Watching the growing sailing scene in China at the 2025 Lake Fuxian Regatta
by Mark Jardine 24 Oct 2025 07:30 BST
20-21 September 2025
I've become fascinated with the growing sailing scene in China. I had so many preconceptions ahead of my first visit to the country in 2024, which were blown out of the water on that trip, and this was reaffirmed when I recently made the journey to the Lake Fuxian Regatta in Yunnan Province.
Luke Fuxian is big - a hundred square miles - but such is the scale of things in China, it's only the third largest lake in the province! Located close to Kunming, a major city with a population of nearly nine million, so there is no shortage of people nearby, but the many areas of the lake are blissfully underdeveloped.
You don't think you're in the mountains, even though it's hilly, but the city and lake are nearly two thousand metres above sea level, which explains the dry air, but while I was there it was warm. At that altitude sunscreen was essential, and you could feel how strong the sun was instantly.
The contrast between the high rise and high tech surroundings at the airport and the idyllic lakeside scenery is startling, and puts one at ease instantly. There is of course the language barrier, but knowing a couple of words, combined with Google Translate and the ubiquitous WeChat, gets you by pretty easily. The people couldn't be more friendly, and a cheery 'ni hao' greeting is commonplace anywhere you go.
The Lake Fuxian Regatta featured two fleets: the FarEast 28 fleet had 30 boats racing with crews of five or six on board, while the FD Future fleet had another 30 boats with one or two sailors on each boat, ranging from kids to adults.
Ceremony plays a big part in everything, and the event is opened with speeches by the local dignitaries and fireworks, all in front of a giant screen, which is used throughout the event to livestream video from the race courses, with a media team on site providing coverage that a world championship would be proud of. Video clips and photos are posted nearly instantaneously on WeChat, reaching a vast audience in the country enlightening them about sailing. I found that YachtsandYachting.com and Sail-World.com are widely read and shared on this app in China, using WeChat's built-in translation, which explains the big jump in readership we've had in the region.
The breeze started off light, but built steadily throughout Saturday and was brisk for the racing on Sunday. The standard of racing is improving rapidly, and some of the top teams in the keelboats were putting in a great performance, while the dinghy sailing in the FD Future fleet was tight and tense. When I visited last year the startline was a touch chaotic, but this time the fleets were lined up and jostling for position.
The youngest sailors I saw last year who were just learning the ropes, had clearly been practicing, as they were now focused on their results and pushing for the front. It was great to see, and is a clear marker for how sailing is going to rapidly develop in China. National competition will grow, inevitably leading to more teams competing on the world stage.
I've become quite a fan of the FD Future, and am pleased that GP Watercraft have brought the first one to the UK, and are now distributing the boat in the country. It's rotomoulded, so as to be hardy enough for the beginners to knock about a bit, but has a turn of speed in the breeze, and manages to glide well in the light stuff. Krijn van den Brink, the designer, worked with VMG Yacht Design on the hull form, and seems to have got it right. I'll be posting a full review of the boat soon.
Saturday evening saw an event barbecue on the rooftop of the local hotel, courtesy of one of the sponsors, so we enjoyed local dishes and spiced pork belly cooked over the coals while the sun set over the lake.
The view, with the hills in the background, and the lake shimmering in the setting sunlight was incredible, and another great opportunity to hear people's stories of how they got into sailing. The stories are diverse, including those who raced on the Clipper yachts around the world, or on single legs, to those who'd found their opportunity to get on the water through their local school, and taken a liking to it.
The sailing on Sunday was superb, with a cracking breeze filling in across the lake, making for great racing on both the Far East 28 and FD Future courses. The ample space and clean wind showed that the quality is going deeper into the fleet, which is pushing the standard at the top end as well.
Just as I had my preconceptions about China, the Chinese people had their preconceptions about sailing, regarding going on the water as something only fishermen did, and it takes time to break these barriers down. I find it intriguing that in the west there is the assumption that sailing is just for the rich, while in China the opposite is true! More and more are finding sailing fun, and it's great to see the sport growing throughout the country.
While many things are wildly different, a constant remains: kids having fun! The young sailors, having had a few races on the lake in the FD Future fleet, were splashing and having fun in the water. They went home with happy memories and will tell their friends how good sailing is, and bring even more new people into the sport.