Wuzhizhou Island Cup 2019 RHN Regatta is on the horizon, with 56 teams being eager for a victory

The 10th RHN Regatta, known as “China’s First Ranked Offshore Competition”, will start on March 16. With the approaching of the competition, 56 teams have arrived at Haikou and started training. The full round competition is on the horizon.

In early spring, the weather in Haikou is not very hot. The wind speed is about 15 knots. With the arrival of the participating sail boats, the Haikou National Sailing Training Base and Public Marina attracted lots of spectators. Over 600 sailors from 56 teams in seven groups come to the race. Hugs and greetings among them have become the main theme of interaction on the marina today.

Before the race, the teams put into intense preparations: ship cleaning, sail debugging, safety inspection, sailors’cooperation. Many teams use the remaining day to train sailing to adapt to the venue, adjust their status quickly and meet the test.

There is another scene on the shore. Beginning at 8:00 a.m., team members arrived at the race office to conduct online registration site confirmation, safety qualification certificate and insurance certificate inspection. Jose, International Measure, measured and checked the hull and sailing gear of each team, and carried out safety inspection one by one.

Safety is the most important thing of offshore race. The World Sailing has different safety requirements for different levels of offshore competitions. As a third-class offshore competition of the World Sailing Federation, RHN Regatta requires that every sail boat must be equipped with life raft, night navigation lights, life jacket, signal bomb and ARS reflector (automatic positioning recognition system). In terms of personnel, each boat must have no fewer than two qualified safety officers.

The full round race is about 580 nautical miles. This year, it will sail counter-clockwise for the first time. The fishing nets along Haikou to Sanya and the west coast will cause a lot of trouble to the yachts. From Sanya to Haikou, the east coast will sail against the wind, the wind and waves are strong, and the boats will be bumpy and inclined. The turbulent current in the south corner of Wenchang Hainan will test the team’s comprehensive ability.

After many years of evolution, the full round and half round routes are the key elements to help the RHN Regatta to stay on the “China’s first ranked offshore race”. The high-level and high-standard competition guarantee also makes the competition more fair. This is also the main reason why the 10th RHN Regatta continues to attract international sailors and teams.

On the marina, we saw Wei Jun, the 65-year-old ,a famous sailor in China, who is going to compete in the full round race as the navigator of Sailingin · Decathlon sailing team · Sanya. It is also the first time that this sailing predecessor participated in the RHN Regatta.

The Sailingin · Decathlon sailing team · Sanya has 10 members, three of them are foreigners, including Jim, an American champion of the Laser Class World Sailing Championship. When Wei Jun introduced Captain Jim, he was carrying oxygen cylinders, diving goggles and webbed feet, ready to go underwater to clean the bottom of the boat. “Success depends on details. Before every competition, the captain has to clean up the bottom of the boat himself. He is always insecure when others to do it.

Wei Jun said, “the RHN Regatta is the best long-distance race in China, which has witnessed the continuous growth of Chinese sailing enthusiasts. At the same time, it  is also the best touchstone to test the competitive level of Chinese sailors.”

Looking ahead to this event, he believes that the 580-nautical mile voyage of the group will be full of challenges and uncertainties. “By contrast, the wind on the west route will be smaller, while the east should be 10 to 15 knots or even larger. We must be well prepared to cope with the breeze and strong winds and waves.

The age, occupation and culture of our 11 members are quite different. For example, I am 65 years old and the youngest teammate is 41 years younger than me. But in the competition, we will work together to advance towards the common goal.

A total of 9 international technical officials of the World Sailing Federation jointly enforce the law in this RHN Regatta. Many technical officials said that this year’s sailing competition has improved both in scale and the strength of competitors.

According to the requirements of the World Sailing Federation, the core members of all teams involved in offshore competitions, such as helmsmen, weatherman, navigator, bow man and security officer, must be level in intermediate or above and in the systematic training of 3-5 years. There are not only famous sailor in China, but also many of the team’s key members are old sailors with more than ten years’ sailing experience, which makes the race more excited.

According to the schedule, at noon on the 16th, the 10th Wuzhizhou Island Cup Round Hainan Regatta in 2019 will officially kick off. Fifty-six teams will all come to compete in seven groups in Port race. Dubois 50, the unified group that first appeared in the competition, will be a highlight of the competition.

The U-Box, which has returned to the RHN Regatta after two years and has competed in Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race for many times; the Shenzhen Sea Wolf, who won the IRC group championship in many international competitions and set many records; the rising stars SEAMO, the Bigboys Sailing Team and so on, are all expected to win the first place in the competition.