The final yachts of the 2024 Rolex China Sea Race arrived in Subic Bay, Philippines, in the late afternoon of April 2 with a total of 21 boats and 191 competitors from 26 British territories having taken part in the 2024 edition.
It was a fierce battle between TP52 Happy Go and Standard Insurance Centennial V, but Happy Go ultimately finished the race a mere five minutes ahead of her rival, taking both Line Honours and the IRC Overall win.
Chinese entry William Liu’s Seawolf claimed second IRC Overall and IRC Racer 0 second 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 third place in the IRC Racer 0 division, went to Philippines entry Ernesto Echauz’s R/P 75 Standard Insurance Centennial V. “This was the most exciting Rolex China Sea Race that I have ever experienced,” said Echauz. “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.”
Father and son double-handed entry Philippe and Cosmas Grelon’ s A Plastic Ocean took first place in the 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 16 knots 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.”
Rolex is Title Sponsor of 15 major international events, from such leading offshore races as the annual Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the biennial Rolex Fastnet Race, to grand prix competition at the Rolex TP52 World Championship and spectacular gatherings at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and the Rolex Swan Cup. Rolex also supports the exciting SailGP global championship, in which national teams race identical supercharged F50 catamarans on some of the world’s most famous harbours.
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