Phuket (Thailand) – December 3, 2018 (travelindex.com) – The 32nd Phuket King's Cup Regatta started on Monday with a strong breeze of up to 17 knots, which allowed the organizers to hold two races in all classes off the south coast of the holiday island.

In the premier class IRC Zero – for the sleek, minimalist racing keelboats – Australian Ray Roberts and his crew on Team Hollywood managed to narrowly beat the defending champions Tom and Kevin Whitcraft on their Thailand-registered boat THA 72, which was skippered by Don Whitcraft in both races.

Team Hollywood narrowly prevailed in two hard-fought races, and the two boats are expected to continue their close racing until the final day on Saturday.

“We delivered a great performance in the first race, but the second didn’t go so well,” said defending champion Kevin Whitcraft. “We need to improve in the upcoming races,” he added.

In the IRC-1 class, the sailors also engaged in a close race for first place, which Mandrake III ultimately secured after winning the second race. King's Cup regulars Nick Burns and Fred Kinmonth finished third in the first race with Mandrake III, but clinched the overall victory with an impressive win in the second race.

Mandrake III leads the East Marine Emagine after two races by just half a point, while Loco and Aquarii share third place in the IRC 1 class.

One boat that attracts attention wherever it appears is the 60-foot trimaran SKH Scallywag Fuku Bid, a winner of the recent Raja Muda Regatta in Malaysia, and it did not disappoint on Monday in the Andaman Sea off Phuket.

Since one of their hulls completely lifted out of the water while plowing through the sea at high speed, leaving everything behind, their only real opponent was their handicap. Despite a speed of almost 40 knots in strong winds, the crew of Scallywag had to settle for second place in the Racing Multihull Class on Monday, behind Australian Dan Fidock's Fugazi.

Scallywag crossed the finish line first in both races on Monday by a wide margin, but Fugazi also sailed well, and after the handicap was subtracted from the time of the larger boat, the victory went to the smaller boat, steered by an Australian.

Closer to the shore, the young sailors in the dinghy classes completed practice races on Monday, honing their skills in preparation for the start of their first races on Wednesday in the waters off Kata Beach.

Young people from Phuket as well as from Sattahip, Pattaya, Koh Phangan, Songkhla and other parts of Thailand will compete in the Optimist Boys and Girls, Laser 4.7, Laser Radial, Laser Standard and 420 classes; some of them are already champions and representatives of the country at international events.

These ambitious young people will one day be on board the larger boats and sail further and further out to sea.

One of Asia's largest regatta fleets will take to the water again on Tuesday morning when the second day of racing in the Phuket King's Cup begins, which ends on Saturday.

This year's regatta, which is not taking place at the Beyond Resort Kata on Kata Beach as usual, will feature eleven classes of keelboats and multihulls competing against each other.

Under the patronage of His Majesty the King of Thailand, the regatta is organized by the Phuket King's Cup Regatta Organizing Committee under the auspices of the Royal Varuna Yacht Club in cooperation with the Sports Authority of Thailand, the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand, the Royal Thai Navy and the Province of Phuket.

The Phuket King's Cup Regatta is organized by the Phuket King's Cup Regatta Organising Committee under the auspices of the Royal Varuna Yacht Club in cooperation with the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand, the Royal Thai Navy and the Province of Phuket.