Born as a birthday tribute to a sailing King, the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta has spent nearly four decades turning the waters off Kata into Asia’s most storied racecourse. This December, the 38th edition sets sail.
Every December, something shifts in the bay at Kata. The horizon fills with sail. Carbon hulls slice past longtail boats, crews in matching polos crowd the beach bars at sunset, and the whole of the south of the island seems to lean towards the sea. The Phuket King’s Cup Regatta is back, and with it, a story that began with a King who loved to sail.
To understand the King’s Cup, you start with His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, King Rama IX. His passion for sailing was no royal pastime. In the early 1960s he began designing and building his own dinghies, testing them on the palace waters in Bangkok.
In April 1966 he sailed a single-handed OK dinghy across the Gulf of Thailand, from Klai Kangwon Palace in Hua Hin to Sattahip. The rudder from that crossing became a perpetual trophy, still raced for today.
The following year came a moment Thailand has never forgotten. At the Fourth South East Asian Peninsular Games in December 1967, the King and his daughter, Princess Ubolratana, finished equal first in the OK Dinghy class. Father and daughter shared the gold medal, and 16 December is now celebrated as Thailand’s National Sports Day in honour of that day.
In 1986, as the King’s 60th birthday approached, a group of Thailand’s leading sailors met to discuss how they might honour him. Their answer was a Royal Regatta in Phuket, the first ever held in the Andaman Sea.
The inaugural Phuket King’s Cup Regatta took place in 1987, founded by sailors from the club now known as the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, including Commodore Chris King, Dr Rachot Kanjanavanit, Al Chandler and Adolph Knees. The renowned architect M.L. Tridosyuth Devakul, known to all as Mom Tri, opened his Phuket Yacht Club Hotel at Nai Harn Bay to the organisers. That same year, the International Olympic Committee honoured the King with the Olympic Order for his contribution to sport.
The early fleets were gloriously eclectic: keelboats, catamarans, Lasers and even windsurfers. Regatta folklore remembers a Laser sailor calling “starboard” on a 45-foot keelboat, and winning the right of way.
The regatta’s royal roots run through the Royal Varuna Yacht Club. In the 1960s it began life as the Varuna Marine Club in South Pattaya, where the Royal Family often came to sail. Dr Rachot Kanjanavanit, one of the regatta’s founders, raced alongside the King in that 1967 Games final.
Today the regatta is still organised under the auspices of the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, together with the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand, the Royal Thai Navy and the Province of Phuket. It is a partnership that keeps the event’s original purpose close to its heart.
From Nai Harn, the regatta found its long-term home a few bays north. Since the late 1990s, Kata Beach has been race central, with the Kata Group’s beachfront resort, now Beyond Resort Kata, serving as host venue for opening ceremonies, race control and the Royal Award ceremony.
It is here that the King’s Cup feels most alive. Crews stroll from the start line to the sand in minutes. Spectators watch from hillside terraces as the fleet rounds Koh Pu. Restaurants, bars and boatyards across the south of the island share in a week that has become part of the fabric of local life.
The regatta has grown with Phuket’s yachting community. Today it welcomes upwards of 90 boats and 2,000 sailors, from grand prix racing yachts to cruising catamarans, classics and the dinghy fleets where young Thai sailors earn their first podiums.
“Being part of the Phuket King’s Cup is a privilege. The regatta was created to honour a King who loved the sea, and that spirit is still on the water every December. We are proud to welcome sailors from around the world to Kata, and prouder still to see Thailand’s next generation racing alongside them.”
Under the Royal Patronage of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn, King Rama X, the regatta has entered its most remarkable era. Each year, the King’s Cup trophies are bestowed by His Majesty.
In December 2023, at the 35th edition, Their Majesties the King and Queen attended the regatta, the first time members of the Royal Family had done so. Her Majesty Queen Suthida went on to race aboard Vayu THA 72, the TP52 of brothers Kevin and Tom Whitcraft, before presiding over the Royal Award ceremony at Kata.
The Queen has since become a familiar and competitive presence on the racecourse. At the 36th edition in 2024, His Majesty the King steered Vayu to the start line, with Her Majesty racing as crew as the team claimed the top IRC Zero class. Their Majesties then presided over the awards together, during the King’s sixth-cycle year.
In 2025, Her Majesty was back on board for the 37th edition, and Their Majesties again presented the prizes. For the sailors who receive them, it is a moment that links today’s fleet directly to the King who started it all.
For all its trophies and ceremony, the King’s Cup is also a reminder of what makes this island extraordinary. Out on the water, Phuket reveals itself differently: limestone islands, empty coves, the green hills above Kata glowing in the late afternoon light.
Peter Dyer, one of Phuket’s sailing legends, puts it simply.
“You don’t really know Phuket until you have seen it from the sea.”
Kata Rocks shares that love of the water, having sponsored yachts in the King’s Cup alongside Peter, and closing each sailing season with its own celebrations on the bay. The Kata Rocks Superyacht Rendezvous and the Kata Rocks Poker Run follow a week after the regatta, on 18 and 19 December, carrying the spirit of the King’s Cup on into the festive season.
The 38th Phuket King’s Cup Regatta runs from 5 to 12 December 2026, opening on the birthday of the late King Bhumibol. Whether you are racing, crewing or simply watching from the shore, find a spot above the bay and take it all in. Nearly four decades on, the King’s Cup remains Phuket’s most beautiful tribute: a royal regatta, sailed on royal waters, and shared by everyone who calls this island home.
Entries and race information: kingscup.com
