The first day of the 26th Phuket King's Cup Regatta being sailed out off the Kata Beach Resort had a perfect setting yesterday _ clear skies, a moderate north-easterly around 10 knots and a record 168 craft.
A boat in action yesterday.
Malaysia's Mohamed Razali Mansor led regatta president Kevin Whitcraft to top the leaderboard of the IRC Zero Class at the end of three races.
Singaporean Bill Bremner led Aussie skipper David Fuller in the IRC One Class, while long-time regatta competitor, Matt Allen, was in front of Thai entry, Royal Thai Navy One, skippered by Wiwat Poonpat, in the IRC Two Class.
Veteran regatta winner Hans Rahmann led China's Advanced Racing Team in the Firefly 850 Sports Class and Thailand-based Peter Wilcox was marginally ahead of Aussie Andrew Stransky in the Multihull Class.
Japan's finest, Junichi Ishikawa, was just holding off multiple King's Cup champion Scott Duncansonin in the Platu One Design Class, while the Premier Class saw British entry Richard Dobbs just ahead of Thailand's Ithinai Yingsiri.
The Russian teams, led by Kiril Sakhattzef and Nikiforov Evgenii, were first and second respectively in the Bareboat Charter Class and Thailand-based Peter Wood led regatta founder Chris King in the Modern Classic Class.
The Cruising Class was won by Kirill Stashevsky from fellow Thai entry William Sax, while the Classic Class saw Simon Morris at the top.
For the first time in King's Cup history, the windsurfers competed, with Hong Kong's Chun Leung Michael Cheng winning the day over 4l entries in the Phantom 295, while a women's division was dominated by Hong Kong's Hei Man Chan from Spanish lady Marina Alabau Neira.