Who gets to compete in the 'inaugural' Taiwan Straits Race 2009?
Well, it certainly won’t be any Mainland Chinese boats or sailors, as the Preliminary NOR issued recently by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club clearly states that:
'All Mainland Chinese registered boats & Passport holders must apply for permit to participate in this race to Kaohsiung two months in advance.'
Do the sums – today is 12 May, and the first leg of the race is slated to start on 01 July. That’s less than two months away…
Sail-World Asia has also been advised that it looks as if there are not one, but three, Taiwan Straits Races about to take place, and the one organized by the RHKYC isn’t even the first on the list. Apparently, there’s also a race from Xiamen to Anping (Taiwan) starting on 29 June, organized by the Ironrock Sailing Club and the Xiamen City government, and another one on 16 July going from Xiamen to an as-yet-undecided city in Taiwan (and CBI has seen the draft of the organising committee for this one).
By our reckoning, the Taiwan Strait is going to be an unusually busy place from 26 June through 16 July. All these events are “under the auspices of the China Yachting Association”, so the next question might be – have the CYA actually looked at their calendar?
While we are asking questions, and before we sign on to sail into history across the Taiwan Strait, where is the race from Hong Kong actually going to in both Kaohsiung and Xiamen?
And (lastly) - for the sake of all these races – will recent restrictions on the movement of pleasure vessels imposed by the Xiamen Coastguard (http://www.sail-world.com/Asia/China-Coast-Guard-closes-Xiamen-recreational-boating/56194) be resolved before 1 July?
by China Boating Intelligence (CBI)/Sail-World Asia 10:58 PM Tue 12 May 2009