Change of officials

Titan of the rules world, Bryan Willis, heads for Phuket

The America’s Cup is the best known sailing competition in the world, and this year one of the men in charge of the world’s most popular regatta will be calling the shots at Asia’s biggest marine event, the annual Phuket King’s Cup Regatta.

Internationally renowned ISAF sailing official Bryan Willis, who has overseen five Olympic Games sailing events and has been involved in six America’s Cups as a rules advisor, chief umpire and who will be the Jury Chairman at next year’s America’s Cup in Valencia, Spain, has agreed to play a leading role in this year’s Phuket King’s Cup Regatta.

Willis has agreed to fill the vacuum left by regular Phuket King’s Cup official Mark Pryke - one of the world’s leading sailing judges - who will be on duty at the region’s biggest sporting event, the Asian Games.

The Asian Games start in early December in Doha this year and as Asia’s leading authority on sailing, Pryke - who instrumented the starting of the annual Sydney to Hobart race some years ago with Phuket King’s Cup Regatta senior committee member Nigel Hardy by his side - has been enlisted to oversee the sailing events at Asia’s version of the Olympic Games.

This year’s Phuket King’s Cup Regatta runs from 2-9 December, and unfortunately, the Asian Games are being held at the same time. And with regular Head of Jury Pryke involved in running the sailing events in Doha, regatta organisers in Phuket breathed a huge sigh of relief when Willis agreed to take on the role of Chairman of the Jury at Asia’s biggest sailing regatta.

The Phuket King’s Cup Regatta has always adhered to ISAF rules and been run to international yachting standards. With Willis in charge this year the Race Committee can be assured of running as professional a sailing event as any in the world.
Willis will be backed up by a team of internationally renowned sailing experts including Howard Elliot and Simon James, who will handle all the action on the water - protests, handicaps, race courses – and make sure the big fleet of yachts all return to their base off the Kata Beach Resort at the end of the day’s racing.

Elliot, who has been appointed to various positions on the Race Committee at the King’s Cup for many years, will be Principal Race Officer this year and the International Jury will be led by Willis.

James also has a wealth of sailing experience as the Marketing Manager for Sunsail, one of the world’s biggest yacht charter companies, and has played a leading role in the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta for many years as well as at many other regattas in Asia.

James also announced that the RORC will send Jenny Howells from the UK to process IRC certificates and sort out any measurement questions during this year’s King’s Cup.

“It’s a shame to be losing our regular group of world-class officials this year, but we have managed to replace them with some highly respected and knowledgeable people who have experience running some of the world’s biggest regattas,” said Santi Kanchanabandhu, President of the Phuket King’s Cup Committee. “This year’s regatta, which is our 20th anniversary, is also shaping up as a record year in the number of entries, and with our expert team of officials in place we can now guarantee that the racing will be run to the highest international standards.”

This year is special for both Thailand and the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta – the regatta is celebrating its 20th year and the regatta’s patron, His Majesty the King of Thailand, is also celebrating his 60th year on the throne, making him the world’s longest reigning monarch.

Every year during the regatta a candle-lit ceremony is held on Kata Beach in honour of His Majesty the King of Thailand’s birthday, which falls on December 5.

Sailors from around the world take part in the annual King’s Cup, with yachts and crews from 18 countries making up the big fleet of 86 boats at last year’s regatta. Much of the interest last year centered on the first team from China to ever enter the event, and they were accompanied by a huge media contingent, some of which sent daily television feeds back to Beijing and Shanghai.

Now with a fledgling industry in China building superyachts for export and their first entry into the America’s Cup Challenge in Spain in 2007, the giant of the region is awakening to the burgeoning marine leisure industry, and with the Olympic Games fast approaching, becoming competitive at sailing is high on the priority list.

More entries from China are expected for this year’s regatta.