Organisers of the round-Hainan yacht race have doubled the prize fund to RMB 600,000 and opened global entry for 7–14 December, though the event’s own English website still shows the cancelled October dates.
China’s round-Hainan yacht race has doubled its prize money and pushed its start back by more than five weeks, to 7 December.
The 15th Round Hainan Island International Regatta will run from 7 to 14 December, Hainan Network Radio and Television reported on 6 November. The prize fund is RMB 600,000. Entry is open to teams worldwide, with the race in its countdown phase, the broadcaster said.
The race was originally scheduled for 31 October to 7 November. On 29 October the Hainan Provincial Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports said in a notice that it would move to December. The aim, the department said, was tighter organisation and a safe, orderly event.
The new purse is twice the RMB 300,000 offered in 2025. Organisers have also announced strategic cooperation with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. The race is listed on World Sailing’s calendar, and the organisers say they plan to invite the federation’s president and vice presidents.
Organisers say champion skippers from ten countries, including the United States, Russia, New Zealand, Germany and Australia, are expected to compete. They say they hope to bring in organisers of the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and a member of World Sailing’s offshore racing committee as advisers. The judging roster, they say, has been expanded into a two-tier international-domestic structure.
The signature course is a full circumnavigation of Hainan, China’s southernmost province: roughly 680 nautical miles, or about 1,260 kilometres, starting and finishing in the resort city of Sanya. Shorter half-round offshore and inshore races complete the programme. First held in 2010, the race has run almost every year since. The 2025 edition drew nearly 300 sailors from more than ten countries across five competition classes.
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The regatta’s own English website, however, still shows the wrong dates. Its homepage still advertised the October dates when checked on 8 November, ten days after the postponement notice. Its Notice of Race still requires entries by 9 October and ties withdrawal refunds to 15 October. It also lists equipment inspection from 29 to 31 November — and November has no 31st day.
The published documents also contradict each other on insurance. The Notice of Race sets minimum third-party liability cover at RMB 3 million. The online registration form asks entrants to confirm cover of at least RMB 10 million.
The Sanya Tourism Board’s English website still lists the race for 31 October to 7 November. Both the postponement notice and the recruitment announcement were published in Chinese.
For crews considering entry, the practical route is direct contact. The broadcaster’s report lists an entry email, rhn2026@163.com, and two Chinese phone numbers, and says events planned around the race include international sailing training sessions and a race village. It gives no new entry deadline, and the online registration page still displayed the expired 9 October date when checked on 8 November.
The regatta runs from 7 to 14 December, but the organiser’s official schedule page still carried the old October timetable as of 8 November. No revised day-by-day programme had been published.
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