Volvo Hong Kong to Hainan Race – starts Thursday 3 November 2016

by RHKYC Media on 31 Oct 2016 The Volvo Hong Kong to Hainan Race is a classic 390nm downwind passage to Sanya on the island of Hainan in southern China. It is the only Category 1 offshore race to finish in the People’s Republic of China. The start line will be in front of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC) Kellett Island Clubhouse, with the warning signal at 1310hrs.

The race is organised by RHKYC in cooperation with the Bureau of Culture, Broadcast & TV, Publication and Sports of the Sanya Municipal Government, with the finish hosted by Serenity Marina in Sanya, Hainan.

Held biennially, the current race record of 25h 54m 33s was set in the 2014 when a fantastic force 5-6 north easterly blew throughout the race enabling Karl Kwok's Beau Geste to smash the previous record by 2h 49m 21s.

Seng Huang Lee, owner of the 100ft supermaxi, Scallywag, which will be on the start line on 3 November says “I am looking forward to Scallywag having the opportunity to break the record; there is a strong chance - but of course we’ll have to see what the weather brings”. After the race, Scallywag will head to Australia to compete in the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

All boats will be carrying Yellowbrick trackers, which update live tracking information at 30 minute intervals throughout the race; this can be viewed at http://www.rhkyc.org.hk/hkhainantracking.aspx

Fans can also take part in the race through www.sailonline.org who bring the virtual version of the Volvo Hong Kong to Hainan Race to armchair sailors around the world, enabling them to pit their navigational skills against the real fleet with the feed from the Yellowbrick tracker showing the position of the real yachts overlaid on the virtual race screen. The challenge will be negotiating the conditions; Sailonline uses almost real-time weather downloaded from NOAA and the boat physics are considered to be the most life-like of any online simulation.


Provisional Entry List

HKG 2296 Black Baza (Anthony Root), Ker Custom 42
HKG 2283 Free Fire (Sam Chan / Russ Parker) TP52
HKG 2163 Mandrake III (Fred Kinmonth / Nick Burns) Sydney GTS 42
HKG 2275 Outlaw (Adrian Bell) Azuree 46
HKG 2276 Scallywag (Seng Huang Lee / David Witt) 100ft Super Maxi
PHI 2286 Standard Insurance Centennial (Ernesto Echauz / Stephen Tan) TP52
HKG 2282 Straight Up (Mark Whitehead) Mills 40
HKG 2207 Ymir (Kjartan Furset) Sun Fast 3600

Volvo Hong Kong to Hainan Race website: www.hkhainanrace.com