PRESS ARTICLES - The Greater Phuket Magazine Volume 13 No. 2

A Super Superyacht Event : Everybody Won

Yanneke Too - a lovely, low-slung 116-foot Bill Dixon-designed craft - is sifting along half a mile ahead of us, her two 110-foot, carbon-fibre Omohundro masts carrying lots of sail. But we're flying genoa, staysail, fisherman, and mainsail, and next thing we catch 14-16 knots of wind. Before long, we're smokin' along on a reach in hot pursuit of the frontrunner. "Another five or six knots," says Blue Gold's skipper Bradley de Lange, "and she'd really love it." These vessels are ocean voyagers, at one with the elements, heeled over in the tension between wind on sail and sea on keel.

But Yanneke Too maintains her lead. Blue Gold, a 151-foot Lauren Giles-designed Benetti motor-sailor, tends to lumber as she rounds the marker buoys. "She weighs nearly 500 tons," as Brad says, "so you've got to maintain the momentum." Of course the boat was designed for cruising, not for racing. "These are all one-off vessels," suggested one Feadship motor yacht skipper at the previous year's Phuket Invitational, "and any handicapping system would be impossibly complicated. Events like this will of necessity always be fun races."

Not only did everyone have fun, at this past December's second annual Phuket Invitational superyacht event, everybody won. Yanneke Too came first, while Blue Gold placed second.

On the other hand, you could also say that Blue Gold lost, since just two sailing yachts actually raced that day. Only four yachts wound up participating in the second annual Phuket Invitational. The third, SeaShaw, a Cheoy Lee 145 motor yacht, hosted the extravagant post-race cocktail party. The fourth, White Rabbit, was a spanking new, Singapore-based 118-foot Image Marine motor catamaran that cruises at 20 knots.

Following the SeaShaw party, there was just enough time to shower and change before the main social event. Le Royal Meridien Phuket Yacht Club laid on an evening feast beyond compare, which - in a country like Thailand and an area such as Phuket - is truly saying something. Local band Ulysses, augmented with saxophonist Gerard Cornielje and jazz-and-blues singer Bonnie Anderson, provided world-class music for background and, irresistibly as the night advanced, for dancing. The more indefatigable partiers wound up the night at the nearby Reggae Bar.

Was the event a success? Yes. Evidence included the faces that appeared at the SeaShaw cocktail party, including a number of European and Singaporean superyachting businessmen who prefer to remain anonymous; two senior Feadship representatives, Hein Velema, marketing director, and Francois Van Well, sales director at the Royal Van Lent Shipyards; the superyacht skippers; and Tom Houston, President and CEO of the International SeaKeepers Society, who gave an onboard demonstration of their innovative and very valuable service. (Sponsors included SeaKeepers, ShowBoats International, Le Royal Meridien Phuket Yacht Club and SEAL Superyachts, together with supporting sponsors the Phuket Yacht Haven and Singha Beer.)

The most convincing proof, however, was provided by Feadship, this year's major sponsor, whose representatives announced that company's firm intention of remaining the main supporter for the third running in December 2002.

Why would one of the world's leading manufacturers of ultra-luxurious, ocean-going motor yachts want to sponsor an event with so few participants? "The incredibly lavish parties and so on may look expensive," remarked one observer, " but it's really all cost effective. This is highly focused direct marketing." According to this perception, the skippers and crew who attend an event like this represent the ideal target market for Feadship. But Hein Velema, marketing director at Feadship, explains it differently. "We've been active in Asia since the late 1980s," he says, "maintaining offices in Tokyo and Singapore. We decided to sponsor the Phuket Invitational simply because we want to continue our association with the region and because of the character of this particular event. The Phuket Invitational's not about selling; it's about fun."

In those terms or any other, the previous year's Phuket Invitational was a remarkable success, especially given that it came together, from conception to finish, in less than a month. Despite the short time-frame, nine world-class superyachts managed to get to Phuket in time to participate. The organizing committee of this year's event - Graham Frost, director of SEAL Superyachts, and Andy Stephens, manager of the Phuket Yacht Haven Marina - had 12 months to put things together. And it should have been at least as successful as the first Invitational, if not more so.

Then came the events of 11 September. Yanneke Too was in the Red Sea at the time, reports skipper Charlie Dwyer, and the insurance companies gave them seven days to get out, if they wanted to retain coverage, and they closed the door behind them. The 155-foot sloop Hyperion was just one of at least seven superyachts trapped in the Med who'd intended to come to the second annual Invitational. Adding to the bad news, a number of superyachts already in the immediate area were prevented from attending at the last minute by a variety of circumstances, including family illness.

Still, the Invitational was great fun. But what else was it good for?

"The Phuket Invitational," suggests Graham Frost, managing director of SEAL Superyachts and main organizer, "is a chance to showcase what Phuket-based yacht cruising has to offer to the world." The area in question is really coextensive with the Andaman Sea, which borders on Thailand's western coast and extends from Burma in the north to the Tarutao Island group and Malaysia's Langkawi in the south to the Indian territories of the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the west. "This area's going to be huge," says Gordon Fernandes, manager of SEAL Superyachts. "There've been too many captains and owners who've come through for it not to be. They love it." And the Phuket Invitational provides an excellent way to boost the effect.

"We always have circumnavigators cruising through," Graham adds, "both motor and sail. But till now there's been no focus." SEAL provided services for 25 superyachts between 1 September and the end of April 2000, for example, and Graham reckons the area saw 30 superyachts in total during the past year. Phuket's already becoming the recognized place to be, among this set, for the Christmas-New Year's season, with boats arriving as early as September and normally leaving by March or April.

A "superyacht", according to SEAL criteria, is finished to true yachting standards and is at least 100 feet long - only then, Graham suggests, is it actually run by fulltime professional crew. In Asia and the Pacific, at any given time, about 40 Asian-owned and based yachts, as well as another 15 itinerants, meet this description. "They all have their own itineraries," Graham says, "and one of our aims is to have them all participate in the Phuket Invitational, making it part of their stay before continuing on with whatever they want to do. We want a core of local participants every year. For us, then, the visitors are the icing on the cake." As a rule, Asians themselves buy motor yachts. Thus, so far as the actual racing goes, the Invitational relies to a large extent on the itinerant contingent for the sailing yachts.

What about next year? Barring unforeseen factors, the third running of the Invitational should be at least as good as the first. "We'll sit down with the Feadship representatives," said Graham Frost at the conclusion of this year's event, "and discuss how we can attract more boats and lock them in sooner."

"But Feadship isn't looking for big numbers," says Hein. "We sell just four boats a year, after all, so we'd be happy with even eight participants. We're looking for exposure in this part of the world." Aside from their excellence of design and workmanship, Feadship's vessels are noted for their range and seaworthiness. Naturally, they're interested in promoting world cruising and associating themselves with any developments that further this end.

"This is a smaller sister to the Monaco Rendezvous," Hein says. "The goal is mainly social. We attend the Rendezvous as well, and feel it's a good way to stay in contact with the boats. We were looking for something to do in Asia again - we believe there's an enormous potential market here. Last year's Singapore Boat Show was cancelled, and previous ones weren't that good. That's left Asia without a major superyacht event." Basically, he suggests, the Invitational can be a good deal more effective than a boatshow without boats, not to mention a lot more stylish and fun.

So the Phuket Invitational might be described as an Asian parallel to the Monaco Rendezvous, which typically sees 40 participating boats. Given the current superyacht scene in Asia and the Pacific, a congregation of 15 to 20 of these vessels would be, proportionally speaking, just as significant an event. And, given the probable added influx of boats coming back from the 2003 America's Cup, there's every reason to believe that, the fourth Phuket Invitational will indeed see those numbers.

Haven for Superyacht Cruising: The Phuket Advantage. The Phuket Invitational, despite the disappointing turnout this year, continues to add yet another dimension to Phuket's complex attraction. "Phuket has matured to the level that it makes a natural venue for an event such as the Phuket Invitational," suggests Olivier Gibaud, GM of Le Royal Meridien Phuket Yacht Club, one of this event's sponsors from the outset. Phuket is widely recognized as a stable, safe venue with a tradition of hospitality and unparalleled service. From the point of view of yacht owners and skippers, there are also marinas and a local pool of technical services. Singapore, with all of its facilities and services, is also reasonably close at hand, whether you want to go down there yourself or fly technical people up. Phuket is the major base for cruising grounds that are far less congested by recreational vessels than the Caribbean, for example, while it remains much cheaper in most respects than the Mediterranean. With such facilities as Le Royal Meridien Phuket Yacht Club, Amanpuri, the Banyan Tree, Evason Resort and Spa, the Baan Rim Pa restaurant complex, and Mom Tri's Boathouse, the island offers no end of excellent accommodation and dining - not to mention a wealth of recreational and cultural attractions - for owners and crew who want to spend time ashore. Phuket is a hub for air transport independently of Bangkok, internationally accessible in ways many other resort areas are not, with direct flights to major cities around Europe, Australia and Asia. "We're a bit closer to Europe," said the skipper of the 171-foot sailing ketch Liberty - one of the world's most advanced yachts, a triumph of both style and engineering - at the first annual Phuket Invitational superyacht rally. "In the South Pacific, for example, it's a 24-hour flight, compared to just 12 hours from Phuket." Many superyacht owners have private jets, moreover, and want suitable airports within easy range of their vessels. The Phuket Yacht Haven Marina, moreover, lies just 10 minutes by road from the airport." At the same time," says Charlie Dwyer, skipper of Yanneke Too, "it's a whole new part of the world that's opened up." And this world includes a number of extraordinary destinations within easy sailing distance, among them Phang Nga Bay; the Similan and Surin islands; Krabi; the Tarutao island group, down near the Malaysian border; and the Andaman Islands, Indian territory, 450 miles to the west. Phuket will also remain the main base, for the foreseeable future, for exploring Burma's recently opened Mergui Archipelago, more than 800 islands teeming with wildlife, rich in rain forest, and little inhabited by humans." We've had amazing local support," says Andy Stephens, manager of the Yacht Haven and organizing committee member. "Everyone's right behind the event. K. Kanit Yongsakul, of the Phuket Boat Lagoon, for example, offered his boat as support on the 19th, the day of the flotilla from the Phuket Yacht Haven to Nai Harn. Bill O'Leary of Amancruises also provided assistance on the race day." Phuket makes the ideal venue for the Invitational, while the Invitational can only enhance Phuket's already powerful allure, and all concerned recognize this.