Phuket: A tradition and one of the most important moments of the Phuket King's Cup Regatta, a sail past in honour of His Majesty the King's birthday took place yesterday.
A sail past to mark His Majesty the King's birthday yesterday.
More than 140 boats for the regatta completed a sail past at Ko Pu, Kata beach, saluting His Majesty on his 87th birthday.
HTMS Sriracha along with other Royal Thai Navy vessels were fully dressed and stationed off Ko Pu, and joined with racers from the regatta fleet.
After the salute, the fleet, divided into 14 divisions, set sail in winds of around 10 knots, basically the best, so far, of the week-long 28th Phuket King's Cup Regatta.
The most exciting action was in the IRC Zero class, where two Hong Kong entries were locked in a desperate struggle for supremacy, with Karl Kwok's Beau Geste, just two points ahead of Neil Pryde's HiFi as the regatta enters the deciding day today.
Yesterday's race seven saw Beau Geste win over HiFi in third but HiFi hit back by winning race eight.
In the IRC One, EFG Mandrake won both races yesterday but Paul Winkelman's Island Fling are four points clear heading into today's race.
TBG Team Premier were in exceptional form in the IRC Two and are 10 points clear of Foxy Lady 6.
Australian Greg Reynold's Foreign Affair also look unbeatable and have a four-point advantage in the IRC Three.
The Phuket King's Cup Regatta was held for the first time in 1987 to celebrate the 60th birthday of His Majesty and has been held every year since, during the first week of December.
Meanwhile, British sailor Ben Ainslie has announced a collaboration between his America's Cup racing team and Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT), a division of the Red Bull Formula One Group.
Ainslie, a four-time Olympic gold medallist, will lead Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) at the 35th America's Cup in Bermuda in 2017, where
he hopes to bring the prestigious prize with him to Britain for the first time.
To that end, he has enlisted the help of RBAT, which is based in the British town of Milton Keynes and specialises in "advanced simulation and mathematical modelling" for sailing teams. bangkok post/afp