Preparations well underway

Final details for the sixth Koh Samui Regatta are now being finalised

Preparations for the sixth Koh Samui Regatta are well underway, with several top class entries already confirmed and a record level of sponsorship, including a number of leading brands.

“We may seem to have been quiet for the past couple of months,” said Grenville Fordham, managing director of this year’s regatta organisers, Image Asia Events. “But we’ve actually been working furiously behind the scenes getting to grips with the detail of organising an event away from our Phuket base,” he added.

Image Asia Events is also the organiser of Phuket Raceweek, now in its fourth year.
Eighteen confirmed and provisional entries, including Jelik, Abraxas, FfreeFire, Foxy Lady III, Happy Endings, Mandrake, Yasooda and Panic!, had been received by the organisers by 28 March. “All quite normal this far in advance of the regatta; the word is that we can expect about 30 yachts,” said Race Committee Chairman Andy Dowden.

Entries are mainly from Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand – although Robbo Robertson’s new Enigma 34, Flight of the Gull, is being shipped from Australia just in time to make its Thailand debut at Koh Samui Regatta, while the regatta expects to see the first ever Firefly 850 one-design class racing in the Gulf of Thailand.

Racing this year will be orchestrated by Principal Race Officer, Australia’s Tony Denham, who returns for his second Koh Samui Regatta, ably assisted by Simon James. Howard Elliot, also from Australia, will head the International Jury for his first Koh Samui Regatta. Howard has fulfilled several roles for the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta over the years, and has been the ‘absentee’ Results Officer for Phuket Raceweek each year, orchestrating almost instant online results presentation from his base in Sydney.

Returning Co-sponsors for the 2007 event, Central Samui Beach Resort (the regatta HQ), Land Rover Thailand and Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) are joined by stalwart supporters of yacht racing in Thailand, Raimon Land, and top German eyewear manufacturer Rodenstock.

National and international publicity for the island of Koh Samui and its regatta is guaranteed by Media Partners Action Asia, Asia-Pacific Boating, China Boating, CNN Traveller-Asia-Pacific, Fah Thai, SailWorld.com, SeaSpray and 98.5 Breeze FM
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Regatta Co-sponsors are backed up by unparalleled support from Samui island businesses. Returning Island Sponsors Dhevatara Properties and Samui Villas and Homes are joined this year by the Kata Group’s Kandaburi Resort (owned by long-time Phuket King’s Cup Regatta host Pramuke Achariyachai) and Tropical Living magazine.
“Then there’s a whole raft of Island Supporters, without whom it would be almost impossible to run this event,” said Fordham, adding, “These island businesses, who get little visible return for their support, supply the regatta with rooms, boats, island publicity, various other services and cash.”

Apart from the racing, Koh Samui Regatta is renowned for its social scene – a blueprint this year’s organisers are determined to retain. “As a company, we’ve raced at Koh Samui for the past three years,” said Fordham. “As participants, we love the event and have no intention of breaking a winning formula. However, based on feedback and on our own observations, we hope to be able to tweak things a little and add our own stamp – hopefully to make it even better.”

Off the water arrangements are still being finalized, but the agenda so far includes the Opening Party and Zico’s Brazilian Bar & Grill and final Gala Dinner at Central Resort, while the week will see a party hosted jointly by Dhevatara and Samui Villas & Homes, a Land Rover Thailand party and a Raimon Land party. Lay Day will feature a Land Rover Driving Experience, while the Regatta Tavern at Central will be the venue for a daily Raimon Land Happy Hour.