Hong Kong to Hainan Race 2020 - Notice of Race published and entry open
by Vivian Ngan 8 Jun 2020 12:22 BST
23 October 2020
Hong Kong to Hainan Race © RHKYC / Naomi Rebecca
Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club has published the Notice of Race and opened online entry for the 2020 Hong Kong to Hainan Race which will start on 23 October.
The Race takes competitors on a 390nm historically downwind passage to Sanya, on the southern Chinese Island of Hainan. Sanya known as the 'Hawaii of the East' is a great finish location for a holiday or a transit point for yachts intending to continue onto other sailing events around the Asia Pacific region. The Race has been sanctioned as a qualifier for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2020.
2020 will mark the 23rd anniversary of the Race which was established in 1997 and held biennially since 2012. The Hong Kong to Hainan Race is the only Category 1 Offshore Race to finish in the People's Republic of China. The event has fostered the growth of sailing between China and Hong Kong SAR.
In recent years, the Race record has been broken several times. In 2012 Sam Chan's FreeFire established a new record but it was broken again in 2014 by Karl Kwok's Team Beau Geste. The next edition of the Race in 2016 saw the record fall once more thanks to Seng Huang Lee's 100ft Super Maxi, Scallywag and that record still stands at 23h 31m 52s. With the event being open to both monohulls and multihulls, the first multihull race record of 24h 1m 59s was set in 2018 by Karl Kwok's MOD Beau Geste.
The start line will be in front of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's Kellett Island Clubhouse with the start signal sounding at 1120hrs.
The race is organised by Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club in cooperation with the Bureau of Culture, Broadcast & TV, Publication and Sports of the Sanya Municipal Government with the finish hosted by Serenity Marina in Sanya, Hainan.
Notice of Race and Online Entry details at chinacoastraceweek.com/race-hainan