| Rolex China Sea Race Starts 1st April 2010. |
| By Betty Chan, Royal
Hong Kong Yacht Club. |
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Photos by Carlo Borlenghi
for Rolex,
edited By Peter Andrews. |
Saturday, February 27,
2010. |
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| With the entry deadline
a month away for entries to the Rolex China Sea Race, boats are
already seeing to their safety preparations for this Offshore Category
1 Race. Organised by Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC) since 1962
as a biennial event, this is the 25th time that yachts will brave
the 565nm between Hong Kong and the Philippines. |
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Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club with the city
of Hong Kong in the background.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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Over the years, the
race has developed from a somewhat ‘cruisy’ event into
one of Asia’s finest offshore races, with entry now open
only to IRC rated boats.
A tactically challenging event, the first night of the race is
not for the faint hearted, with lumpy seas and a stiff 20 knots
of breeze. Conditions usually improve the next day and, as competitors
near the Philippine coast under brilliant blue skies, a game
of ‘cat and mouse’ develops. |
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IRC Racing Division fleet start of the
2008 Rolex China Sea Race with Hong Kong skyline in the
background.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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| The ‘cat’ is
the variable and unpredictable coastal breeze, which often gives
any line honours hopeful a dawn wallow on day three, or delays
racers for a few hours in an inconvenient ‘hole’ on
their way towards the coast. |
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IRC Racing Division start of the 2008
Rolex China Sea Race on Victoria Harbour.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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| The race record of
47h 43m 07s, set by Karl Kwok on the Open 60 Beau Geste,
still stands. But with a strong IRC racing division which is likely
to include the TP52’s Strewth, Evolution Racing and FfreeFire
52, together with defending Line Honours holder, Neil Pryde
on his modified Welbourn 52, Hi Fi, and evergreen
Mills 51, EFG Mandrake, Kwok’s 10 year old
record could well fall this year. |
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Neil Pryde's HI FI (HKG), beating
out of Victoria Harbour during the 2008 Rolex China Sea
Race.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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The 25th China Sea
Race will start at 12:10hrs local time on Thursday April 1,2010.
The Rolex China Sea Race, an RORC Offshore Category 1 race, is
565 nautical miles long and start in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong
and finish in Subic Bay in the Philippines.
Since 1972 the race has continued to attract increased interest
and served to draw the attention of the international yachting
fraternity to Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. The 2007 edition
was the 30th anniversary of this popular offshore event. |
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Sam Chan's TP52 Ffreefire, during
the Rolex China Sea Race 2008.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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| Royal Hong Kong Yacht
Club (RHKYC) is one of the oldest sports clubs in Hong Kong and
is proud of its rich, colourful history, which stretches back over
160 years of social and competitive sailing and rowing. RHKYC organises
a full calendar of local and international racing for both keeboats
and dinghies, ranging from round-the-cans to Category 1 offshore
races. The Club also provides sailing courses for members and non-members
at various levels to nurture the development of sailing. |
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Neil Pryde's HI FI takes line
honours in Subic Bay Subic Bay, during the Rolex China
Sea Race 2008.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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Notice of race and
entry form are available on the event website at www.rolexchinasearace.com.
RHKYC website www.rhkyc.org.hk. |
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| Outimage and Rolex © 2009 |
