Two of the PSV kids on the water at the Phuket Yacht Club in Ao Yon.

The Topper Sail Phuket sailing school and Phuket Sunshine Village (PSV) are looking for a sponsor or sponsors to make a dream come true for a group of orphans from the village.

The seven kids have been training hard at Phuket Yacht Club in Ao Yon with the aim of competing in the Thailand Optimist Nationals at the Top of the Gulf Regatta in Pattaya, from April 30 to May 4.

As Katy Gooch and Paul Firmin of Topper Sail stress, it “would be an incredible experience for these children”.

The seven kids have been sailing most Sundays for just over a year, and have taken part in club racing at Phuket Yacht Club. If they can get the funding, they will also be joined by two other club members, making a total of nine junior entries from Phuket.

“To prepare the children for the Nationals we are arranging for them to join the Advanced Optimist Course run by the Junior Sailing Squadron ( JSST) at Sattahip Naval Base, Chonburi from the 17th – 25th April,” Katy explained.

“This will give them a great opportunity to improve their sailing skills and racing knowledge and the chance to practice with a larger fleet. Arrangements are also being made for them to stay on for further practice before competing in the Nationals.

Staff at Topper Sail Phuket have given their time to teach these children to sail and arrange races for them every month, and Phuket Yacht Club has allowed the children to use its facilities for these races at no cost.

However, the cost of sending the children to the training camp and to the regatta itself is estimated at approximately 100,000 baht, which would cover accommodation, food, course fees, boat charter, entry fees and transport.

“Travel arrangements have not been confirmed,” Katy explained, “so we are looking at various options including the possibility of any sponsored flights from Phuket to Bangkok and/or Bangkok to Phuket.

“I’m happy to give my time to these children from the PSV, but I am not in a position to donate 100,000 baht as well.

“They love to sail and have improved so much since they started learning with us. It would be fantastic for them to have the opportunity to go and compete in the nationals. Sailing helps to instill self-reliance and quick thinking and I have seen first-hand how it has helped these children develop both on and off the water.”

Anyone interested in sponsorship should contact Katy Gooch by email or by calling her at +66 (0) 8 5215 9185

The Phuket Sunshine Village Foundation was founded in 2004 after the Asian Tsunami hit Phuket and provides a safe and secure home for children who are either orphaned or who are no longer able to live with their natural parents.

Whew - it's a bit crowded here. At the start of one of the races in the 2009 Phang Nga Bay Regatta.

Nineteen boats are so far signed up for the “fun” regatta – the annual Phang Nga Bay Regatta, which goes under the gun on February 4.

More boats can be expected to join in the next couple of weeks – there were 50 entries in the 2009 event. It’s one of those nerve-racking things that regatta organisers in Phuket have to put up with; very few boats are registered until the last minute.

This year’s regatta will see racing on four days – the 4th to the 7th, with registration on the 3rd.
Partying will begin before the regatta with the opening event, as in the past few years, at the Chandara Resort in Ao Por.

Conveniently close to the Ao Por Grand Marina, the resort is now managed by the Absolute group, promising to make it an entertaining evening with the potential for painful starts for some of the less serious crews.

As in last year’s regatta, there will be six classes: Racing, Cruising A and B, multihulls, bareboat charters (last year this was filled entirely with Darwin-class boats from Sunsail) and the one-design Firefly class.

Although the regatta started out 12 years ago as a casual antidote to the very serious King’s Cup Regatta, serious competitors are by no means excluded.

Last year’s Racing Class winner, for example, was Yo!2, owned and skippered by Peter Ahern. Ahern in based in Perth, Western Australia, and his yacht is usually berthed in Port Dickson in Malaysia. You don’t come all that way to drift around the bay swilling beer.

For more details, visit the regatta website.

Cruising missile: The 26-metre Pershing from Italy will be a feature at the PIMEX show in January.

The world may still be wobbling from the effects of the ghastly GFC (Global Financial Crisis for those of you who have been living in a cave for the past 2 years), but yacht-makers and associated businesses seem to be doing okay, if the numbers given by the organisers of the upcoming Phuket International Marine Expo (PIMEX) are to be believed. We quote:

“PIMEX is a key contributor driving the growth of Phuket’s marine tourism by approximately 10% year-on-year. The show has a proven track record with sales successes and strong visitor numbers for seven consecutive years. The 2010 show is expected to attract over 75 local and international exhibitors and over 4,000 visitors, including many wealthy overseas investors looking for the perfect holiday home with a leisure marine lifestyle.”

It’s not just the number of exhibitors, boats and visitors that are expected to grow this year. It’s also the size of the gleaming gin palaces. This year the show, which takes place from January 7 to 10 next year at the Royal Phuket Marina, will feature a pair of giants.

First up will be a 26-metre Pershing - that’s close to 90 feet long, or the length of three classic London red buses.  Apart from looking and behaving like a cruise missile (it’s silver and has a top speed of 44 knots, or 80 kmh), it has  the usual nifty stuff like enormous sunbeds on deck, top-flight AV gear, a stateroom that would make your average Hilton green with envy, and even mosaics in the bathrooms.

Even bigger will be the 32-metre Mangusta (three and a half London buses) by Rodriguez of France. It’s not quite a quick as the Pershing – it’ll hit 35 knots, or about 65kmh – but it’s got even bigger sunbeds, bigger stateroom and – if your fancy runs this way – you can have a big hot tub on the rear deck. A 65-kmh hot tub. Imagine.

We hesitate to describe any of the other entrants in the show, for fear of making them pale by comparison, but event director Andy Dowden assures us that there will be something for everyone. Well, almost. Just don’t ask for a hot tub in your rubber dinghy.

Andrew de Bruin and Donna Stephans (sail 1914) in the thick of the action during the 2007 Tasar Worlds in Phuket - Photo by Duncan Worthington.

Eight of the internationally popular, fast, Tasar dinghies will appear for the first time at this year’s Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, battling for honours in their own special event, which will take place on November 28 and 29, just before the main regatta.

The battle of the Tasars is the brainchild of Andrew de Bruin and Donna Stephens, last seen in competition in Phuket during the Tasar Worlds in 2007. They placed 53 out of a fleet of 59, but despite getting nowhere near the silverware, were plainly bitten by the bug.

After the Worlds in 2007, a fleet of four Tasars raced regularly at the Phuket Yacht Club in Ao Yon. The owners continued to learn more each time they raced and, with conditions usually 10-12 knots and temperatures around 32ºC, there’s little to complain about even when capsized, as the water is a welcoming 28ºC.

Since then, de Bruin and friends have been actively seeking Phuket buyers and have now confirmed that four more Tasars are on the way from Australia. This will bring the local fleet to eight crews, all of which intend to enter the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta event.

King’s Cup Race Director, Simon James, said, “It’s great to see more smaller boats and new classes adding to the already diverse fleet the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta attracts each year.”

For de Bruin, eight is not enough. “We’d like to get a bit of growth happening here and, who knows, we might be able to field a more competitive group when we host the 2015 Worlds again in Phuket.”

The Tasar fleet will be joined by an Optimist fleet which will also compete on the weekend before the main regatta.

Flying high: Computer impression of one of the Phuket hydrofoils in flight in Phang Nga Bay. Photo courtesy Phuket Hydrofoil

Action from Phuket Race Week. - Photo courtesy Image Asia.

The weather, the scenery, the after-race parties – all of these have combined to put Phuket’s three major regattas on the Asian sailing map. And interest is growing beyond Asia.

After what competitors described as the best racing yet, Phuket Raceweek, held during the blustery southwest monsoon conditions of July, has opted to join the Asian Yachting Grand Prix (AYGP) circuit.

The circuit already includes the Phuket King’s Cup regatta in December, along with the China Coast Regatta, the Hongkong-Vietnam race, the Raja Mudra and Royal Langkawi regattas in Malaysia, the Singapore Straits Regatta, the President’s Cup in the Philippines and two more in Thailand -  the Top of the Gulf and Samui regattas.

Neil Pryde, skipper of the current AYGP title holder, Hi Fi, which competed in Raceweek for the first time this year, labeled the event “ a great regatta that should grow”. It already has. The first event, in 2004, had just 19 locally-based boats competing. This year saw 33 boats on the water, including crews from Australia, New Zealand, Austria, the Netherlands, Britain, Denmark, Japan, Ireland and Canada.

Meanwhile, the organisers of the island’s oldest regatta, the Phuket King’s Cup, have announced that one of Britain’s top young sailors is to compete in the regatta in early December.

He is Matthew Mee, 22, whose wins include the 2004 Merlin Rocket championships and the 2009 GP14 national championship in Britain. He is widely tipped to be picked for the British team in the London Olympics in 2012. He also excels in Fireball racing.

He will be racing aboard the Platu Tuay Lek, owned by local sail training outfit Sail In Asia whose boss, Mike Downard, commented, “We are proud to have Matt and team racing our boat.”

Jabuticaba under sail in Phang Nga Bay. Photo by Vishal Sood.

But you know what it’s like – “Eek! I forgot!” or “I thought you were paying for this…” or “Yeah, I was going to come but I have a hangover this morning.” You can end up with six people, a  big bill and a lot of embarrassment.

There is, however, at least one beautiful boat out there that does “join in”  cruises – just pay for yourself and take pot luck on who you’re going to meet on board.

The boat is called Jabuticaba. Built in Turkey, she was bought by Vishal Sood and his brother, who took her to Goa, where they own one of the Indian resort area’s smartest boutique hotels, the ultra-chic Siolim House, winner of a Unesco conservation award and haunt of glitterati.

Jabuticaba is 70 feet long, 21 feet wide, has eight cabins (all with ensuite bathrooms, of course) and acres of deck area, a galley that looks like – and serves as – a bar, and a shady afterdeck with a huge dining table. In other words, this is no cargo ship. It’s made to be a party boat.

It took a while to for Jabuticaba to get to Phuket. In Goa the brothers quickly realised that there was really nowhere to go on a boat – no coral reefs, no offshore islands, bays and beaches. Cruising or using the boat as a liveaboard for dive trips was a non-starter. So they decided to take her to the Maldives for liveaboard trips. There, their local partners quietly removed the boat from Malé and headed for a southern atoll. It took months of twisting arms to get her back.

Vishal, who was working for MTV, quit his job and brought the boat to Phuket. “When she got here she was in a pathetic state – all the varnish was peeling, like sunburn. I had tears in my eyes.” He spent more months bringing her back to life, replacing the wrecked upholstery and all the equipment that had disappeared.

End of a Jabu day - a dramatic Summer Season sunset.

“I decided she wasn’t right for ordinary sailing. She’s got a charm to her – when you come on board you feel good. You feel you can put your feet up and relax – that’s the vibe. Also, regular people don’t usually get the chance to experience a boat like this; it costs too much to charter. So we discussed it further, and we worked out that on most trips, during the hour or so that you spend getting to where you’re going, nothing happens. I mean, it’s very pretty and there’s plenty to look at, but nothing happens.

“Usually, a boat trip is a bit like a transfer; you’re sitting shoulder-to-shoulder. People don’t care about the boat, only about where they are going. But his boat is very wide, so you don’t feel crowded. We decided to make the trip itself an experience, a party. It’s as much about the journey as the destination. People tend to lose their inhibitions, you meet other people and you relax.”

It helps that Vishal has a huge music collection and, with his MTV and Goa party scene experience, is good at judging the mood aboard and using the music to elevate  it or bring it down. “Of course, with a diverse group of people, you can’t make everyone happy all the time, but we try. The night before we look at the nationalities and the ages that are going to be aboard and plan what music we’re going to play.” This is all part of what Vishal and his crew refer to as a “Jabu Day”.

Jabuticaba is based at Yacht Haven marina, and sails out into northern Phang Nga Bay. Tickets cost B3,400/person in the summer season and B4,000 in the high season, including hotel transfers, a big lunch, soft drinks and a glass of sparkling wine at sunset. Alcohol is extra. The website is here.