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His Majesty has always been as physically active as he has been mentally adroit. While living in Switzerland, he learned to ski, a sport which he pursued avidly. The lack of snow did not deter him when he returned to Thailand; he simply took up water skiing, and proved himself to be as skilled on the water as he was on the slopes.
To relax at home, he played badminton, spending his evenings with friends, batting a shuttlecock back and forth across a net.
But it was sailing that captured his lifelong interest. He learned to sail single-handed off Hua Hin and took part in competitions at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club near the beach resort of Pattaya. Interested in the engineering potential of fast boats, he began designing and building his own craft. When his teenage daughter, Princess Ubol Ratana showed an interest in the sport, he taught her the ropes, as it were, and she joined him as crew. The ultimate recognition of their sailing skill came in 1967 when the pair won the Gold Medal for sailing at the Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games. |
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