Super effort: Scallywag smashes Hong Kong to Hainan Race record
Lee Seng-huang’s 100 foot Super Maxi slices more than two hours off Beau Geste’s record as it notches its second record of the season
Lee Seng-huang’s 100 foot Super Maxi Scallywag sliced two hours, 22 minutes and 41 seconds off the previous Hong Kong to Hainan Race record on Friday.
The previous race record of 25 hours, 54 minutes and 33 seconds was set in 2014 by Karl Kwok’s TP52 Beau Geste. The new Volvo Hong Kong to Hainan race record now stands at an impressive 23 hours, 31 minutes and 51 seconds.
This is the second record of the season for Scallywag who recently broke the monohull record for the New Caledonia Race. From Sanya Scallywag will continue to Australia to take part in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race starting on December 26.
Scallywag’s owner Lee said: “We are extremely happy with the result. It was very rough out there last night, we are happy to have made it to Sanya safe and sound. We had sunshine, we had darkness we had rough seas and strong winds. It was a great race. We are now really looking forward to heading to the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race now!”
With the rest of fleet having now gybed back towards the rhumb line, the next boat expected to arrive in Sanya is Sam Chan’s TP52 FreeFire. FreeFire is currently tracking along the south-east coast of Hainan with 60 nautical miles to go.
They are in currently in contention for the win in IRC overall and the IRC 0, however only 40 nautical miles behind is Anthony Root’s Custom Ker 42 Black Baza ,who is coming in with more breeze from offshore. Standard Insurance Centennial continues to make up ground after they got caught in some fishing nets last night, which can be a common occurrence in the South China Sea.
At the back of the fleet Ymir continues to bring pressure down with them to the finish, with around 220 nautical miles to go to the finish
Enabling them to pit their navigational skills against the real fleet with the feed from the Yellowbrick tracker showing the position of the real yachts overlaid on the virtual race screen. The challenge will be negotiating the conditions; Sailonline uses almost real-time weather downloaded from NOAA and the boat physics are considered to be the most life-like of any online simulation.
The race is organised by RHKYC 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.
