only in its second year and attracting 31 yachts, amongst them eight catamarans, it has certainly made its mark on the yachting scene in Thailand. The event slots in well, a few months before the King’s Cup and is supported by the King’s Cup and the Kings Cup’s major sponsor Raimon Land a top real estate developer in Thailand. Bangkok-based Raimon Land is also a sponsor of the Top Of the Gulf Regatta in Pattaya and sponsors yachts in the Koh Samui Regatta. They are a much needed and welcomed force behind yachting events in Thailand.

Now all eyes are looking towards the King’s Cup. Competition should be stiff with another Firefly due to appear on the scene and the possibility of a Raid-er joining from Australia. Maybe the Schionning-designed Radicall Bay cats Coco Blues (to defend her win last year) and her new sister China House will come over from Koh Samui if they are game to compete with the Fireflys and Raider.

If anyone is interested in participating with his/her own cat or wishes to join in or charter a cat for this event next year please contact me at: [email protected]

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Post regatta news: Cyrene was retrieved by Lat-itude 8’s boatyard and then later towed to Ao Makham’s commercial port and righted with the help of a shore-based crane. From there she was towed to Latitude 8’s boatyard in Chalong Bay under the supervision of Mark Pescott the designer. The replica motor launch Jessie was the tow boat with Mark Horwood the builder at the wheel. Cyrene was soon on the trailer and dragged up the beach by four-wheel-drive and in the shed for repairs. Apart from the missing mast, she didn’t look all that worse for the wear. She floated happily at anchor for three days awaiting her retrieval. Not much can be said for the fate of Ava. Cyrene will be out there sailing again in no time but Ava is only driftwood on the beach. “Give me a cat any day!”

For more information about Phuket Race Week, visit: www.phuketraceweek.com.

Charro takes first overall in the Racing Class

Combined teams from Mozart and Chameleon sponsored by Royal Langkawi Regatta

Mozart’s Wolfgang Riessbacher and team collect 1st overall

Olaf Reese and team Voodoo collect 2nd overall racing

Sue Arnulphy a lucky survivor collects 3rd for Cyrene

Chameleon’s Bob Mott and team collect 2nd overall

Kilo’s Chris Sieber and the Evason Team collect 3rd overall

January / February 2006 • MULTIHULLS Magazine