Panwa shines at Phuket King’s Cup Regatta
>> PHUKET: With good winds of about 15 knots returning for the final day of the 32nd Phuket King’s Cup Regatta yesterday, some exciting racing was held off the southwestern tip of the resort island as one of Asia’s biggest sailing events came to a close.
Despite winning one race each yesterday, Australian Ray Roberts and his TP 52-design boat Team Hollywood took the overall honours in the IRC Zero Class after a close tussle all week with defending champions Kevin and Tom Whitcraft on their Thai-registered boat THA72.
In the IRC One Class, Australian Craig Nicholls finished first overall on Aquarii, with Hong Kong’s Nick Burns and Fred Kinmonth second on Mandrake III.
In the IRC Two, Highlead Encouragers finished first overall after seven races.
The Premier Class honours went to Singapore’s Andy Cocks aboard Firstlight, with Hong Kong-registered boat Antipodes second. Third overall was Thailand’s Inthinai Yingsiri on Pine-Pacific.
With 12 wins from 12 races, 13-year-old Thai Panwa Boonak kept a clean sheet to take the honours in the Optimist Class.
Panwa, who won the 2018 Optimist Asian and Oceanian Championship in Myanmar, has proved to be an outstanding sailor and will be a great ambassador for Thailand when he represents the Kingdom in international events.
Another consistently good young Thai sailor with a promising future in the sport is ML Weka Bhanubandh, who finished second in the Optimist Class.
Chusitt Punjamala won nine of 12 races in the Laser Standard Class to win the overall title ahead of Arthit Romanyk and Chairat Dangdeemark.
In the Laser Radial Class, Janisara Sasha Romanyk finished as the overall winner.