Twenty nine years ago, King Bhumibol Adulyadej sailed away with a gold medal at the 1967 Asian Games in a yacht of his own design.
While affairs of state have restricted further competitive sailing endeavours, the former skipper retains his love of the sport.
One of the sporting highlights of the king's golden jubilee year will be the 10th Phuket King's Cup Regatta in December when many of the world's leading keel boat sailors will gather.
The race was conceived by Thailand's yachting glitterati to commemorate King Bhumibol's 60th birthday in 1986.
'The 60th birthday of His Majesty was coming up and we wanted to do something special in his honour,' said Adolf Knees, the former commodore of the Royal Varuna Yacht Squadron at Pattaya.
When he heard of the project, the king offered royal patronage and the King's Cup is now one of the world's greatest racing-cruising regattas.
