Kings Cup Regatta

The biggest boat race in the country. 

The event started in 1987 to celebrate the 60th birthday of His Majesty the King of Thailand. Over time the Kings Cup became Asia’s premier sailing and yachting regatta event.

It has been held every year in the first week of December to commemorate His Majesty’s birthday on December 5th. Boats from all over Asia Australia Europe and other countries come to find the best in several categories sail boat and catamaran racing / cruising and more.

This is Asia’s top sailing and yachting event held every year in the first week of December. 

Phuket is part take part in one of the fastest growing sports in the world and that is sailing regattas also in Asia it might be dragon boat racing. 

Boats from all over Asia, Australia, Europe and other countries come to the island trying to find out who is the best in different categories such as sail boat racing / cruising, catamaran class and more. 

Sea battles are played out on the south west coast which sometimes remind at the ancient marine battles between the English French Portuguese and Dutch. It starts at Kata Beach about 7 am.

Until recently Australians were most of the participants but time is changing, now Russians have the top count. They just fly in and charter bare boats.

About 2,000 participants from 25 countries are active.

They come to the island to salute the King of Thailand on his birthday from Dec 2-6 that means four days of racing, counting the first day as practice day and incorporating the traditional lay-day as regular racing.

It starts at Kata Beach and it is amazing that so many companies in the public and private sector support this great yachting extravaganza.

Phuket in the Andaman Sea has historically associated with sailing.

That went a long way already since Claudius Ptolemy indicated the island as Junk Ceylon, at that time and for most of the other the thing was blown with the wind.

The today regatta is the largest in Asia the majority of activities will take place off busy Kata Beach on the west-coast of the island. That’s including the many parties in the restaurant behind the beach. Many of the races will be run close to shore to make sure everyone has a good time enjoying the racing boats under full sail. As usual in Thailand everything is possible spinnaker classes, non-spinnaker plus open and multi-hull, involving yachts and local boats.

Local vendors big and small provide parties with all kinds of barbecued delicacies and genuine Thai food.

Starting the Kings Cup Regatta at Kata Beach

The Regatta is open to mono-hull cruiser, racers and catamarans from everywhere who enjoys sailing. Since this is more or less a “farang” event it was well organized and and everyone had a good time means the participants and spectators alike. Probably also to the sponsors since without them it would be difficult to handle it.
 
This sailing event attracts racers and recreational participants too from as far as Australia to Russia and some Asian countries but mainly men who have an exciting spectacle. Of course there was the compulsory evening entertainment which catered wonderfully for celebrations and commiserations!
 

It always starts at Kata Beach.

The virtual club house is the big restaurant in the back which supplied some entertainment and catering the spacious site was the Kata Beach Bay and the facilities supplied by sponsors.

 In front of Kata Beach

The island of the Andaman Sea are many, not all of them are open for the public which is probably not so bad anyway. But cruising around in between could be real highlights at any holiday travel either "wet or dry", read more.

In South Thailand several competitions are held.

One of them is the Kings Cup, another is in Phangnga Bay and some smaller ones elsewhere. The event usually starts at Kata Beach and the “racer” comes from all over the world which is amazing considering the far off location Phuket has but south Thailand is the ideal location for an event like that.

That is a real highlight in the sailing competition calendars it including dinghy racing and windsurfers competition.

Phuket sailing and the Seraph a gaff rigged schooner Yacht with teams are battling against tricky tropical winds and sometimes some rain burst in but rather minimal. Entrants are local and international, there is a wide background for shopping and entertainment on the island nobody will get bored after a hard racing day, read more.