Skyelark at the28th Kings Cup Regatta

USPA NEWS - Leaving the UK in October 2013 and heading first towards the Canaries, Emily and Dan Bower set out to veer towards Phuket, Thailand and participate in Asia's biggest and most popular regatta - the King's Cup Regatta 2014.

Their yacht 'Skyelark' is constructed as a cruising yacht, intended for world voyaging. Designed and build by Kaufman & Ladd of Annapolis. The yacht is characterized by extraordinary strength, a classic style and fabulously varnished woodwork. On their way to Thailand they raced in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), a favourite race, which takes sailors across the Atlantic from the Canaries to the Caribbean. Once in the Caribbean, they sailed via the Panama Canal to the Galapagos, Tahiti, Bora Bora, Fiji, The Great Barrier Reef to Darwin, Bali, Singapore and Langkawi, Malaysia until they arrived in Thailand on 20 November 2014. They probably had the longest overall journey of all the King's Cup entrants.

Owners, captains and crew of the boat, Dan and Emily Bower are both highly experienced sailors with more than 200,000 nautical miles on the sea. Dan is a very dedicated, fulltime professional skipper and sailing instructor who has sailed 15 trans-atlantics, innumerable cross-channel trips, many laps of the Mediterranean and has sailed in several Caribbean circuits in the past.

Emily is very much at home on the water. She has crossed the pacific and participated in the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) round Britain and Ireland race, where she enjoyed the fun challenge as skipper of an all female crew, and she has sailed 16 trans-atlantics. Many years on Global Challenge yachts added to her experience, of which one if the most remarkable was sailing from the UK to Antarctica in 1999.

Their good results in cruising class at the King's Cup 2014 were a result of their long standing, vast experience, sailing the different waters of our globe with its various winds, currents and reactions. Their crew flew in from the UK just a few days before, coming from different path of life, and under Dan's and Emily's training and guidance they learned quickly how to work together as a team, each one having their particular position on the boat.

The crew members, who came from all over England flew back to the UK right after the regatta finished, taking with them exciting memories of a serious, fun race which plays a key role in the Asian regatta circuit. Emily and Dan will be staying in Phuket for a few weeks to explore the beautiful waters around the island. For more information go to: http://skye51.com/ King's Cup Gallery: http://www.ilsegibson.com/kings-cup-regatta-2014.html