E-MAGAZINE -- SAILING IN THAILAND - OLD AND NEW HORIZONS

SAILING IN THAILAND - OLD AND NEW HORIZONS

In our modern, often frantic, world, travelling around at an average rate of only five knots might not appeal to everyone. But for sailors, nothing beats it. Whether you are racing with a stiff breeze or cruising on a flat and velvety ocean, there is always the timeless quality of a journey made using only wind and tide.

Sailing really is a unique way of appreciating the world. Sailors are out in the open amid a constantly changing sea and landscape, quite separated from the mundane concerns of life ashore. Few holidays offer such a complete change.

“A sailing holiday is like staying in a hotel room with a different view every day,” says Simon James, sales and marketing manager for Sunsail Asia. “You can get the best of both worlds by anchoring off a five-star hotel one day, and then swimming off a deserted beach the next.”

Sailing is also one of the best ways of reaching untouched destinations without violating them. The sense of discovery is constant, particularly in Thailand with its verdant backdrops, lengthy coasts and countless islands.

The sailing industry takes pride into putting money straight into the local economy, often in very remote areas. Sailors go ashore for dining, entertainment and supplies, which generally assures them a warm welcome from the locals.

Sailing also pumps up the wider economy. In terms of occupancy, a six-person yacht chartered out for on average 40 weeks in the year generates some 1,680 ‘room nights’ each year, making chartering a significant accommodation business in its own right.

Why Thailand?
Thailand, with its warm waters and soothing breezes, boasts over 3,000 kilometres of tropical coastline, making it one of the world’s most beautiful and varied cruising grounds. It has thousands of pristine islands with bays and lagoons, crystal clear waters, corals and white sandy beaches.

Three main focuses for sailing in the kingdom have emerged. Phuket, Thailand’s largest island and a province in its own right, is located to the south on the western seaboard in the Andaman Sea. The surrounding waters offer plenty of variety and attractive destinations. These include the Similan and Phi Phi island groups, where scenic coves with spectacular rock formations make for wonderful overnight stopovers. To the east of Phuket on the mainland side is Phang Nga Bay, famous for its distinctive limestone islands and caves, and abundance of spectacular anchorages.

To the east, on the other side of the Isthmus of Kra in the Gulf of Thailand, sits Koh Samui, a tropical paradise festooned with coconut plantations and languid beaches. It is surrounded by some sixty smaller islands, most of which make up Ang Thong National Marine Park. Other major island destinations nearby are Koh Pha Ngan (of full-moon party fame), Koh Tao and Koh Nang Yuan.

Northeast of Koh Samui in the gulf are Pattaya, Koh Samet and Koh Chang, Thailand’s second largest island after Phuket. The Koh Chang Archipelago comprises some 200 nautical miles of pristine waters with over 50 tropical islands to explore.

Early days
Thailand’s premier sailing club, the Royal Varuna Yacht Club in Pattaya, was founded as the Varuna Marine Club in 1957 with a Swiss expatriate, the late Walter Meyer, as its first Flag Commodore and Prince Bhisadej Rajani in charge of its sailing programme. The original seaside villa had the only restaurant in that part of town next door.

According to the club’s official history, the first recorded race saw “a motley fleet of Enterprises, Ospreys, a ‘prawn dinghy,’ a seven-metre 'folksboat', and even a sailing canoe” compete for the Varuna Marine Trophy in the sparkling, uncluttered waters of Pattaya Bay. The first national sailing championship, the Enterprise Nationals, was hosted there in 1962. The Royal Varuna Yacht Club moved to its present location in South Pattaya in 1967.

The club acquired its full title in April 1965 when HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, bestowed royal patronage upon it. King Bhumibol was himself a competitive dinghy sailor who won a number of regattas in addition to a gold medal for Thailand at the fourth Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games in 1967. King Bhumibol also designed and built his own dinghies in a home ‘boatyard’ at the Chitralada Palace in Bangkok. The same palace lent its name to the Royal Chitralada Yacht Squadron, although the fleet of small boats was actually based at a seaside palace, Klai Kangwol (‘Far from Worries’), in Hua Hin.

Competitive sailing

The Phuket King’s Cup Regatta was originally the idea of one of Thailand’s foremost architects, Mom Luang Tridhosyuth Devakul (or Mom Tri as he affectionately known), and the Royal Varuna Yacht Club. Initially a broad-based event with Lasers, Hobie Cats and windsurfers, the organizers soon saw the benefits of focusing on keelboats. The key players in the original organizing committee were a cosmopolitan bunch of keen expat sailors: Briton Chris King, American Al Chandler, German Adolph Knees and New Zealander Bill Gasson.

The first Phuket King’s Cup Regatta was held in 1987, and brought together fifteen keel boats – virtually the entire available fleet at the time. The event, held annually around 5 December, the date of King Bhumibol’s birthday, has gone from strength to strength, attracting good publicity and increasingly well known figures from international yachting.

Gasson recalls that in 1991, there was an Americas Cup skipper helming a Buzzard in one race with eight crew members who between them boasted eight global circumnavigations from the Whitbread Round the World Race. At least two of the young sailors who cut their teeth at the Phuket regatta are involved in Americas Cup sailing today.

“The Phuket King’s Cup Regatta is where we became really competitive with the Buzzard series of yachts,” recalls Gasson. “The crews were a mixture of old mates and a couple of professionals calling the shots.”

The success of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, which is a non-profit event with proceeds going to charity, has opened the way to smaller, more commercial events. The first Koh Samui Regatta was staged in May 2002 to great acclaim. This event has always depended on keelboats sailing down from the Ocean Marina Yacht Club in Pattaya, which supplies about a third of the competitors. Smaller catamarans were also included in the first two years, but these took a pummelling in heavy seas and the event was subsequently confined to ocean-going yachts. By its third year, the regatta had achieved International status and was beginning to attract a number of boats from overseas including Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.

The regatta has continued to grow, cementing its place in the Asian yachting scene as the final regatta in the Asian Yachting Grand Prix series. After nine races and five countries, the overall grand prix results often come down to how well yachts perform in Thailand.

After several years of uncertainty, the regatta was purchased in late 2007 and the management outsourced to professional Bangkok-based event organizers MobyElite. Web Sawadee Plc, an internet-based travel company in Thailand, has nailed its colours to the mast of the Samui regatta for 2009 and beyond by becoming the regatta’s main sponsor for the next three years.

John Stall, a regatta committee member, runs a junior sailors Optimist programme from Tradewinds, his base on the island. Koh Samui’s first Youth Regatta was held in 2008 with eleven youngsters competing in Optimists, supported by the main regatta and its partners. The junior event was also tied in with the launch of the Children in Sport fund in Thailand.

The Top of the Gulf Regatta was first run in 2004 with the support of Kirati Assakul, chairman of Ocean Life and a top sailor. It developed from the first year of Ocean Marina Yacht Club monthly races, and a desire to bring together fleets of as may boat types as possible. Optimists and beach catamarans could then pitch in against ocean-going craft and race at the same time.

Currently, more than 400 sailors compete on three race courses, all of which sailors can reach with dry feet in a matter of minutes of boarding their vessels in the Ocean marina. This is almost unique in the region.

Sponsorship has played an important role in the development of the sport in Thailand. Raimon Land, an award-winning property development company, has made a significant contribution supporting Thailand’s top regattas in recent years. The company has also signed up to sponsor the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, which remains by far the largest, for the next five years at least.

Charter companies
Chartering in Thailand is also in many ways a byproduct of the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, and a tribute to the perseverance of early ‘yachties’ in Thailand like Andy Dowden of PIMEX, Simon James of Sunsail, and others who pushed to develop the charter business from Phuket.

Thailand’s successful hospitality industry meshes well with the expansion of world-class nautical infrastructure. Today’s marine leisure industry extends well beyond Phuket, and is firmly established in the Gulf of Thailand. The ambient development pressure is towards Cambodia and Vietnam, countries with coastlines that have seen relatively little development by comparison in the past forty years.

The marine leisure industry in the gulf is expected to become at least as big as Phuket’s, as infrastructure falls into place to provide visiting yachts with all the services they demand. One of the gulf’s great attractions is steady wind, which makes sailing there a 365-day per year proposition.

Among the pioneering businesses, Sunsail set up shop in Phuket in 1991 with seven yachts, and now has thirty moored there and in Koh Chang and Koh Samui. The company also has bases in Langkawi, Malaysia, and twenty other countries, which introduces a regional dimension to its yachting products. The company started running British Royal Yacht Association courses in 1995, and has so far certified 1,200 sailors.

Gulf Charters operates from Ocean Marina south of Pattaya, and has ten yachts available, both monohulls and catamarans ranging up to 52 feet. The boats can be chartered with or without crews. Trips were mainly to the five islands in Pattaya Bay and Koh Si Chang, which is north of Pattaya off Sri Racha.

Gulf Charters has been opening up eastward to Koh Chang, which is now its primary charter cruising area, as well as further south towards Cambodia. The company runs monthly yacht races out of Ocean Marina, and the annual Top of the Gulf Regatta. The company is licensed by International Yachtmaster Training Inc. to award sailing certificates.

Latitude 8 was established in Phuket in 1999, and charters out monohulls and catamarans, both crewed and ‘bareback,’ as well as powered boats. The company has built and launched over thirty boats, and built itself a solid reputation for constructing performance vessels suited to tropical sailing and cruising. The Latitude 8 boatyard’s output includes race-winning Firefly and larger Whitehaven catamarans, and also Phuket 8 Sports monohulls.

SAILING BASES

© Royal Varuna Yacht Club	Royal Varuna Yacht Club, Pattaya www.varuna.org Located on an exclusive bay in South Pattaya, the Royal Varuna Yacht Club is one of the world’s leading beach sailing clubs, and has hosted numerous world championship events. The club’s main focus is dinghies and beach catamarans, but it is also a treasured stop for many yachts cruising in the Gulf of Thailand. The club has 24 rooms, full bar and restaurant services, and offers sailing instructions for both beginners and advanced sailors.

© Ocean Marina Yacht Club	Ocean Marina, Jomtien, Pattaya www.oceanmarinayachtclub.com Ocean Marina Yacht Club boasts a five-star hotel and is the largest world-class yachting centre in Asia, providing a full range of marina facilities, services and water activities. With an enormous u-shaped wave breaker, the marina covers 50 acres, or 80 rai, and has berthing for 500 yachts. It also provides dry docks for 200 boats of up to 35 feet.

© Koh Chang Marina	Koh Chang Marina www.kohchangmarina.com Currently the only yacht marina in Koh Chang Marine National Park, it offers launching and retrieving services, wet and dry berths, supplies and maintenance services. Gulf Charters operates from here on the island.

© Yacht Haven Marina	Yacht Haven Marina, Phuket www.yacht-haven-phuket.com Situated on Phuket’s northeast coast and only fifteen minutes from the international airport, Yacht Haven Marina markets itself as “the perfect port-of-call” to base oneself for sailing expeditions in the area. It can handle craft of up to 80 metres. The marina accommodates over 200 vessels, and features newly renovated docks and boardwalks, and all manner of landside facilities. The marina overlooks Phang Nga Bay, and enjoys steady fresh breezes all year.

© Royal Phuket Marina	Royal Phuket Marina www.royalphuketmarina.com Tucked away quietly, but strategically located on the centre of Phuket's eastern flank, Royal Phuket Marina is on the doorstep of Phang Nga Bay and close to the international airport, as well as Phuket’s main town, a number of top golf courses and other attractions. Covering over 30 hectares, or 190 rai, the marina has 350 berths for yachts of up to 35 metres. Apart from its size, Royal Phuket Marina has a boat lock, a non-tidal deepwater basin and private moorings on the doorstep of residences. Alongside are 400 luxury villas, penthouses and condominiums. Further dining, shopping, park and club areas, hotel and convention facilities are being developed.

An exhibition centre is opening in December in time to host “Asia’s favourite boat show,” the annual Phuket International Marine Expo (PIMEX). The initiative is a joint venture between Royal Phuket Marina and Informa (www.informa.com). The largest publicly-owned organizer of conferences and courses in the world, Informa stages over 10,000 events annually.

© PIMEX (Phuket International Marine Expo)	PIMEX (Phuket International Marine Expo) www.phuketboatshow.com Now in its sixth year, Pimex 2008 is a marine and lifestyle exhibition held at the Royal Phuket Marina Exhibition and Conference centre in a 2,500-square-metre airconditioned display space located adjacent to the marina basin with over 40 yachts in the water. The show is one of the largest on-water boat shows in the region, and a major showcase for boating and marine leisure. Even with the economic downturn, event organizer Andy Dowden is forecasting the largest PIMEX event yet (4-7 December).

Big Buddha Marina www.bigbuddhamarina.com The Thai government is reviewing the possibility of installing a 100-berth marina on Koh Samui near Big Buddha Beach. This new development is a response to the success of the Koh Samui Regatta, which attracted 33 boats and over 300 crew in 2008

REGATTAS

© Phuket King’s Cup Regatta	Phuket King’s Cup Regatta 1 – 6 December 2008 www.kingscup.com Now in its 22nd year, the event is run by the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta Organizing Committee under the auspices of the Royal Varuna Yacht Club in conjunction with the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand and the Royal Thai Navy. Much more than just a regatta, the week-long event is a non-stop whirl of great parties, great sailing and great fun. In the last three years, it has grown to over a hundred yachts with some 2,000 competitors and supporters attending the final night presentations. It is now firmly established as one of the top sailing events in Asia.

© Pang Nga Bay Regatta	Phang Nga Bay Regatta 27-30 January 2009 www.bayregatta.com A hugely popular regatta now in its twelfth year.

© Gulf Charters Koh Chang regatta	Gulf Charters Koh Chang Regatta 10-14 April 2009 www.gulfchartersthailand.com

© Top of the Gulf Regatta	Top of the Gulf Regatta, Jomtien, Pattaya www.topofthegulfregatta.com 1-4 May 2009 The Top of the Gulf Regatta will join the Asian Yachting Grand Prix in 2009 with racing across ten or more classes from racing keelboats down to Optimist dinghies. It will also again host the Platu Coronation Cup and the Optimist Thailand Nationals.

© Koh Samui Regatta	Koh Samui Regatta 1-6 June 2009 www.samuiregatta.com The Sawadee.com Regatta Samui is already considered a top sports and lifestyle event, attracting many visitors for the action both on and off the water. Vibrant parties and hard competition make this a must in the sailing calendar.

© Phuket Race Week	Phuket Race Week, Phuket www.phuketraceweek.com 22 -26 July 2009 Four days of professionally-run, international-standard yacht racing off Phuket’s east coast

Hua Hin Regatta August 2009 www.yrat.or.th Dates to be confirmed A popular sailing event, this annual regatta attracts upwards of 300 competitors each year who come to try and win trophies awarded in various different classes. Taking place in picturesque Hua Hin in the Gulf of Thailand, it is a great location for sailing and guarantees top entertainment onshore.

USEFUL WEB SITES

The Yacht Racing Association of Thailand
www.yrat.or.th

www.gulfchartersthailand.com
www.oceanmarinayachtclub.com
www.asia-marine.net
www.bluewavewatersports.com
www.buzzcats.com

www.sailing-thailand.com
www.sunsailasia.com
www.phuket-sailing.com
www.sea-phuket.com
www.latitude8yachts.com
www.riverovers.com
www.luxuryyachtsthailand.com
www.catamarans-thailand.com

www.samuiyachtclubregatta.com
www.sailingkohsamui.com
www.sailing-in-samui.com
www.siam-sail.com

www.yacht-haven-phuket.com
www.royalphuketmarina.com

www.phuketboatshow.com - PIMEX
www.acycphuket.com – Ao Chalong Yacht Club, Phuket
www.asianyachting.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Bangkok and educated in the UK, Siobhan Kennedy is the newly-appointed manager of MobyElite’s Sports Events Division. Her responsibilities there include running the 2009 Koh Samui International Sailing Regatta, which is now known as the Sawadee.com Regatta Samui. Siobhan trained and worked in the UK at the BBC and also in the independent television sector. She has directed and produced documentaries, and also produced live outside broadcasts and studio shows. Since returning to Asia, she has garnered event management experience, ranging from ATP tennis to Royal Trophy Golf and AFC Asian Cup football.