Good gusts & keen competition mark the start of the 2025 Yacht Sales Co Regatta
Story & Photos by Scott Murray
The 2025 Yacht Sales Co Regatta set sail today and the wind came out to play. Race Officer Simon James was able to give the racing multihulls and monohulls two races each, while the cruising multis sailed only one; the first, a windward-leeward, with the racing boats getting in a coastal course that wound through Chalong Bay for the second race.
The five-boat Multihull Racing class only had four boats racing today as Neil Ayers didn’t want to risk damaging the Firefly Ballerina in the high winds. He rented the multihull for the regatta but has an inexperienced crew on board and thought it best to play it safe and withdraw from the competition.
Ballerina, ironically is the only Firefly in the region not built by the late Mark Horwood. All were designed by Mark Pescott, but Peter Taylor built and owns Ballerina.
It was great to see Dan Fidock’s Parabellum back on the water today after a hiatus of a year, or so. The Extreme 40 lived up to its reputation capturing line honours in both races and winning the second race. John Newnham’s crew on Twin Sharks took the first race on corrected time. George Eddings Blue Nose, another Firefly, sits in third overall in this class, with Glywn Rowland’s Twister 2, is positioned in fourth heading into day two.
The two competing boats in Monohull Racing took up where they left off last year as Craig Nicholls & James Bury’s team on Alright, who traveled all the way up from Australia for the event, again dueled against Neil’s Degenkolw’s Phoenix. Today’s racing belonged to Alright though as it captured both races.
The Multihull Cruising class was taken by Andy McDermott’s Corsair Trident followed by James Baxter’s Zephyrus and then David MacInnis’ Vancouver, which did not finish the race.
After the racing was completed, the sailors retreated to the Phuket Yacht Club for a Thai buffet dinner.
The Cholamark Boat company kindly provided their flagship RIB as the photography/safety boat for the regatta. This 11-meter rib is capable of going 50 knots and is featured in the new Hollywood blockbuster JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH as the escape boat. Ironically, the film was released in Thailand on the opening day of the regatta, July 2nd! quite a coincidence.
This regatta is now the marquee sailing event of the summer season. Formerly called the Multihull Solutions Regatta it used to be a three-day event, that only featured multihulls. It acted as a feeder for Phuket Raceweek as competitors from abroad could fit in two regattas in ten days. Now with its main sponsor being the Yacht Sales Co. (associated with Multihull Solutions), it is a key event of the Phuket summer racing season for both monohulls and multihulls, with 5 full days of racing.
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