You couldn't help but hear the grumblings in the weeks running up to the 16th Phuket King's Cup Regatta. It has become known as the Curse of the King's Cup, and so the mutters around the yachtie hangouts went: "Well, if they don't get wind this year …" followed by a slow intake of breath and shake of the head.

It takes many forces to make a regatta, however; and, while wind is indeed the principal element, it's sponsorship that keeps things going behind the scenes. There was no doubt that the 16th KC had plenty of co-sponsors for individual races, and even some for the different classes — with Bangkok Airways sponsoring the Ocean Multihulls and American Express backing the big boys of Premier Cruising. They even had supporting sponsors, like Don's Café, supplying the fleet with lunches, and Kia Ora Catarmaran Charters, Wave Rider and the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RYLC) supplying boats for sponsors, press and race officers. But, at two weeks to registration, a principal sponsor had yet to emerge.

Ready to battle on regardless, the KC committee pressed ahead with its plans — principal sponsor or not, there would be a regatta. Perhaps it was this determination that inspired Gulu Lalvani, developer of the new Binatone Royal Phuket Marina Resort & Spa, to step forward and offer his services in an eleventh-hour deal for the top sponsor's slot.

With principal sponsorship settled, only the wind remained as an unreliable variable in the success of the KC, and the committee had a plan for that too. They would attack with mathematics.

A return to Koh Phi Phi for the KC had been talked about for three years. In fact, ever since the regatta had stopped going to Phi Phi, going back had been on the agenda. Sailors love the romantic spinnaker start in front of Phi Phi Don's looming cliff-face, and the twinkling backdrop of one hundred bobbing anchor lights in Ton Sai Bay make for a spectacular start to a regatta.

The hardest — working band in Southern Thailand, Job 2 Do, was on hand to entertain the sailors after the first day's racing at the official party at Phi Phi Cabana — and then at the unofficial party at the Jungle bar later the same evening. However, despite the revelry, it had been a hard day for the sailors. The winds were playing their usual KC Week tricks and the first race, around Phi Phi Don and sponsored by Nautica, saw them blowing mildly at the start, then dropping away near mid-morning, leaving frustrated racers scouring the course for even the slightest of breaths.

The long trek of the Andaman Sea Race, to Kata Bay, befell a similar fate and the first day of racing off Phuket met with equal disdain from the winds. All to no avail, because a new race management system, designed to allow race officers to shorten courses when conditions and the majority of the fleet called for it, meant races were being sailed and won. With results being scored back to the final marks by KC Statistician Howard Eliot, almost all boats picked up points in all races. The regatta got a series.

This alone was enough to make the post-race parties at Kata Beach Resort and Mom Tri's Boathouse happier occasions, and, by dawn of the penultimate day of racing, it became obvious that the wind — unable to ruin the regatta — had decided to play along.

Set for a long course around the south end of Phuket and back to Kata Beach, the racers had 20 knots to their backs at the start line and a steady 15 for much of the morning. "There must be something wrong out there," said race manager Simon James, at the Kata Beach base camp as the first boats crossed the line. "I'm getting reports from the committee boat that crews are smiling and waving as they pass."

At the Evason Resort & Spa party that night, happy sailors toasted the return of the wind. But quietly. A superstitious lot, none was willing to jinx the last day. One more day to go, one more race. Racers were not just touching wood, they were hugging trees.

It was not a night for sleeping on deck. Chilled sailors awoke to find that early-hour downpours had left in their wake a glowering sky and gun-metal grey sea for the last day of the 16th King's Cup.

Calling to action muscles and heads aching from the rigours of a good regatta, the competitors set to work preparing their craft for one last thrust. As they worked, the still calm of dawn gave way to the first whispers of what was to be yet another good day of wind. The Curse of the King's Cup had been laid to rest.

The Kata Beach Resort Olympic sprints have always been the shortest of the KC races, but with a good 15 knots to their backs, the racers cleared their way through the course in no time. Principal Race Officer Mark Pryke pushed and, at last, got his lost Phi Phi race, and there was still enough blow left over for a quick fun race — entitled the Andy Dowden Trophy (named after this year's KC president) — for those with enough energy left.

And then it was over for another year. At the party and awards presentation at Kata Beach Resort that night, crews hung around longer than at the previous evenings' entertainment. The next morning would see much of the fleet packing up and departing, and, for many, this would be the last chance to get together for quite a while. Until the next regatta, at least.

By the Monday after KC week, Kata Bay had all but returned to normal — the Committee and volunteers had packed away their paraphernalia for another year, and the fleet had dissipated across the Andaman Sea. All that remained was the wind, singing and dancing over the surf, the last element of a happy regatta.