Chinese Team Enters Newport Bermuda Race
[Written by Genie Xu with Talbot Wilson]
For the first time ever an all-Chinese team will race in the Newport Bermuda Race.
Started in 1906 as one of the three most famous off-shore sailing racing competitions, the 2016 ‘Thrash to the Onion Patch’ is going to share its 50th anniversary with the first Chinese entry in its history— Team Noahs. Located in Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone, Shanghai.
Noahs Sailing Club built this team as the first racing team with all Chinese members, from skipper and crew to sponsors. Furthermore, the club has been the first and the only owner of a TP52 boat in China. In this race, they will sail a chartered J44.
In addition to competing in the international fleet of top-level regattas, Noahs Sailing Club also stands as the messager to bring the world awareness of the Chinese spirit and sailing culture.
The team has chartered a J44 yacht from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and will take their place in this highly competitive class alongside of five other J44’s racing for the coveted St. David’s Lighthouse Trophy.
This silver lighthouse replica is awarded to the corrected time winner of the largest division in the race. Newport Bermuda has no overall winner, but has winners in all six of its various divisions. The St. David’s Lighthouse Division is the largest with 113 entries.
The Noahs Sailing Team from the left to the right are Dong Qing, Xu Chenpeng, Ma Cong, Shao Fenghai, Wang Xinjie, Lin Songmin, Lin Zhiwei, Zhang Minhang, Chen Fulin, Yi Xiaobin, Cao Zhongqiu, Yang Longshen, Zhu Bao, Xu xiao, YuanShuai, Gao Kunpeng, Chang Yage.
On Oct.9th 2015, the Audi China Coast Regatta in Hong Kong was the beginning for Team Noahs. For the young team, this was the very first time they joined an international regatta. After that the team participated the Audi Hong Kong to Vietnam Yacht race on Oct 15th, which is known as the most aggressive offshore sailing competition in Asia.
Completing this race also meant the young Noahs had finished its first international top-level offshore race. On Dec. 26th, Noahs sailing team was one of the entries in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race which is one of the best-known sailing events in the world.
Now, in 2016, Team Noahs is coming to Newport, Rhode Island for the 2016 Bermuda race, another of the three top-level offshore races in the world. And this year the Bermuda Race is expected to be the third largest “Thrash to the Onion Patch” in its 110-year history. 192 entries have registered.
This means the competition will be very intense. Looking through the entry list, you will recognize many returning sailors and boats, such as Ken Read, the line honors winner in 2012 now sailing ‘Comanche’, and George Sakellaris, the owner of the 2014 line honors Maxi 72 winner ‘Shockwave’ in his new Maxi 72 racer ‘Proteus’, and the 2014 St. David’s Lighthouse Trophy winner Michael Cone in ‘Actaea’ a Hinckley Bermuda 40.
Mr. Dong Qing is the captain for team Noahs. He’s very experienced and started sailing in 2003. Mr. Chen Fulin will be the Navigator. He has been sailing since 2014. Both of them raced the team’s TP52 in the 2015 Sydney Hobart Race.
Mr. Dong Qing, the Chinese skipper, said, “It will be a great honor for young Noahs team to have this chance to be amid this large fleet with those famous and respected sailors and their teams. In addition, we are sure that Noahs sailing team can also bring to the Bermuda Race the values of branding and promotion to the Chinese audiences.”
At the end of this year, Noahs Sailing Team is going to Australia for this year’s Sydney Hobart Yacht race.
Welcome Team China/Noahs. Safe racing and we’ll see you at the bar for Dark n Stormy’s.
This is sooo cool.