Displaying items by tag: Rolex China Sea Race

13th January 2021

Rolex China Sea Race 2021 Cancelled Amid Pandemic Concerns

Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club has cited “continued uncertainty regarding international border openings” amid the coronavirus pandemic in its decision to cancel the 2021 Rolex China Sea Race, which had been due to start on 31 March.

In a statement, RHKYC Commodore Denis Martinet, said: “We are of course very disappointed having already postponed this blue ribbon event last year.

“We felt that the situation would have improved sufficiently by March 2021. Yet this is not to be and we feel that it is prudent to cancel.

“The club will nevertheless endeavour to organise an independent race around the same dates in full compliance with any restrictions in place.

“Meanwhile we shall work tirelessly to bring about a fantastic Rolex China Sea Race in 2022 to celebrate its 60th anniversary.”

The club has scheduled next year’s offshore event for 13-27 April 2022, and thanked all registered teams and sponsor Rolex for their support.

The Rolex China Sea Race is among a number of casualties of continued pandemic restrictions in 2021, with the most recent being the RORC Caribbean 600 as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

Published in Offshore

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Esailing & Virtual Sailing information

The concept of e-sailing, or virtual sailing, is based on a computer game sailing challenge that has been around for more than a decade.

The research and development of software over this time means its popularity has taken off to the extent that it has now become a part of the sailing seascape and now allows people to take an 'active part' in some of the most famous regattas across the world such as the Vendée Globe, Route du Rhum, Sydney Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup and some Olympic venues too, all from the comfort of their armchair.

The most popular model is the 'eSailing World Championship'. It is an annual esports competition, first held in 2018 and officially recognised by World Sailing, the sports governing body.

The eSailing World Championship is a yearly competition for virtual sailors competing on the Virtual Regatta Inshore game.

The contract to run the event was given to a private company, Virtual Regatta that had amassed tens of thousands of sailors playing offshore sailing routing game following major offshore races in real-time.

In April 2020, the company says on its website that it has 35,000 active players and 500,000 regattas sailed.

Virtual Regatta started in 2010 as a small team of passionate designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs gathered around the idea that virtual sailing sports games can mix with real races and real skippers.