WINNERS one day, weepers the next. Several yachts that won their classes during Phuket's King's Cup Regatta were among the unlucky dozen swept onto Kata beach by a severe storm.

Tonight as the final Phuket regatta award ceremony and party began, expensive yachts were being pounded as high tide reached up the Phuket beach.

At least one owner of a broken vessel was too distraught to talk as he literally picked up the pieces of his beautiful, expensive yacht. Others were more fortunate.

While the single hull yachts suffered badly, the catamarans and trimarans could be dragged higher up the beach, free of the battering waves that beset the final day of the celebrated annual Phuket event.

It was a bizarre scene, with holidaymakers kicking a football or relaxing on beach loungers among the hulks of vessels that only yesterday had been sailing majestically in the wind and the water.

King's Cup series winners Miss Saigon, Ichi Ban and Team Sea Bees, were storm-tossed, with Team Sea Bees faring worst.

Other boats beached or left to wallow included Thai Navy 1, Thor, Walwala, Pagatoon, Rapscallion, Zhic, Sudsakorn Too and Silk Purse.

A plan to deploy a Thai Marine Police vessel was abandoned because the waves were too rough for the ship to get close to shore. A crane is expected to be used in the morning to attempt to lift several hulls out of the water.

This year's Phuket King's Cup Regatta was also marred by the death of a crewman, Canadian Joseph Patrick, 42, on board a yacht mid-week.