King's Cup day two

Hi Fidelity takes the lead after a further two races

It was an overcast dawn in Phuket and in the grey light only a few ripples stirred on the waters off Kata Beach. A bit further out to see there was a little more wind, but it looked like a light wind day. These conditions would favour the likes of Yo! and Pla Loma, but Hi Fidelity and the big Farr 52's Hollywood Boulevard and Plis Play would not be pleased.

With around a thousand sailors gathering on the beach each morning to get back to their wet moored boats it's a hectic scene and the pre-dawn stillness is shattered by the growl of long tail boats ferrying sailors to their yachts. Amongst the bustle Australia's Ray Roberts, winner in the previous Omega AYC event in Malaysia last week said "well Hollywood Boulevard fell into a hole yesterday but we had a good de-brief and tried to work out where we went wrong. That round island race settled us down here a bit and we think we're ready for the windward leewards we'll have today."

Neil Pryde from Hong Kong's Hi Fidelity was less upbeat "we should have won yesterday. We were about a minute and a half ahead of Yo! before the last beat upwind. All we had to do was cover her… but we let her go. She went further out, got some wind or current and pipped us at the line. And now today it looks like light winds and that means a Phuket lottery."

The start line favoured the boat end in the first race and it was a melee as boats scrambled for advantage. For those people who think sailing is a gentille sport it was a rude awakening amongst calls, shouts and colourful language. And it was Plis Play that seemed to take off with the advantage. As Ray Roberts, skipper on Hollywood Boulevard put it later "well the fleet is immensely competitive and it's a joy to be out there. It really is a world class fleet gathered out there on the Andaman Sea and we're all here to win".

Stella Minter Ellison from Hong Kong, one of the smaller boats in the fleet, also managed to get a reasonable start but was affected by the variable conditions, as Warwick Downes related "well we were doing great until we hit light air and the pressure dropped. Stella's not a big boat and we tend to come to a halt relative to the bigger boats who glide on."

And it was Plis Play that took line honours but in first place on corrected time was a smiling Neil Pryde and Hi Fidelity from Hong Kong. Only 108 seconds separated the top five boats so it was extremely tight. Behind Hi Fidelity were Plis Play, Stella Minter Ellison, Clariden Karakoa and Yo!

The second race got under way in similar conditions with the wind steadying at over 10 knots. This time it was Hollywood Boulevard that got the best start and she showed her graceful stern to the fleet. But veteran sailor Ray Ordoveza from the Philippines and his crew put in a great performance to take the race ahead of the consistent Hi Fidelity and a relieved Hollywood Boulevard.



Above: Kratatoa

Said Neil Pryde "I credit the team work for today's results and our position at the top of the leaderboard. We've got to be pretty happy but there's a very long way to go – and this fleet is really very strong. We've got to stay sharp.

So after three races Hi Fidelity tops the leaderboard, four points clear of both Clariden Karakoa and Plis Play while Yo! drops down to fourth.

The fleet is out on the water again tomorrow (Wednesday) but the plan is to take a break on Thursday, so crews can explore the sites and charms of Phuket Island.

Current Results (Top five places in Racing Division)
Results after three races.

Hi Fidelity, Hong Kong, Neil Pryde, 5
Clariden Karakoa, Philippines, Ray Ordoveza, 9
Plis Play, Spain, V Garcia, 9
Yo! Malaysia, Peter Ahearn, 12
Stella – Minter Ellison, Hong Kong, Fred Kinmouth, 14