Article Category - Phuket Marine Scene

YACHTING legend Rolly Tasker will never forget the day Prince Charles hitched a ride on his racing boat. “We were lining up off Cowes for the Queen Victoria Cup in 1979, when one of the crew called out to ask me if I was prepared to take a passenger,” he said. “He said ‘Prince Charles is on the radio and he says wants to bum a ride on your boat’.

MORE than 50 yachts from around the world will line up for the start of this year’s Phang Nga Bay regatta which starts on Tuesday. The fleet will spend four days racing from Phang Nga Bay, first to Laem Sak, then to Koh Yao Noi, to Railay Bay in Krabi, and finally back to Phuket. A new race course has been set for this year’s event which will sail through the Koh Hong islands.

A PIONEER of the speed boating world, the iconic Chris Craft, has cruised into Thailand. The first Chris Craft boat was built back in 1874 by the then 13-year-old Christopher Columbus Smith, and the brand became an American icon favored by movie stars and moguls. Henry Ford, Katharine Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Elvis Presley all had one, and Chris Craft boats have starred in a number of movies, including On Golden Pond (starring Hepburn), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and The Godfather series.

AUSSIE couple, Cameron and Genevieve Neill, are living a real-life fairy tale. Their ‘home’ is a $US7 million luxury yacht, and they spend their ‘working days’ cruising the ocean blue with some of the world’s wealthiest businessmen and their families. Cameron, 30, is captain of the IFA-Phuket, a 26-metre Maiora motor yacht, now based in Phuket, and Genevieve, 31, is his ‘first mate’ who does the cooking and most of the cleaning.

THERE’s a whole lot of junk in Chalong Bay at the moment. But there’s nothing trashy about Phuket’s newest tourist attraction, the purpose-built charter yacht, The Siam Junk. The boat, which can sleep six couples, or cater for parties of up to 60 people, oozes luxury and style. Last week, the Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT) approved the charter license for the 200-ton, wooden, junk rigged motor sailing yacht, The Siam Junk, and owner/builder, John Bethell, is keen to get his charter business underway.

THOUSANDS of sailors have been flocking into Phuket over the past week to take part in Asia’s biggest sailing yachting race, the annual Phuket King’s Cup Regatta. Now in its 22nd year, the Regatta attracts sailors from around the world and has become almost as famous for its parties as for its racing.

A NEW breed of tourist is invading Thailand, but instead of backpacks and sandals, these newcomers are wearing docksider shoes to stop them slipping on wet decks, and gloves to protect their hands while hauling on ropes. They aren’t interested in riding elephants around mountains or hanging out in the country’s bars and brothels, they are chartering sailing boats and either entering one of the six major regattas now staged every year in Thailand, or simply cruising around the hundreds of beautiful islands which dot the vast coastline.

There are those who would say that single ownership of a yacht is a recipe for losing money, unless you are super rich of course. The word on the street is that the wise guys would part-buy into a boat and therefore share the cost of management, crew, maintenance, and service with your ownership partners. Especially if the boat is going to lie dormant for a large part of the year. Timeshare ownership is a common proposition for property and aircraft, but perhaps not so much for boats. Well, the luxury Twinpalms Hotel Phuket has teamed up with Simpson Marine to offer part ownership of a luxury 23 metre, eight-berth yacht (plus two staff berths) called M/Y Olympia. What they have done is split the cost of ownership into 10 equal parts and are now selling them off. At the time of writing there were only three shares available for purchase. Kongkuan (Lin) Prachakrich, manager of Phuket Yacht Charter for Twinpalms Hotel, said, “Twinpalms runs the charter under a different name, Olympia Holding (Phuket) Co., Ltd., and they guarantee to have the boat ready to go at a moment’s notice on days when the boat is available. Owners may pre-book their annual fixed boat-use entitlement up to four months in advance. Eighty five days per annum remain open, of which the necessary number of days will be used for regular maintenance. The remaining open days will then be available for private charter, or as shareholder’s standby days. Any profits made from this charter will be removed from the maintenance fee for the following year.” A neat package you might say. This is a new venture for Twinpalms but everyday bread-and-butter for Simpson Marine. The company was first established by Mike Simpson in Hong Kong in 1984 to provide full service brokerage services for the local yachting community.

Among dangerous creatures in the ocean, box jellyfish rank high as one of the most venomous. Thankfully, the creatures mostly inhabit specific pockets around the world, notably the north coast of Australia. Recently, however, box jellyfish, whose sting can sometimes kill humans in minutes, have turned up in the waters off of Thailand’s coast. The antidote to the sting from a box jellyfish is simple vinegar, and one Australian man who had a near-fatal brush with a box jellyfish in the Gulf of Thailand is leading a charge to raise public awareness. Last December, Andrew Jones’ 6-year-old son, Lewis, was stung while swimming off of Koh Maak island, which neighbours Koh Chang. Not knowing treatment procedures, Jones peeled the gelatinous tentacles from his son’s legs only to get stung himself. Soon Lewis’ screams of agony subsided; his face turned blue, and his heart stopped pumping for two minutes. Miraculously, Lewis survived.

Spectators and hotel guests at the Evason Phuket on 27 July lazed around Into the Beach, the resort’s beachside bar, which for the past week doubled as headquarters for the Six Senses Phuket Raceweek regatta. Many looked across the waves as 40 vessels criss-crossed the waters of Chalong Bay in fresh final-day sailing conditions. Unlike the languid scene on the sand, crews on board competing craft worked hard to score points and boost their teams to victory. In the hotly contested Firefly 850 design class, the result came down to the very end as local favourites Henry Kaye at the helm of Mamba and Roger Kingdon leading Moto Inzi battled for bragging rights in the 2008 Firefly of the Year competition. Peter Dyer’s SEA Property took the overall Raceweek trophy for Firefly 850s, with Mamba in second and Moto Inzi in third. After remaining neck-and-neck with Kingdon down to the last race of the day, Kaye ended out front by a single point to earn Mamba the title of 2008 Firefly of the Year.

With just a few weeks to go, and over 50 yachts already registered on-line, record entries are anticipated for the Six Senses Phuket Raceweek 2008. “Never before have we had so many confirmed registrations this far ahead,” commented Grenville Fordham, MD of organizers IMAGE Asia. In November 2007, Fordham announced that Six Senses Resorts and Spas had signed up as title sponsor, and both organizers and competitions foresee that 2008 will be the best year yet. Following a five-year tradition, regatta headquarters will be based at Into the Beach, the Evason Six Senses Resort and Spa’s tropical beachside bar and restaurant terrace. Fordham also confirmed that this year’s co-sponsor is Rodenstock, the German eyewear manufacturer.

Long gone are the days when only the well-heeled could afford to hire a boat and explore the islands of the Andaman. A wide range of options now allow virtually anyone, no matter their taste or budget, to get out on the water and enjoy an activity once reserved exclusively for the élite. You can hire a private yacht with or without crew. You can board a join-in cruise, a local speedboat or a traditional longtail. You can take a sports boat off the beach, join a package tour, befriend a local yachtsman and share costs, go on a canoeing tour in Phang Nga Bay or even hire a canoe from the beach and paddle off to a nearby island. And — given that increasing numbers of Mediterranean-based superyachts are opting to winter off Southeast Asian shores — even the well heeled haven’t been forgotten Increasingly recognized as the hub of Southeast Asia’s marine leisure industry, Phuket also offers an increasing number of organizing sailing events, and these are accessible to enthusiasts regardless of whether they own a yacht. For those who wish to learn the art of sailing, several companies offer affordable courses, and a local yacht club always welcomes new visitors.

Zheng He, a legend throughout Southeast Asia's ancient world, embarked on 7 historic voyages between AD 1405 and 1433 and, unlike most of his European counterparts, he fostered goodwill and peace wherever he made port. Stocked with precious gifts and tributes, Zheng He initiated extensive trade with the countries he visited while spreading Chinese culture and technology, the most advanced of its time.

Simpson Marine will display some of the most sought-after models in the region at Boat Asia 2008, including an Azimut 55, Beneteau Oceanis 50, Lagoon 440 and Sea Ray 44 Sundancer – all top sellers in Asia. The Azimut 55 is the most successful mid-size motoryacht in Asia and the best selling model from the Azimut range with Simpson Marine selling over 15 units around the region. In true Azimut style, the 55 provides style, elegance, functionality with the use of intelligent space.

Seven kids from Samui Yacht Club joined nine from Phuket Yacht Club last weekend for the hotly-contested two-day inaugural Island Trophy Optimist regatta. The junior sailors completed seven races, with their best six results counting towards the awards. The wind arrived on Saturday morning as forecast, fluctuating between 7-10 knots, as the eager sailors rigged their boats and sailed out to the race area in Phuket's Ao Yon (Yon Bay).

The fishing fleet in Southern Thailand once bloomed with sails each morning as boats headed out to bring in the day's catch. Engines long ago proved more efficient than sails--not to mention less vulnerable to variable breezes. But recent high fuel prices have changed the efficiency equation, and sails are once again sprouting among the Phang-Nga Bay fishing fleet. Launched in the wake of the tsunami, a joint project of the Department of Fisheries and the Chaipattana Foundation seeks to help local fisherman to reduce operating costs by adapting motor-powered boats with sails made from local materials. Mrs. Praulai Nootmorn, director of the Andaman Sea Marine Fisheries Research and Development Center in Phuket City, explained that 82 Phang-Nga fishermen have participated in the project. The next step, she said, is to develop community groups to build the sails and adapt more local fishing boats to use them.

Phuket is already a major destination for divers. But if the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Thailand Diving Association (TDA) have their way, Phuket will be the only destination for an upcoming meeting of the world diving association. Khun Suwalai Pindradap, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's Southern Office, Region 4, explained that her office and the TDA are ready to pitch Phuket as the best destination for the conference.

In another first for Phuket youth sailing, Phuket Yacht Club together at Ao Yon, together with the Samui Yacht Club Regatta present the inaugural Island Trophy. This two-day regatta, with kids from Koh Samui and Phuket competing in their first-ever real boat race, will take place off Ao Yon on Saturday and Sunday, 22 and 23 March. The competitors, kids from around 8 years upwards, are learning to sail the tiny Optimist dinghies in Koh Samui with the Samui Yacht Club Regatta and here in Phuket as part of the Phuket Yacht Club's sail training programme.