The final day of the Phuket King's Cup Regatta, December 5th His Majesty the King's birthday, wrapped up what was one of the most competitive regattas in memory. Australasia's best sailors lead a formidable racing class fleet said to be the strongest ever assembled in Asia. The Phuket King's Cup Regatta is fast building a reputation as one of the world's best sailing events.
The 2009 Phuket King's Cup Regatta is a week of sailing that had a lot of everything. The first three days saw shifty winds and strong currents, followed by some of the windiest conditions of up to 22 knots on the final two days of races.
Neil Pryde's HiFi sailed with meticulous consistency to lead the racing class from start to finish. His final record of three 1st place, three 2nd place and one 4th place finish clinched the coveted King's Cup trophy. Pryde previously had been in striking distance of the King's Cup in 2005, 2006 and 2008 each year in second overall.
Chris Dickson and a group of America's Cup sailors on Full Metal Jacket, briefly challenged Neil Pryde's dominance mid week only to fall short. By day four strong winds, choppy seas and a long island race handed Frank Pong's 76 foot Jelik II near perfect conditions. By race day five the overall results were, Pryde finishing in first place, followed by Frank Pong in second and Ray Roberts on Evolution Racing third.
Matt Allen skippered Ichi Ban thoroughly dominated the IRC 1 class with nine straight first place finishes, followed by Koull Baby in second and Switchblade third. In IRC 2, Royal Thai Navy 1, skippered by Wiwat Poonpat got into their stride in mid-week putting together a string of five consecutive wins. An outstanding result for Thailand.
Source: www.kingscup.com
Click here for the results table, news, videos and photos from the Kings Cup!
December 2009 Archives
Billionaire floats eco dream on sailing soda bottles
Plastiki and the 100% recyclable yacht
By Dan Goodin in San Francisco
Posted in Biology, 25th November 2009 07:02 GMT
By now, David de Rothschild is used to being cast as the eccentric visionary whose well-meaning crusade to save the world's oceans is overshadowed by a lack of execution - or at least naiveté.
After all, the billionaire eco-adventurer's three-year quest to sail across the Pacific in a boat made completely of recycled materials has suffered its share of setbacks. For one thing, the vessel is no longer being made solely of recycled plastics.
And for another, some doubt the 60-foot catamaran containing 12,500 2-liter reclaimed soda bottles will withstand the cruel Pacific waves during a planned 12,000-mile trek from California to Australia.
What's more, the Plastiki - as the experimental ship is to be christened - was originally set to sail some 12 months ago, a deadline that's been repeatedly extended as the ambition of de Rothschild's plan has presented obstacle after obstacle to his 30-person team. (They now hope to put the boat in the water for the first time by year's end and begin the voyage early next year).
Read the rest of the article in The Register...
