Pong’s crew claimed line honors when it logged an elapsed time of 50 hours, 30.51 minutes in the 565-nautical mile journey from the Royal Hongkong Yacht Club marina to the scenic coastline of Zambales.
It is among the eight foreign entries that have confirmed their participation in this week-long event jointly organized by the Manila Yacht Club and the Subic Bay Yacht Club.
The R/P 75 type boat is expected to be a threat to Fred Kinmonth’s Stella Minter Ellison’s bid and that of Judes Echauz’s Standard Insurance, which emerged as the top Filipino finisher in the China Sea Race.
The fate of defending champion Karakoa owned by Ray Ordoveza, remains unclear after it was forced to retire from the race when it developed a leak and damaged its rudder while struggling past 27-foot high waves some 100 nautical miles south of Hong Kong.
Karakoa’s crew has yet to show up at the SBYC boathouse to confirm their bid to go for back-to-back honors.
The absence of Karakoa enabled Hi-Fidelity to clinch the Omega Yachting Circuit title with nine points.
Overall handicapping honors of the China Sea Race eventually went to Sam Chan’s Free Fire, a UDLB Sled, which got the crown on a better handicap under the IRC system. This after logging a corrected time of 73 hours, 32 minutes and 33 seconds.
Neil Pryde’s Hi Fidelity, which placed No. 2 to Freefire, is also in the fold along with Paul Bankowski’s Jaywalker, Gerry Daughton’s Jaywalker, Intrigue, Outrageous, Shibumi, Time and Australian Maid.
The regatta is sponsored by Smart Infinity and backed by Standard Insurance and Philippine Airlines. Other supporters of the event are Absolute Distilled Water, Tanduay Rhum, Volvo, Manila Bulletin, Ralph’s Wine and Spirits and RJ 100 FM, the official radio station.
The other local entries include Irresistible, Bewitched, Sandoway, Jo de Ros, Salina, Rapparee II, Lethal Weapon, Windseeker, Time, Selina, Rags, Vivaldi and Challenge.
"Last year, there were only a few foreign competitors. Now that there’s a lot of them, it will surely be a very close fight," said Standard Insurance Centennial helmsman Allan Balladares, who helped power the Filipino boat to an eighth-place finish in the CSR.
Shashtoosh took the top honors the IRC Premier Cruising Class of the CSR, beating Tui Tai with a time of 72:40.23. Moxie prevailed over Bewitched in the HKPN side.
Blue Juice was ahead of Jaywalker with a corrected time of 92:49.41, enabling it to bag the HKPN overall championship.