Volvo Hong Kong to Hainan Race – Action coming soon…

by RHKYC on 27 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 PRC. 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 and 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 five - six north easterly blew throughout the race enabling Karl Kwok's Beau Geste to smash the previous record by 2h 49m and 21s.

Seng Huang Lee, owner of 100ft super maxi 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 online.

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.

Volvo Hong Kong to Hainan Race website.

Members of the media wishing to cover the start of the Race should contact the Club’s PR Department by email on prdept@rhkyc.org.hk.

Provisional Entry List:

Sail No.	Boat Name	Owner / Person in Charge	Type	TCC
HKG 2296	Black Baza	Anthony Root	Ker Custom 42	1.232
HKG 2283	Free Fire	Sam Chan / Russ Parker	TP52	1.368
HKG 2163	Mandrake III	Fred Kinmonth / Nick Burns	Sydney GTS 42	1.178
HKG 2275	Outlaw	Adrian Bell	Azuree 46	1.139
HKG 2276	Scallywag	Seng Huang Lee / David Witt	100ft Super Maxi	1.934
PHI 2286	Standard Insurance Centennial	Ernesto Echauz / Stephen Tan	TP52	tbc
HKG 2282	Straight Up	Mark Whitehead	Mills 40	tbc
HKG 2207	Ymir	Kjartan Furset	Sun Fast 3600	1.041