ROLEX CHINA SEA RACE 2023 Race Chairman’s point of view

The 2023 Rolex China Sea Race will go down as one of the more challenging editions. Competitors were to face it all, with a day beating upwind, a day becalmed and finally two days of full-on downwind surfing conditions.

The first offshore race Hong Kong held since 2019, got underway at 1120hrs on 5 April in the misty weather and a southerly breeze of 3 to 5kts, taking competitors 565nm across the South China Sea to Subic Bay in the Philippines; considered a real test of sailing skill, energy, persistence and team spirit.

After a slightly tricky exit out of the harbour in light winds, yachts were faced with a 24hr upwind leg with winds from the south east. The first major decision was whether to take the more northerly route looking for stronger winds, or the more direct rhumb line route. With lighter winds forecast for day two and then filling in strongly from the northeast on day three, the northern route looked more favourable. However, as the race progressed into the second day, some decided to change tactics and take a more southerly route, hoping for more consistent winds. The majority of the fleet in the northern route went north of the Pratas (Dongsha) Atoll and proceeded to park up for about 24hrs. Those that took the southerly route continued to make slightly better headway. The exception was Standard Insurance Centennial 5 (Rachel Pugh 75) that used its length to get winds not available to the rest of the fleet, making consistent and significant strides straight towards Subic Bay. The second day was to prove very long and frustrating with yachts making minimal headway and even going backwards at times as it turned into a glass-out. However, the promised strong winds did materialise on day three and yachts were off again. From the race beginning it looked like a small boat race and so it proved to be. With the winds filling in on the third day there was a race restart, but the higher handicapped yachts were now effectively miles behind on corrected time of the smaller yachts.

As the race progressed into its third day, the winds continued to increase and peaked in the 30kt range. The sea turned from a flat calm and built up to heights that were enough to induce some exhilarating surfing conditions. It was now all fast downwind sailing to Subic Bay with crews deciding on how hard to push themselves and their yachts. Things got particularly tricky early on the fourth night with the moon not coming up until a couple of hours after sunset. It was pitch black and rather unnerving surfing along in excess of 18kns on Neo One knowing there was nets and fishing barrels all around. The moon’s appearance was welcomed by all and finally we could see something of the way ahead. For those who took the more southern route, unfortunately their gamble did not pay off as well as they hoped, as they picked up the stronger winds later than the more northern yachts.

Up front for eventual Line Honours was the all-Philippine crew skippered by Ernesto Echauz on Standard Insurance Centennial 5 , the first Philippine yacht to achieve this honour. On winning Line Honours a jubilant Ernesto Erchauz said “It’s very historical! It’s the first time that a Philippines boat has won Line Honours at the Rolex China Sea Race. It’s such a prestigious race for us. In the 2008 edition when we won IRC Overall, the advice we had been given ahead of the Race was that if we don’t go south of the rhumb line right away, there will be a large hole. So this year again that’s what we did and as soon as we had the opportunity we worked on the VMG and right away headed south. Then we went east to take advantage of the north-easterly along the Luzon coast. But entering Subic you can’t do anything about the lack of wind so we got stuck and you just do your best but overall we’re happy with our strategy. There was also some luck for us. Thank you to the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club for organising this event, this is the best offshore race in Asia.”

Three TP52s continued fighting it out with Happy Go getting the better of Rampage88 by taking a more offshore approach to Subic Bay. But it was Standard Insurance Centennial 3 skippered by Emerson Villena that won the TP52 battle on handicap with a final day push to catchup the leading pair.

On approaching Subic Bay, it was as tricky as ever with the northerly gradient wind being replaced by local effects off the high mountains.

Considerable patience was required as yachts went through bands of very light winds and the last 40 miles seemingly taking forever, once into Subic Bay the winds were more consistent. Further back in the field there was more action unfolding with the smaller yachts well ahead on corrected time battering it out for IRC overall. The J109 Whiskey Jack , skippered by Nick Southward was in a tight battle with the two-handed father and son duo of Cosmas and Philippe Grelon on their Figaro 3 Simpson Marine and Andrew Pidden’s J99 Juice also in the running.

When Whiskey Jack hit the dock in Subic Bay they found themselves as the IRC Overall winner, after just over four days of racing at 15h 02m 11s HK time.

Owner/skipper Nick Southward was greeted with applause at the dock and said “it feels absolutely amazing, seriously I can’t believe it. I mean we’ve won this race! We’ve been right at the back of the fleet. We had a wild last 24 hours it was just wild; we could not have pushed it harder. But we stayed in one piece, everyone’s here and it just feels amazing to be here.”

The smallest boat in the fleet, Andrew Pidden’s J-99 Juice finished almost 3.5 hours after Whiskey Jack , earning them 3 rd IRC Overall as well as 2nd in IRC 1. An exhausted Andrew commented after docking “This is my first Rolex China Sea Race and it was a wild ride, from no wind at all to loads of wind, so it was quite crazy but it was a lot of fun and great to do it with my two sons and my regular crew as well.” Andrew was sailing with sons Matt and Tom and joked about the family pressure “I was pretty nervous because their mother was telling me we had three fifths of her entire family on one boat and if I sank it, she was going to be very angry but they are great sailors and it’s always good to be out with them.”

The father and son double-handed team of Philippe and Cosmas Grelon on board Figaro 3 Simpson Marine finished sailing in 94h 47m 10s, taking double-handed 1st place and IRC Overall 2nd place. Describing their journey as exhausting, thanks in part to the loss of their autopilot which “was man overboard at the Pratas” according to Cosmas with Philippe adding “It’s very difficult because when you leave the tiller, the boat is like a dinghy, so you can’t do anything. You always have to have a guy on the tiller. That was very, very hard." Other notable results being the China entry Tong Ran skippered by Yong Yao winning the IRC Premier division and Eddy Lee winning the HKPN division on his Sense 46.

With such a long race, at one point it looked like the Sunday afternoon prize giving was in danger of being a rather slim affair. Thankfully, with a few hours to spare, more than half the fleet did make it to the Subic Marina in time for the event with prizes being awarded by Brahim Drissi, the Rolex Philippines General Manager. More crew then managed to join for the evening party at the Lighthouse Marina Resort. It’s a tribute to all competitors, that their yacht and crew preparations were up to the challenges faced in this very testing edition of the Rolex China Sea Race, with all yachts making it safely to Subic Bay.

Adding their praise to the race, competitors shared their sentiments on competing. Tiger Mok, Happy Go ’s navigator said that the Rolex China Sea Race is “one of the most challenging offshore races you can ever get. I loved it and hopefully we can come back and do another one next time!”

Having taken part in his first China Sea Race as a 19-year-old in 1986, Albert Altura Skipper of the Philippines entry, Hurricane Hunter, came back as a skipper in 2023. Altura had great admiration for the race saying said he would definitely be back, “I think I will join in every edition of the race until I can’t race anymore.”

Now with the RHKYC having kickstarted its offshore racing program again, we hope to welcome more entries for our future races. The next is the 673 nautical mile Hong Kong to Vietnam race starting on the 25 October 2023, which is also a qualifier for the 2023 Rolex Sydney Hobart yacht race.

Rolex China Sea Race 2023 Wednesday 5 April 2023

The Club wishes to express its sincere gratitude to our Title Sponsor Rolex for their unwavering support and commitment to the Rolex China Sea Race 2023. This was the first offshore race to be held in Hong Kong since 2019, despite the challenging times for sailing, and we would like to thank Rolex for its continued support and dedication to this event. The contribution they have made to this prestigious event has made it one of the most anticipated and celebrated events in the sailing calendar. We are grateful for their generosity and dedication, and we look forward to their continued support in the years to come.

With thanks to our volunteers including Race Officer David Norton and his team of Bonnie Cheng, Lindsay Lyons and Shelia Chan. On the safety team: Barry Truhol and Niclas Rydin.