RHKYC stages new-look China Coast Race Week

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This year’s China Coast Regatta runs from October 9-11 (Photo: RHKYC / Guy Nowell)

Despite the challenges of Covid-19, the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC) is going ahead with this year’s China Coast Race Week, which starts on Friday.

This year’s race week comprises the annual China Coast Regatta (October 9-11) and the inaugural China Coastal Race, which starts on October 16 and will be a Category Three race of about 150nm within Hong Kong waters.

The China Coast Race Week traditionally concludes with a race to Hainan or Vietnam, but RHKYC created the China Coastal Race due to the uncertainty of open borders and quarantine regulations.

The China Coast Regatta will be followed by the first China Coastal Race (Photo: RHKYC / Guy Nowell)

The club has since confirmed the cancellation of the biennial Hong Kong to Hainan Race, which was scheduled to start on October 23.

OFFSHORE CLASSICS IN 2021

RHKYC is still organising the 30th Rolex China Sea Race, scheduled to start on March 31, 2021. This year’s edition was deferred by a year due to Covid-19 and in 2022 the race will return to its original sequence of being held in ‘even’ years.

A Category One offshore race, the Rolex China Sea Race starts in Hong Kong harbour and takes competitors 565nm across the South China Sea to Subic Bay in the Philippines. Rolex has title sponsored RHKYC’s flagship race since 2008, having been a partner of the Club since 2007.

The 2021 Rolex China Sea Race is scheduled to start on March 31 (Photo: Rolex / Daniel Forster)

RHKYC has also released the Notice of Race and opened entries for the 10th Hong Kong to Vietnam Race, scheduled to start on October 19, 2021, and finish in Nha Trang. Asia’s longest Category One offshore race at 673nm, the biennial event is recognised as a qualifying race for the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

Last year’s edition featured a slew of international entries including from the UK, Italy, Singapore and the US. SHK Scallywag/Fuku owned by Seng Huang Lee and Meitatsu Fukumoto beat Italy’s Maserati Multi70 to take line honours and set a new multihull race record of 30h 9m 27s.

US-based Lucky, a J/V Maxi 72 skippered by Bryon Ehrhart, set a new monohull race record of 41h 30m 20s, beating the 2015 record set by Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin 100. First held in 1996, the event has been held regularly since 2004, moving to ‘odd’ years from 2011.