Rolex China Sea Race

Greetings from Rolex China Sea Race, good luck in the Year of the Snake!
May the wisdom of the snake guide you to success in all your endeavors.

勞力士中國海帆船賽祝各位動若靈蛇，事事順遂!

Happy New Year from Rolex China Sea Race!
___________________________________________________
Rolex China Sea Race 2026 starts 4 March
2026年勞力士中國海帆船賽將於3月4日開賽

Happy holidays! Rolex China Sea Race wishes everyone the best Christmas ever!

Rolex China Sea Race 2026 – Entries Open

The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club has announced that entry for the Rolex China Sea Race 2026 is now open.

The 2026 edition of this 565nm Offshore Race will start on Hong Kong’s iconic Victoria Harbour on 4 March. This significantly earlier scheduling of the race will set competitors up to take advantage of the onset of the northeasterly winter monsoon.

2026 marks the 64th anniversary of this Category 1 Offshore Race organised by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, taking competitors across the South China Sea to Subic Bay in the Philippines. Rolex has been a partner of the Club since 2007 and the Title Sponsor of this flagship Race since 2008.

Run as a biennial event, the 2024 Rolex China Sea Race saw Nie Hua's TP52 Happy Go become the first yacht in 14 years to take the double of both Line Honours and the IRC Overall win.

2024/25 Spirit of Yachting Series launches this month with an episode devoted to the 2024 Rolex China Sea Race. The programme will be broadcast on NowTV Now Business Channel # 333 tonight from 2030hrs to 2100hrs. The programme will rerun on Friday 31 May from 2030hrs to 2100hrs. For viewers in the Philippines, the programme will be broadcast tonight on ABS-CBN - News Channel from 2200hrs to 2230hrs.

《勞力士呈獻: 帆船精髓系列》將會介紹「2024年勞力士中國海帆船賽」，節目今晚(5月24日)於NowTV 333財經台晚上8時半至9時首播，節目將於5月31日晚上8時半至9時重播。菲律賓的觀眾今晚10時至10時半可於ABS-CBN 新聞頻道收看節目。

Rolex China Sea Race - Best Sailing Event in Asia

Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC) has been named Best Yacht Club in Asia and its blue water classic Category 1 offshore race, the Rolex China Rolex China Sea Race has been named Best Sailing Event in Asia at the Yacht Style Awards 2024.

Rolex China Sea Race Chairman, Nicolas Cohen-Addad says “Despite variable wind conditions, the 2024 edition of the Rolex China Sea Race was again a great success. We are delighted with this event being recognised and named Best Sailing Event in Asia at the Yacht Style Awards 2024.”

VIDEO Spirit of Yachting - 2024 Rolex China Sea Race

The outstanding official documentary from the 2024 Rolex China Sea Race has arrived.

The Rolex China Sea Race is Asia’s oldest, most prestigious blue water race. Inaugurated in 1962, the biannual event is organized by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and charts a 565-nautical mile course from Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong to Subic Bay in the Philippines. In 2024, Happy Go became the first yacht in 14 years to take both line and overall honours, Nie Hua and his crew crossing the finish line in just over three days and 20 hours on corrected time. As part of its extensive support for yachting dating back almost 70 years, Rolex has partnered the race since 2008.


Royal Ocean Racing Club

The Rolex China Sea Race – Double delight for Happy Go in 2024 The Rolex China Sea Race is Asia’s oldest, most prestigious blue water race. Inaugurated in 1962, the biannual event is organized by the Royal Hong Kong Yach...

Rolex China Sea Race 2024 featured in World Sailing show!

World Sailing Show | Watch the April 2024 Episode Follow World Sailing 🌍⛵️ on:Facebook ➡️ www.facebook.com/worldsailingofficialInstagram ➡️ www.instagram.com/worldsailingofficialTwitter ➡️ www.twitter.com/w...

Rolex China Sea Race 2024 wraps up in Subic Bay

The final yachts arrived in Subic Bay late afternoon of 2 April, wrapping up the 2024 Rolex China Sea Race. 21 boats took part in the 2024 edition with 191 competitors hailing from 26 territories.

After a stunning start in Victoria Harbour with up to 20kts of easterly breeze on 27 March, the wind gradually softened throughout the 565nm journey towards Subic Bay, Philippines. The faster IRC Racer 0 division yachts took advantage of their waterline length, making the best of the stronger wind on the course over the first two days and finishing well ahead of their smaller rivals, taking the top spots in the IRC Overall rankings.

It was a fierce battle between TP52 Happy Go and R/P 75 Standard Insurance Centennial V, however Happy Go ultimately finished the Race a mere five minutes ahead of her rival, to take out both Line Honours and the IRC Overall win.

Chinese Entry William Liu’s Seawolf claimed 2nd IRC Overall and IRC Racer 0 2nd place. Skipper YY Yan said “We hit two fishing nets on the way down to Subic, but in general we had a pretty good journey down. The whole team performed very well and we hope that our participation can inspire more Chinese boats to join the Rolex China Sea Race.”

Third overall, as well as 3rd place in the IRC Racer 0 division went to Philippines entry, Ernesto Echauz s Standard Insurance Centennial V. "This was the most exciting Rolex China Sea Race that I have ever experienced. It was so exciting from the start on the first day and all the way up to the finish. I am very proud of my team and proud of the other competitors as they are very competitive" said Echauz.

Father and son double-handed entry, Philippe and Cosmas Grelon’ s A Plastic Ocean took 1st place in Double-handed division and IRC Race 2 division. On arrival they commented “This year was a bit difficult because of the weather forecast and because it was totally and absolutely incorrect! No model was correct. Unfortunately, we couldn't push the boat and we had a max of 16kts of wind. And we work more and more solo now; not necessarily waking up the other one to do a sail change or put the Code Zero on or whatever so that's much easier.”

Race chairman Nicolas Cohen-Addad’s Jinn took 2nd place and the sole Chinese Taipei entry Mondher Latiri ‘s Gutsy got third place. For Double-handed division, Carl Wilkinson/ Patrick Harmon’s Lisa Elaine took 2nd place and Ryan Mann/Casey Benjamin’s Daybreak was awarded third.

In IRC Racer 3, Nick Southward’s Whiskey Jack had a tussle with Henning Mueller’s Zesst all the way down to Subic Bay. Whiskey Jack performed really well on 1 Apr, trumping Zesst on corrected time to take the divisional win. Zesst took 2nd place in their first entry in the China Sea Race, while the first ever Korean entry to the race, Hojun Song’s Random(), took 3rd place.

In the battle for IRC Premier Division, Tom Attenborough’s Parnassus had a great run taking the division win. Tom Attenborough said “Our programme is all about inclusivity and taking amazing people skills and blending them together and watching that develop over the five days is always a highlight. “ Peter Churchouse commenting about their rivalry with Parnassus said “We have a great friendship and a great rivalry when it comes to sailing. We love sailing against Parnassus, it's a slightly different boat. Moonblue 2 is a lot heavier and doesn't like the light weather so much, so the boat does better than Parnassus in strong wind. But in light wind does not do so well. So it depends on whether, it's light wind or strong wind. And of course, Parnassus did better this year with the light winds. So congratulations and great competition indeed.” Carl Wilkinson/ Patrick Harmon’s Lisa Elaine in 3rd place in the division.

In the IRC Cruising Division, 1st place went to Noel Chan’s Rampage008, followed by Yong Yao ‘s TongRan.

In the PHS Division, although Blowers Daughter was the last boat arrived at Subic Bay, this first time Rolex China Sea Race competitor took the division win with a corrected time ahead of another first timer Sunny Leung/ Alex Yu’s Jibulai.

Every edition of the race has presents different conditions and that is what keeps attracting sailors back, no matter how hard all the preparation has been. Peter Churchouse said “We had beautiful sailing and the flat seas, lovely wind, got the spinnaker up with the moon in the sky with the stars, that is what sailing on the China Sea is all about!“

Cosmas Grelon echoed the sentiment saying “The Rolex China Sea Race has an element of addiction to it. There is a horrible amount of preparation, but then when you are out there and the conditions are so nice, and the weather is quite warm, everything is smooth, it’s such a good Race! In the lead up you're like "why do I do it?" and then you do it and then you're like "ok I'll probably want to do this again another time."


Royal Ocean Racing Club

2024年勞力士中國海帆船賽圓滿落幕

最後一批船隻於 4 月 2 日傍晚陸續抵達菲律賓蘇碧灣，全長565海浬的「2024 年勞力士中國海帆船賽」正式畫下圓滿的句號。今屆賽事一共有21 艘船，派出來自 26 個地區及國家的191名選手參賽。

賽事3 月 27 日在香港維多利亞港正式展開，各參賽船隻乘著最高達20海浬東風出發，起初兩日風力不俗，往後風力就逐漸減弱。船速較快的IRC競賽0組船隻充分利用本身船速優勢，在首兩天的比賽中借著更強的風力，遠遠拋離較小的船隻，佔據IRC 總排名榜的頭四位。

TP52 型「Happy Go號」 與 R/P 75型「Standard Insurance Centennial V號」在全程比賽期間一直激烈戰鬥，最終「Happy Go號」僅領先對手 5 分鐘完成比賽，同時獲得衝線榮譽以及IRC 全場總冠軍。

內地選手劉永豐的「海狼號」則獲得 IRC 全場第二名以及IRC 競賽0組第二名。 船長顏宇業表示：「我們在中途勾到了兩個棄置的漁網，其中一次更要降帆才能處理，因此耽誤了時間，但總的來說，我們還是跑得不錯。 整個隊伍的表現非常出色，希望我們的參與能激勵更多來自內地的船隻參加勞力士中國海帆船賽。」

全場總成績第三名以及IRC 競賽0 組第三名由來自菲律賓Ernesto Echauz 的「Standard Insurance Centennial V 號」奪得。「這是我經歷過最刺激的勞力士中國海帆船賽。從第一天開始一直到終點都非常令人興奮。Happy Go號表現實在出色。最棒的是兩隻互相較量，特別是在最後一天鬥到最後，我為團隊感到非常自豪。」Echauz 說。

以父子檔參加雙人組別的Philippe 和 Cosmas Grelon，他們的「 A Plastic Ocean號」 在雙人組和 IRC 競賽2 組同時獲得第一名。 他們到埗後說：「今年有點困難，因為天氣預報完全錯誤！ 沒有一個預測模型是正確的，由於最大風速只有16海浬，我們無法發揮此船的優勢。不過我們仍有得著，由於賽事比較輕鬆，我們越來越熟習單人航行，不論是換帆或者是換上0號頭帆等操作，都不一定要叫醒正在睡覺的對方來協助。」

賽事主席 Nicolas Cohen-Addad的「Jinn號」 在競賽2組獲得第二名，唯一代表中華台北隊參賽- Mondher Latiri 的「無畏號」獲得第三名。 至於雙人組別，Carl Wilkinson及Patrick Harmon的「Lisa Elaine號」 取得第二名， Ryan Mann及Casey Benjamin的「 Daybreak號」獲得第三名。

在IRC 競賽3組，Nick Southward的「Whiskey Jack號」與Henning Mueller的「Zesst號」一路爭持激烈，「Whiskey Jack號」在4月1日憑著出色的表現，以修正時間擊敗「Zesst號」 奪得組別冠軍。 「Zesst 號」首次參加中國海帆船賽時已獲得第二名，而首支代表南韓參加比賽-宋虎俊的 「Random()號」 則獲得了第三名。

IRC 高級巡航組亦上演激烈的角逐， Tom Attenborough 的「Parnassus號」今年表現神勇贏得組別冠軍。Tom Attenborough 表示：「我們的船隻注重包容，將不同能力的船員融合在一起，這五天內大家互相學習，結果得出不錯的成績。」第二名「Moonblue2號」的船長卓伯德(Peter Churchouse)表示：「兩隻船雖然彼此激烈競爭，但私底下有著深厚的友誼。 我們非常享受與Parnassus號比併，他們的船於微風中有優勢，Moonblue2號船身較重，在強風中表現更好，因此最後勝負取決於風力了。Parnassus號今年在微風中表現出色，恭喜他們取勝。」 Carl Wilkinson及Patrick Harmon的「Lisa Elaine號」 取得第三名。

在IRC巡航組中，第一名是陳維澤的「Rampage008號」，內地船隊姚勇的「彤然號」取得第二名。

在PHS 組別中，雖然「Blowers Daughter 號」是最後一艘抵達蘇碧灣的船隻，但這艘首次參加勞力士中國海帆船賽的船隻以較佳修正時間領先於另一隻同樣首次參賽者- 梁志雄 /余志良的「急不來號」奪得組別冠軍。

每屆比賽都不儘相同，有不同的風力條件、不同的對手，無論準備工作多麼艱苦，都會吸引賽手們重來參賽，卓伯德說：「今年海面平坦、風也不算太差，航行條件真的不錯，在漫天星星和皎潔的月亮下升起球型帆，你就明白勞力士中國海帆船賽的魅力。」

Cosmas Grelon亦非常認同：「勞力士中國海帆船賽有一種讓人上癮的吸引力，雖然賽前準備工作非常繁重，但是到了落場一刻，天氣很溫暖，一切都很順利，真是一場精彩的比賽！ 在開始的時候你會質問自己『我為什麼要參賽？』， 然後比賽過後你又會說『好吧，我可能想再來一次』。」


Royal Ocean Racing Club

Here's a photograph we took of Moonblue 2 as they arrived back on shore.


Royal Ocean Racing Club