Round the Island

Hong Kong’s largest sailing eventtook place on Saturday, the 13th of December 2025, with 230 boats taking on the iconic 26-nautical-mile circumnavigation of Hong Kong Island. Named the Sun Hung Kai & Co Around the Island Race, this epic challenge showcased the city’s vibrant sailing scene against a backdrop of glittering skyscrapers and rolling green hills— a truly unique way to experience Hong Kong’s stunning coastline.

This year’s fleet was as diverse as ever, featuring seven one-design classes, high-performance sportsboats, catamarans, cruising yachts, and even the beautifully restored wooden classic,So Fong, built in 1937 at A. King Shipyard in 1937. The race offered a breathtaking panorama of sails sweeping across Victoria Harbour and beyond.

Adding to the excitement, the event attracted world-class talent, including Olympians Nicolas Halliday and Stephanie Norton racing on the VX One,F.A.B., and Paris Olympians Ma Kwan Ching and Cheng Ching Yin competing in the iQFOiL division, delivering high-speed foiling thrills to this legendary race.

An ‘international’ flavour was evident with 12 Mainland boats joining the fleet and seasoned sailors flying in from around the globe — further cementing Hong Kong’s reputation as Asia’s premier yacht racing hub.

Race officer David Norton set two start lines off the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s Kellett Island clubhouse, with the closest line used for starting one-design boats and the outside line for PHS, IRC and the beach cat divisions. The first start sounded at 0830 for the Pandoras and PHS Monohulls in a fluctuating easterly breeze of 5 to 13knots. The final start featured the fast fleet, including three TP52s and the Reichel Pugh 75,Jelik, at 1100.

The fleet ranged from the largest yacht— Frank Pong’s Jelik, to the smallest—12 iQFOiL windsurfers, adding a spectacular foiling dimension to the race. Conditions were highly variable, with patchy easterly winds between 3 and 14knots around the course.

Although a cold front was forecast to bring a fresh northerly breeze of up to 20knots, sailors dressed for brisk conditions were instead met with softening easterlies after the start, resulting in challenging, inconsistent winds and tactical challenges.

The fleet worked its way up the starboard side of Hong Kong Harbour, navigating exclusion zones and busy marine traffic before squeezing through the Lei Yue Mun Gap, where the first major park-up occurred as boats compressed in the narrow channel.

Downwind toward Shek O, competitors finally found the fresh air they had been waiting for—a spectacular sight with hundreds of colourful spinnakers lining the horizon. After rounding Cape d’Aguilar, the breeze built slightly, although tricky ‘holes’ persisted off Ap Lei Chau and Cyberport, demanding constant sail adjustments.By around 1400, a steady northerly filled in, propelling most of the fleet back toward the harbour to complete the full course.

At the end, Noel Chan’s TP52,Rampage 88, finished four minutes behind Jelik, taking the ATI overall win for the fourth year in a row. Another TP52, Happy Go, took 2ndplace overall, and Jelik took 3rdoverall.

In the PHS division, Chris Mang’s Valuable was the overall winner, Kevin Kwan’s Dolphin Six took 2nd and Sarah took 3rd.

Norton added: “It’s great to see the windsurfers back again, and I think it was a really good day. We have the first embodiment of yacht tourism and Greater Bay Area co-operation by having the Around the Island Race combined with the China Cup, and visiting boats benefitting from new facilities supported by the government and the Playground Association to moor some boats for our event. That’s wonderful.”