YACHTING
ALAN PARKHOUSE
PHUKET : A fleet of more than 40 yachts will set sail off the southern tip of Phuket this week to contest the annual Six Senses Phuket Raceweek regatta. The record number of entries, up more than 40% on last year, will race over a variety of courses for four days, and some exciting racing is expected.
Phuket Raceweek is the only regatta in Thailand held during the monsoon season, and while strong winds can never be guaranteed at any sailing event, the veterans of this regatta come prepared for some rough weather.
Now in its fifth year, Phuket Raceweek runs from July 23 to 27 and the action takes place off the Evason Phuket & Six Senses Spa on the island's southeast coast, with four days of intense yacht racing and five nights of equally intense partying.
This year's regatta will be raced over seven classes _ IRC Racing 1, IRC Racing 2, Club Class, Racing Multihulls, Ocean Multihulls, Firefly 850 One-design Catamarans and the Classics.
Thailand has become the sailing capital of Asia over the past 20 years, and Phuket Raceweek is one of five big annual regattas held in the Kingdom. And like all the other regattas held in Thailand, Phuket Raceweek keeps getting bigger each year.
''Never before have we had so many confirmed registrations this far ahead,'' said Grenville Fordham, the managing director of regatta organisers Image Asia.
''What always happens at this stage is that a few of the early entries fall by the wayside as unforeseen commitments take their toll.
''But the great news is that recent entries _ as well as those the grapevine tells us are coming _ more than compensates.''
Fordham said he still expects a record 40-plus boats on the start line, but added that he had been forced to abandon plans to reintroduce a Sports Boat class after a two-year absence.
''These are some of the most thrilling boats to see racing, but there just aren't enough of them around,'' he said.
One of those Sports Boats, which will be contesting the IRC Racing 1 Class this year, is Som Tam Express, skippered by former world junior sailing champion Scott Duncanson.
Duncanson contests most of Thailand's regattas and usually ends up on the podium, and one of the reasons for his success is that Som Tam Express was designed especially for Thai waters by his father, a leading yacht designer in Australia.
However, Duncanson is expected to have a hard time getting past fellow Australian Peter Ahern on his sleek yacht Yo!2. Ahern has won many regattas in Thailand and other parts of Asia in the past 10 years and will be one of the contenders for honours in the IRC 1 Racing Class.
Phuket Raceweek is backed by the Sports Authority of Thailand, the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand and the Tourism Authority of Thailand and is run under the auspices of the Ao Chalong Yacht Club.
www.phuketraceweek.com
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