Rolex China Sea Race Returns for an Exciting Weekend of Offshore Racing

As Asia’s classic blue-water yachting event, the Rolex China Sea Race takes place this month, we examine the close ties between the famous watch brand and the will to win in the demanding sport of ocean racing.

Wherever and whenever keen ocean-going sailors gather, there’s a good chance that at least some of them will be wearing a Rolex on their wrist. That close relationship between the Swiss watch brand and the demanding sport of sailing isn’t solely a testament to the superb, nautically inspired Yachtmaster timepieces that have become a cornerstone of Rolex’s collections since 1992; it also attests to the close ties developed between the company and competitive sailing – from world-famous clubs and races to regattas and individual sailors – over more than six decades.

It was, perhaps, inevitable that Rolex and sailing would find common – if watery – ground. Both the sport and the craft of watchmaking involve the most demanding levels of excellence and the need to perform in some of the most rigorous conditions in the world; indeed, it’s no coincidence that when the British yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester made the first solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1966-7 aboard the 16-metre ketch Gypsy Moth IV, he wore on his wrist a Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch. Since then, Chichester’s pioneering spirit has been carried forward by other Rolex testimonees from the world of yachting, such as: Sir Ben Ainslie, the most successful Olympic sailor ever; the America’s Cup competitor and round-the-world yachtsman Paul Cayard; and the multiple Olympic medal-winner (whose haul includes two golds) Robert Scheidt.

Among the great yachting events the brand has long been associated with are such classic epics as the biennial Fastnet Race, the world’s biggest offshore challenge and a tough trial of seamanship and endurance, and the usually annual – and equally gruelling – Sydney-Hobart. Here in Asia Rolex has been a staunch supporter of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s China Sea Race since 2008.

Normally held over the Easter weekend every two years but with a five-year hiatus due to Covid, the event is Asia’s oldest blue-water race, and attracts sailors and yachts from around the world to compete on a 565 nautical-mile (1,046km) course between Hong Kong and Subic Bay in the Philippines. This year’s Rolex China Sea Race, the 30th since the event’s inception in 1962, begins on April 5, with sailors and yachts competing for two main prizes: the Rolex China Sea Race Trophy is presented to the event’s overall winner decided using a time-correction handicap, while the first vessel across the line in real time receives the Sunday Telegraph Trophy. A Rolex watch is also given to the overall winner and the first monohull yacht to cross the line.

As the South China Sea can present a diverse array of weather and sailing conditions, even during the relatively short time duration of the event, strategic thinking and a broad breadth of skills are essential. Purely in terms of time, multihull yachts are at an advantage, with the fastest crossing ever made in 2018 – a time of 38 hours, 30 minutes and seven seconds – by the trimaran MOD Beau Geste, skippered by Karl Kwok. The record for monohulls – 47 hours, 31 minutes and eight seconds – was set two years earlier by Philip Turner and Duncan Hive in Alive.

Given the reputation of its Superlative Chronometer-certified Oyster Perpetual timepieces for supreme accuracy and unparalleled reliability in the most challenging conditions – not to forget the fact that the company unveiled the world’s first waterproof watch as long ago as 1926 – Rolex is the perfect standard bearer for such feats of endurance on the oceans. And when the yachts and their dauntless crews line up for the start in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour on April 5, all those qualities and more will be put to the test once again.