Derek Hatfield
Geoff Hill's Strewth (Photo by Daniel Forster)
The Rolex China Sea Race fleet has been making the most of a strong northeast breeze, force 6-7 (21-30 kts), ticking off the miles as they make their way toward the Philippine coast. At 5:00 pm local time, Strewth (AUS) was 70 nautical miles due west of Santiago Island, making 11+ knots on a southeastly heading, with 135nm to the finish. Both Hi Fi (HKG) and Evolution Racing (AUS) have been leading Strewth; however, neither boat has been tracking. Based on an earlier estimated position, Hi Fi is expected to finish around midnight tonight.
Local weather conditions are the tricky bit for navigators and tacticians; once the boats approach the coast, the southeasterly sea breeze dominates. But where that transition zone is and how long the breeze sustains into the evening, is the big question. Many a boat has come storming down the race track, only to sail into a hole and sit while another boat finds a lane with breeze to get past them.
Ray Robert’s on Evolution Racing is a frequent competitor at the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race on his Cookson 50, of the same name. And while he is a successful competitor on the Asian Yachting Grand Prix Circuit as well, this Rolex China Sea Race is only the second for Roberts, who previously sailed with Frank Pong on his Jelik.
Greg Kearns Avant Garde (Photo by Daniel Forster)
Prior to the race, Roberts said, “This boat is now one year, and I’m just starting to get it up to its’ potential. We had a first at the Singapore Straights and at Royal Langkawi (International Regatta), so those last two races got the boat up to speed, so I’m hoping to continue that process. But this one will be a little more tricky because of the wind and tidal influence. The breeze will be quite hard to read; for those who are a little bit aggressive and read the wind right, they’ll come out in front.”
When asked about Evolution’s competitors, Roberts said, “Hi Fi, Strewth, and the local boys on Mandrake- a lot of experience on that boat, a lot of talent. And then of course, if the breeze shuts down, it could become a 40-footer race. The Achambaults (Avant Garde, Red Kite II), the Mills 41 (Ambush). Bit of a roll of the dice when you get weather conditions like this.
“When I say ‘roll of the dice’ that’s only part of the element, you’ve got to sail well, you’ve got to make the calls on the weather, and get them right. There’s a luck element there, you have to look at all of the factors and if you get it right, you come out looking good.”
As of the 8:00 am position reports, the leader in IRC Racing A on corrected time, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s Ffreefire 70 was leading EFG Mandrake (HKG). In IRC Racing B, Ernesto Echauz’ Subic Centennial (PHI) was leading Ambush (HKG); IRC Racing C saw Simon Powell’s Sell Side Dream (HKG) ahead.
In IRC Premier Cruising, it was Jon Wardill’s Australian Maid (AUS) leading his division. This is the fourth Rolex China Sea Race for Wardill, who before the start said about this year’s race, “I’m looking forward to it. It suits my boat. It’s a very old, wooden boat and we’re still competitive. Long-distance passage racing is where she traditionally does her best. Hopefully we’ll get enough wind to get us down there.”
Wardill, along with some of his crew, hail from Darwin, Australia, and he has two Dutchman onboard as well. Wardill said, “We’re a very experienced crew, so we should do pretty well. We usually do the King’s Cup, and every second year we come up and do the China Sea Race, the Commodore’s Cup, and after that we’ll go to Thailand. It’s a pretty big programme and it’s a long way. I keep the boat up in Asia rather than in Darwin these days…it’s a long way to come.”
In IRC Cruising, it was CP Wong’s Tipsy Frenz (HKG), ahead in his division. Wong, who’s competed in the race 11 times, sails with an all-Chinese crew, most of whom are doctors. They’ve had a syndicate for over 20 years, campaigning several “Tipsy’s”.
Pole Star and SkyWave have joined forces to provide a web-based tracking facility for the event. Shore-based fans can follow the racing online at www.rhkyc.org.hk/chinasearace/tracking.htm
This year is the 25th edition of the Rolex China Sea Race, which was first run in 1962, and has been held every two years since then. The 565 nautical mile race runs from the start in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong to Subic Bay, Philippines. In 1972, it was officially recognised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club, and is now run under their prescriptions. The race has continued to attract increased interest and serves to draw the international yachting fraternity to Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.
Moonblue 2 and Australian Maid (Photo by Daniel Forster)
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston At Velux 5 Oceans Finish In 2007 (Photo by OnEdition)
VELUX 5 OCEANS’ The Ultimate Solo Challenge
The VELUX 5 OCEANS is the oldest single-handed round the world yacht race. Run every 4 years since 1982, the race is the longest and toughest event for any individual in any sport. The VELUX 5 OCEANS is a series of five high-pressure ocean sprints within a marathon circumnavigation. In the course of the 30,000 mile race, the skippers cross five oceans alone.
Only nine months remain until the start of the VELUX 5 OCEANS and the various pieces of the jigsaw continue to come together. All the ingredients are being put in place for the eighth edition of the classic singlehanded round the world race, which should create one of the most successful events in the prestigious twenty eight year history of The Ultimate Solo Challenge. To date, Clipper Ventures, in close partnership with title sponsor VELUX, have announced a number of positive and innovative key elements of the race:
•5 ocean sprints within a 30,000 marathon around the planet, departing La Rochelle (France) on October 17th 2010 and bringing solo offshore racing directly to audiences in Cape Town (South Africa), Wellington (New Zealand), Salvador (Brazil) and Charleston (USA), before returning to La Rochelle in May 2011
•The start dates for each ocean sprint will be announced in the coming weeks, with world class services provided to skippers in each port
•The race prizegiving in La Rochelle will take place on June 6th 2011
•Nine confirmed international entries from seven different countries in the promising Eco 60 Class, with four already announced from Canada, USA, Belgium and Poland, and with more entries to come soon
•The Eco 60 Class is an exciting new class in the Open 60 range for boats built before 2003 to open the race to adventurers without big budgets and embracing sustainability
•Strong interest in the Open 60 Class, which remains open to all skippers with Open 60s built after January 2003
•€500,000 prizemoney for skippers, to be split across the fleets and 5 ocean sprints, including awards for media work, seamanship and sustainability actions
•€21,000 investment per team in accommodation for the stopovers around the world
•€15,000 minimum per team to be invested in onboard communications and logistics, with details to be announced in the coming months
•€2.6 million to be invested in media activities for skippers, including audio-visual production and distribution, photography, cutting edge digital activation and press relations in key territories around the world, with a target to deliver in excess of €80 million of media value for teams and partners
•The launch of TAKING ON THE ELEMENTS, the race sustainability agenda which will see stakeholders (organisers, partners, ports and skippers) making a commitment to promote sustainable living through the race platform (communication, race village, Eco 60 Class)
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Chairman of Clipper Ventures and the VELUX 5 OCEANS, concluded, “Our vision for the VELUX 5 OCEANS is to offer the most challenging single handed ocean racing format. The VELUX 5 OCEANS in 2010 aims to support new talent, encourage global participation and bring ocean racing to large audiences around the world, embracing and promoting the shared value of sustainability. We are offering outstanding support to skippers and teams, as well as sponsors, covering five continents and spanning nine months, with significant investments across team budgets and communications.”
“The VELUX 5 OCEANS has a unique heritage and a special place in the solo ocean racing calendar. Only 90 people have so far completed the challenge and it has always attracted an internationally diverse group of skippers, many of whom have become star names in sailing, including Philippe Jeantot, Bernard Stamm, Giovanni Soldini and Kojiro Shiraishi. The promising Eco 60 Class has brought a new dimension to the race and the interest in the Open 60 Class for the latest generation of racing yachts remains strong. Clipper Ventures and VELUX look forward to welcoming everyone to La Rochelle in October to celebrate the spirit of singlehanded offshore racing”
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (Photo courtesy of Clipper Ventures)
The Cruising Club of America has selected Sir Robin Knox-Johnston to receive its prestigious Blue Water Medal, without date, for a lifetime devoted to the advancement of sailing, sail training and youth development and on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his singlehanded, non-stop circumnavigation of the world. In the 85-year history of the CCA’s Blue Water Medal only seven Medals have been awarded without date. The medal will be presented to Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on March 5, 2010 by CCA Commodore Sheila McCurdy (Middletown, R.I.) during the club’s annual Awards Dinner at the New York Yacht Club, in New York.
Born March 17, 1939 in Putney, London, Knox-Johnston went to school at Berkhamstead in Hertfordshire. He served as an officer cadet in the British Merchant Navy in 1957 and later gained his Masters Certificate in 1965. Between sea voyages in Bombay he built Suhaili, a 32-foot 5-inch LOA (length overall) India teak ketch of the Colin Archer type and sailed her to England.
With Suhaili he entered the 1968 race for the Sunday Times Golden Globe Trophy for the first person to circumnavigate the world nonstop and singlehanded. Suhaili was the only boat to finish the race, completing the 30,123 mile course in 312 days. Robin Knox-Johnston donated his £5,000 prize to the widow of his competitor Donald Crowhurst, who was lost at sea during the race.
In 1988 Suhaili started in the OSTAR Race across the Atlantic, but had to retire after 800 miles due to leaking seams. In 1989, after re-caulking, she set off across the Atlantic following Columbus’s route using only an Astrolabe for navigation. Arriving in San Salvador after 3,000 miles, they were only off 8 miles in latitude and 22 miles in longitude. On the return voyage in November of the same year, a large storm knocked them down four times and they lost both masts. Under jury rig they sailed 1,400 miles to the Azores.
In 1990 Suhaili sailed north of the Arctic Circle to Greenland’s east coast so that a small team might attempt to climb a virgin peak. In 1992 Knox-Johnston was invited to become President of the Sail Training Association, a youth development organization which operated two topsail schooners. He also organized annual tall ship races and, before he retired from the post in 2001, £11 million had been raised to replace the two schooners with two larger brigs.
Since winning the Golden Globe Trophy in 1969 Robin Knox-Johnston has participated in seven quadrennial double-handed Round Britain races. He skippered Condor to line honors in two legs of the 1977/08 Whitbread Race, co-skippered Enza New Zealand with the late Sir Peter Blake in 1994 to take the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation of the world, and completed the Velux5Oceans solo around the world race in 4th position in 2006/07 at the age of 68.
In 1995, Knox-Johnston was knighted by Queen Elizabeth and retained the honorary title ‘Sir’. Notably, he has been named the 1994 ISAF World Sailor of the Year, the United Kingdom’s Yachtsman of the Year three times, and in 2007 he was inducted into the inaugural ISAF Hall of Fame. He has served as a Trustee of the National Maritime Museum and is currently President of the Little Ship Club and Chairman of Clipper Ventures.
About the CCA’s Blue Water Medal
The prestigious Blue Water Medal was inaugurated by the Cruising Club of America in 1923 to reward meritorious seamanship and adventure upon the sea displayed by amateur sailors of all nationalities that might otherwise go unrecognized.
Blue Water Medalists have included such luminaries of the sailing world as Rod Stephens, Eric and Susan Hiscock, Sir Francis Chichester, Eric Tabarly, Pete Goss, Rich Wilson, Minoru Saito and Bernard Moitessier. In 1940 it was awarded to the British Yachtsmen at Dunkerque who helped in the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force in June 1940.
The Medal itself was designed by Arthur Sturgis Hildebrand, a member of the Cruising Club of America, who was one of the crew of the yacht Leiv Eiriksson, lost in the Arctic with all hands in September of 1924.
Blue Water Medal awardees – without date (all award years are approximate)
Circa 2000 – Cloud Nine, Rodger B. Swanson (USA) 160,000 miles of remarkable cruising, two circumnavigations via Antarctica
Circa 1978 – Humphrey D. E. Barton (GBR), A lifetime of cruising, racing, 20 or more Atlantic crossings, founder of the Ocean Cruising Club
Circa 1961 – Seacrest, Dr. Paul Sheldon (USA) Extended cruises in Newfoundland, Labrador
Circa 1959 – Vito Dumas (ARG), Global Circumnavigation 1942-1943 and other singlehanded voyages
Circa 1956 – Carleton Mitchell (USA), Meritorious ocean passages, sterling seamanship and advancement of the sport by counsel and example
Circa 1937 – Igdasil, Roger S. Strout (USA), Circumnavigation 1934-1937
Circa 1932*– Jolie Brise, Robert Somerset (GBR),Award for a remarkable feat of seamanship, the rescue of 10 crew off burning schooner Adriana in the 1932 Bermuda race
*(no actual date appears in the CCA Yearbook)
The Cruising Club of America is dedicated to offshore cruising, voyaging and the “adventurous use of the sea” through efforts to improve seamanship, the design of seaworthy yachts, safe yachting procedures and environmental awareness. Now in its 89th year, the club has 10 stations throughout the U.S., Canada and Bermuda, with approximately 1200 members who are qualified by their experience in offshore passage making. In even-numbered years, the CCA organizes the Newport to Bermuda Race in conjunction with the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club
