Rolex China Sea Race on the horizon
by KPMS on 11 Apr 2014
Neil Pryde’s HI-FI arriving in Subic Bay during the 2012 Rolex China Sea Race Rolex/Daniel Forster
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The 27th edition of the Rolex China Sea Race gets underway next Wednesday, 16 April. A fleet of around 35 yachts are expected to take part including the defending champion and the line honours winning boat from the last edition in 2012.
The 565-nm offshore race runs across the South China Sea from Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong to Subic Bay, The Philippines. First held in 1962, it has long been established as Asia’s principal offshore race.
Favourite for line honours is the largest competing yacht: Syd Fischer’s Maxi Ragamuffin 90, the fastest boat on the water in 2012 under its guise as Genuine Risk. The defending champion is Jonathan Mahony’s 42-ft Zanzibar from Singapore, seeking to become the first boat since the mid-1960s to defend her title. Three highly competitive TP52s – Lucky, Standard Insurance Centennial and FreeFire – will push the leading boats close.
The course record was set by Karl Kwok on his Volvo 60 Beau Geste (elapsed time 47 hours, 43 minutes and seven seconds) in 2000.
The 2014 Rolex China Sea Race commences at 13:20 local time on Wednesday 16 April. The race is organized by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC) and has been sponsored by Rolex since 2008. The latest entry list is available
here.
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