Rolex China Sea Race 2014
- April 15, 2014
The 2014 Rolex China Sea Race starts on Wednesday 16th April in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong. Participants are in the stages of final preperations for the 27th China Sea Race. The competition is organised by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, which is one of the oldest sports club in Hong Kong with a rich and colourful history that stretches back over 160 years of competitive sailing.
The Race celebrates its 52nd anniversary this year, having been held biennially over the Easter holiday weekend since it was first raced in 1962. The 27th edition of this 565 nautical mile blue water crossing is sure to provide competitors with great sailing, stories and suntans fromVictoria Harbour all the way to Subic Bay in the Philippines. The fleet will be mainly amateur sailors from nearly every continent and age range. The youngest to participate is 17 year old Wilhelm Christensson while the honour of oldest competitor is Syd Fischer at the grand old age of 87.
The inaugural race set off on the 7th of April 1962, when three yachts from RHKYC, one from Manilla and one from Japan crossed the start line of the first China Sea Race. They were escorted for the first 100 miles by two minesweepers from the Hong Kong Naval Reserve. The original finish line was off Corregidor Island and was marked by a line formed of vessels from the Philippines Navy. Due to the lack of communication equipment the winner crossed the line without knowing they were in first place.
From the small beginnings the race has attracted more and more competitors and interest over the years. This year 35 yachts will partake in this Asian blue-water contest, all hoping to smash the course
record which was set by Karl Kwok on his Volvo 60 Beau Geste with an elapsed time of 47 hours, 43 minutes and 7 seconds in 2000.
All boats will carry a YB tracker onboard throughout the race. They will wakeup and transmit the vessels gps co-ordinates,speed and direction along with several other packets of information every 30 minutes. This information will be sent through the Iridium satellite network to the YB HQ servers. From there the data is visualised into an online race tracker which will be available at the RHKYC website. This means friends, family and all supporters can view the race with just a few clicks of a mouse.
For more information and the live race tracker please visit the RHKYC website.
