In celebration of His Majesty the King’s 80th Birthday All proceeds will benefit Charity Projects for Children under the care of
Rotary Clubs in Thailand

13th PC Classic Sponsors ‘come aboard’

by Peter Cummins
The 13th Pattaya Mail PC Classic Royal Cliff Beach Resort International Regatta is scheduled to be sailed off the Royal Varuna Yacht Club on Saturday 24 March 2007.
Inaugurated in 1995, this event has now joined the ‘big league’ of yacht races being held up and down the Kingdom and marks the first to be held on the Eastern Seaboard for 2007.
At press time, more than 15 sponsors have answered the call, as well as the Regatta principals, the Pattaya Mail, the Royal Cliff Beach Resort and the Royal Varuna Yacht Club. Furthermore, this year, with some positive commitments from Rotary Clubs, Rotary members have observed that several of the projects entrusted to Rotary for implementation may be eligible for ‘matching grants’ from the International Rotary Foundation, greatly adding to the disbursement to the underprivileged.

Major (Platinum) sponsor again this year is the European Security Concepts and Property Services (ESC) whose CEO Steve Graham looks most favourably on the regatta as contributing to Pattaya’s conservationalist image.
Raimon Land, too, dedicated to “developing a better environment” looks on yacht racing as being very much part of the clean, healthy life-style of its properties around the Eastern Seaboard and elsewhere.

Amongst other perennial supporters, randomly listed are: the LCB Container Terminal 1 Ltd, Siam Royal View, Jomtien Boathouse Hotel Wine and Grill, the Pattaya International Ladies Club, Gulf Air, Ambrose Wine Limited, Carpet Master, Siam Food, MS Maker and Supply Ltd., Part., Bath and Spa and Thai Beverages, to name those pledges received as this issue of Pattaya Mail goes to press.
One sponsor who must be singled out is Rotarian Jan Christopher von Koss who has donated a large sum from his own resources.
All proceeds of the PC Classic, as in the past, will be donated to worthy charities in the community, under the guidance of the Rotary Clubs of Thailand. Almost all of the charity funding generously provided by our sponsors will be channelled to the most needy and disadvantaged among our community - particularly the children and young people.
During successive editions of the PC Classic over the years, scholarships have been provided for children; other recipients have included Banglamung Home for the Aged, Happiness Camps reaching out from teachers to students, the Redemptorist School for the Blind, computer equipment for schools around the Eastern Seaboard and further afield and equipment for the Remand Home for wayward youth.

A special concern this year will be to provide equipment to bring fresh water to a number of schools and educational facilities around the Kingdom. This has been a priority project for Rotary Clubs world-wide and has made considerable progress in the Kingdom already.
For example, close to home recently, the Rotary Club of Bangkok South, in collaboration with several of the clubs on the Eastern Seaboard, installed a fresh-water facility at a school on Koh Larn that had never known such a luxury as potable tap-water.
While noting that yacht racing may not be everyone’s idea of a great day out - especially as many regattas are held ‘somewhere over the yonder horizon’, let us ensure all who come to the Royal Varuna Yacht Club on Saturday 24 March will be regaled by a spectacle of colour, excitement and action right off the shore.
Royal Cliff will provide some very delectable snacks and drinks right through the day and, later in the evening, one of the best, most sumptuous international gala dinners to be had in these parts.
See below and watch further editions of the Pattaya Mail for more announcements of the day and evening programmes, the cost and all other relevant details of this splendid day by the sea-side.

COME AND ENJOY THIS UNIQUE CLEBRATION OF LIFE!

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Invitation

Beach Activity Royal Varuna Yacht Club Soft Drinks, Beer, Snacks Adults: 400 baht - Children under 12 FREE! Dress: Shorts and T-shirts. Sun cream and sun glasses!
12.00 hrs:	Welcome to the Royal Varuna Yacht Club
14.00 hrs:	Regatta starts.
16.00 hrs:	Marching band will greet the sailors on shore at the end of the race.
16.45 hrs:	Presentation of Trophies for the Children's Categories.
18.00 hrs:	End of Beach activity.

Charity Gala Awards Dinner Royal Cliff Beach Resort Adults: Baht 1500* Children under 12 years: Baht 750* (Evening function only) (Includes 2 bottles of wine per table of 10) Dress: Smart Casual/PC Classic T. Shirts/Trousers/Shoes

18.30 hrs: At the Royal Cliff Beach Resort

19.00 hrs: Dinner and Entertainment

20.00 hrs: Prize presentations of PC Classic Trophies.

20.35 hrs: Entertainment

*Package - Adults 1700 baht Children 850 baht Includes Beach Activities & Gala Dinner All proceeds from the Regatta and the Gala Awards Dinner will be donated to worthy charity projects for children in our community serviced by the Rotary Clubs

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The PC Classic: Genesis of a Yacht Race

By Peter Cummins, Special Correspondent, Pattaya Mail

The Pattaya Mail PC Classic Royal Cliff Beach Resort International Regatta is ‘sailing’ towards its 13th event, even as the ‘old boy’ - PC himself - is battling the head-winds and the wind shifts to try to reach his sixth cycle, 72nd birthday.
This yacht race, designated by Dr Iain a few years ago as the “longest-named yacht race in the world”, did not come onto this illustrious title by chance - rather by evolution.
On his fifth-cycle, sixtieth birthday, in March, 1987, PC (Peter Cummins) ‘accepted’ mandatory retirement from his lifetime liaison with the United Nations. His UN send-off, after more than three decades of service, was somewhat less than spectacular and the organization gave him a wristwatch, with just one battery. A spectacular irony for someone who kept time not by the minute, hour or day, but by the month!

On escaping that weekend, as he had done for the preceding 20 years, to his beloved Pattaya, specifically the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, of which he was Commodore in 1980-1981, he was in for a surprise. The Club threw a monumental party for the old guy and packed two days’ racing into the occasion.
Genesis of the PC Classic. These races were a Mickey Mouse pursuit over the waters in front of Varuna, chasing balloons. But, a good time was had by all and it was fast-forward to the mid-nineties, after PC had joined the Pattaya Mail. The venerable best English language newspaper in the East “came aboard” the PC Classic, bringing the Royal Cliff Beach resort as well and, la voila, we had an international regatta which has built from there.
And, as the regatta took on its distinctly international flavour, so did the event gain its name!
This year’s sailing is already attracting record sponsorship and, as can be seen below, it will be in great company, with many of supporters from previous years joining again.
The 13th event is dedicated to His Majesty the King of Thailand’s 80th birthday, due next December. The Monarch has been a Gold Medallist helmsman in earlier days, has built his own dinghies and is Royal Patron of the Royal Varuna Yacht Club as well as the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta.
Channelling assistance funding, the Rotary Club of Jomtien-Pattaya, the regatta organizers were most happy to announce that beneficiaries of the event’s proceeds distributed throughout 2006 were aimed at disadvantaged children and included: “Happiness Camps from Teachers to Students”; the Kasemsook Movement, aimed at fostering ethics and moral rectitude in young Thai students; support (IT equipment) for the Chonburi Juvenile and Family Court Observation and Protection Centre (the Remand Home), inter alia.
And, as in previous years, all the night time celebrations, a sumptuous international buffet, entertainment and a night of great camaraderie and joviality will be hosted by the Royal Cliff Beach Resort which has been a perennial sponsor of this yacht race which Royal Cliff MD Panga Vathanakul considers a most “environmentally-friendly activity”.
The Pattaya Mail will continue to publish updates of developments in this year’s PC Classic.

We are offering 4 sponsorship packages: Platinum Sponsorship Package Baht 300,000 (Taken) Diamond Sponsorship Package Baht 200,000 (2 available) Gold Sponsorship Package Baht 100,000 (3 available) Silver Sponsorship Package Baht 50,000 (5 available)

For Sponsorship Reservations and Ticket Sales please contact:

Judy Hoppe: Rotary Club of Jomtien-Pattaya
Tel: 0 1862 1788 • E-mail: [email protected]

Alexander Haeusler: Royal Cliff Beach Resort
Tel: 0 3825 0421 • E-mail: [email protected]

Pratheep ‘Peter’ Malhotra:
Pattaya Mail Publishing Co., Ltd.
Tel: 0 3841 1240-1 • E-mail: [email protected]