Hong Kong

South China Sea. The RHKYC tradition since 1849 — a KEELRUN-led fleet with AEROSTREAM second, AEROCORE and AEROFORCE tied behind, and a leading Farr-designed share, racing from Victoria Harbour to Sydney Hobart.

Kinship

Every fleet has a fingerprint.

From the Solent’s tide-lines to the Aegean Meltemia — find your waters.

 Hidden Shape

The hidden shape of the fleet.
The kinds of boat that keep appearing when every hull is measured the same way.

How every Hong Kong boat clusters, before the results arrive.
Kinship

KEELRUN leads the Hong Kong fleet at 28.2% — AEROSTREAM second, AEROCORE and AEROFORCE tied behind.

Hong Kong's 71-boat fleet is KEELRUN-led: 28.2% of the fleet (20 boats), with AEROSTREAM second at 18.3% (13 boats) and AEROCORE and AEROFORCE exactly tied at 14.1% (10 boats each) — a structural fingerprint that sets a compact sportboat core ahead of towering grand-prix platforms and large cruiser-racer hulls across the South China Sea's full monsoon-to-shoulder-season pressure range. Farr Design anchors the largest designer share at 16.9%.

71
boats
8
archetypes
9
intl events
16.9%
share of the cohort by the leading designer
National fleet view · as of 2026-08-20

ORC Authority: RHKYC · HKSF

The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club has governed competitive sailing in these waters since 1849 — the oldest yacht club in Asia, and the organizing authority behind the Rolex China Sea Race (Hong Kong to Subic Bay, roughly 560 nautical miles across the South China Sea), the Around the Island Race, and the RHKYC Autumn Regatta series. Alongside HKSF-sanctioned coastal racing, the RHKYC produces crews experienced in tropical offshore conditions: monsoon winds, heavy seas, and the challenging currents of the Luzon Strait.

The Hong Kong fleet is KEELRUN-led: 28.2% of the fleet (20 boats), with AEROSTREAM at 18.3% (13 boats) and AEROCORE and AEROFORCE exactly tied at 14.1% (10 boats each). KEELRUN is the compact, upright, neutral-reserve tier and the country's one-design engine — the nine-strong Magic 25 fleet, the largest single-class cluster in the country, and the five-boat Cape 31 block both classify here, fourteen of its twenty boats — giving RHKYC inshore and coastal racing its sportboat core. AEROSTREAM is the towering, stiff-reserve grand-prix platform — the Ker, TP-52 and Neo-430 tier that heads the RHKYC inventory and turns breeze into upwind gauge through South China Sea monsoon pressure shifts. AEROCORE and AEROFORCE split the next step with no rank between them: AEROCORE is the large, upright cruiser-racer platform tier — Solaris, Salona and Grand Soleil hulls alongside the Farr- and Mumm-drawn racer lines — and AEROFORCE is the large cruiser-racer tier that local lore trusts to hold its gauge upwind (a reputation the banked race evidence does not yet corroborate) — First 40 and First 45 hulls alongside the Swan 53 and Swan 56. Behind them, LEANRUN at 11.3% (8 boats) carries the upright large-platform tier built on the Beneteau First lines — its four-strong First 36.7 cluster classifies LEANRUN to the boat. Farr Design anchors the largest designer share at 16.9% (12 boats), with the Magic 25 cluster (9 boats) and the Cape 31 cluster (5 boats) carrying the largest single-class concentrations.

The 2026 Hong Kong forward path runs the RHKYC domestic circuit — Around the Island Race, the Autumn Regatta series, South Coast offshore — alongside the international campaigns the fleet has proven across Fastnet, Sydney Hobart, and the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. The Rolex China Sea Race is biennial; 2026's calendar for the fleet's grand-prix layer depends on the specific edition year, with RHKYC domestic racing carrying the macro fleet through the season regardless.

National fleet view · 71 boats · as of 2026-08-20

At a glance

Hong Kong — structural profile.

Scope
71 boats
35 ORC-rated · 36 mapped-IRC
Top 3 archetypes
  1. KEELRUN — 20 boats (28.2%)
  2. AEROSTREAM — 13 boats (18.3%)
  3. AEROCORE — 10 boats (14.1%)
Eight canonical performance archetypes cluster the fleet by dimensional signature. See the full map →
Top designer cluster
Farr Design
12 boats (16.9%) — the most-represented design voice in this fleet.

Counts and archetype assignments above are measured from the current corpus. Commentary below is interpretive.

National fleet view · as of 2026-08-20
Hidden Shape

The shape of the Hong Kong fleet.

35 ORC-rated and 36 mapped IRC entries — spanning all eight archetypes. Here's how they cluster, and what the collective signature reveals about South China Sea offshore and international destination racing.

The Hong Kong ORC Fleet Signature

Hong Kong's fleet is a sportboat-cored South China Sea collective with a leading share of Farr-designed boats, racing from Victoria Harbour to Subic Bay. KEELRUN leads outright at 28.2% (20 boats) — the compact, upright tier with a neutral righting reserve, and the country's one-design engine: the nine-strong Magic 25 fleet and the five-boat Cape 31 block both land here, fourteen of its twenty boats. AEROSTREAM follows at 18.3% (13 boats) — towering, stiff-reserve grand-prix platforms, the Ker, TP-52 and Neo-430 tier at the head of the RHKYC inventory. AEROCORE and AEROFORCE sit exactly tied at 14.1% (10 boats each), no rank between them — AEROCORE the large, upright cruiser-racer platform tier, AEROFORCE the large cruiser-racer tier that local lore trusts to hold its gauge upwind (a reputation the banked race evidence does not yet corroborate) — and LEANRUN follows at 11.3% (8 boats) on the Beneteau First lines; in a cohort of 71 a single boat's move is enough to reorder these middle steps, so the gaps read as adjacency rather than separation. KEELRUN and AEROSTREAM occupy the top two steps; together they hold 46.5% of the fleet. The Farr-designed share is the largest single design block at 16.9% (12 boats), running through the Beneteau First production line; all eight archetypes are represented in these waters.

  • KEELRUN 28.2% · 20 boats
  • AEROSTREAM 18.3% · 13 boats
  • AEROCORE 14.1% · 10 boats
  • AEROFORCE 14.1% · 10 boats

Dimension emphasis: Hull Efficiency · Comparative Time

Farr Design anchors the largest designer share at 16.9% (12 boats) — a single-designer concentration that runs through the Beneteau First production line and the Hong Kong offshore backbone — while the nine-strong Magic 25 one-design fleet and the five-boat Cape 31 block give KEELRUN's top step its sportboat core. KEELRUN and AEROSTREAM together hold 46.5% of the 71-boat fleet, with AEROCORE and AEROFORCE tied at the next step — a fleet shape that reads the South China Sea's full pressure range without picking a single condition band — and the fleet runs RHKYC domestic first in 2026 (Around the Island Race, the Autumn Regatta series, South Coast offshore) with the Fastnet, Sydney Hobart, and Mediterranean maxi destination calendar behind.

Complete data Latest published view

KEELRUN

Compact scale · upright posture · neutral reserve — reaching-neutral in banked race evidence.

moderate upwind · strong reaching · moderate downwind

Boats 20
Share 28.2%
  • First 31.7
  • J-105
  • Sunfast 3200

AEROSTREAM

Towering scale · level posture · stiff reserve — measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence.

strong upwind · weak reaching · strong downwind

Boats 13
Share 18.3%
  • TP-52
  • XP-44
  • Farr 40

HEFTLINE

Compact scale · level posture · stiff reserve — reaching-neutral in banked race evidence.

moderate upwind · moderate reaching · moderate downwind

Boats 3
Share 4.2%
  • J-111
  • Farr 30
  • Cape 31

LEANRUN

Large scale · upright posture — downwind-neutral in banked race evidence.

neutral upwind · neutral reaching · neutral downwind

Boats 8
Share 11.3%
  • First 36.7
  • J-109
  • First 35

AEROCORE

Large scale · upright posture · tender reserve — measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence.

neutral upwind · neutral reaching · neutral downwind

Boats 10
Share 14.1%
  • First 36
  • Bavaria CR 46
  • J-120

AEROFORCE

Large scale · level posture · neutral reserve — reaching-constrained in banked race evidence.

neutral upwind · weak reaching · neutral downwind

Boats 10
Share 14.1%
  • First 40.7
  • X-43
  • Grand Soleil 40

SPARKFLEX

Minimal scale · upright posture · tender reserve — downwind-constrained in banked race evidence.

weak upwind · moderate reaching · weak downwind

Boats 3
Share 4.2%
  • J-80 OD
  • J-24
  • J-70 ONE DESIGN

LEANFORCE

Compact scale — downwind-neutral in banked race evidence.

weak upwind · neutral reaching · weak downwind

Boats 4
Share 5.6%
  • Elan 333
  • Miura
  • Dufour 30 Classic

National fleet view · 71 boats · as of 2026-08-20

What we saw

A 71-boat fleet, a KEELRUN-led shape, an international footprint one boat wide.

Hong Kong's 71-boat fleet is KEELRUN-led — 28.2% of the fleet, with AEROSTREAM at 18.3% and AEROCORE and AEROFORCE exactly tied at 14.1% apiece — a shape that reads the South China Sea's full pressure range. Farr Design anchors the largest designer share at 16.9%. The international footprint runs across eight events — Rolex Fastnet Race 2025, Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2025, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2024, GL52 Ugotta Regatta 2025, the 116th Chicago to Mackinac Race 2025, Charleston Race Week 2026 at Patriots Point, and the 2026 Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series stops in St Petersburg and Chicago — and five boats carry all of it, one entry at each event. Three insights from the structural signature and the dispersion pattern.

Pre-race window · Archetype-Conditions

A KEELRUN-led fleet meets the South China Sea's full pressure range.

The 2026 Hong Kong season runs the RHKYC domestic circuit — Around the Island Race, the Autumn Regatta series, the South Coast offshore calendar — with international destination campaigns continuing to carry Hong Kong boats to Rolex Fastnet, Rolex Sydney Hobart, and the Mediterranean maxi circuit. South China Sea monsoon conditions deliver variable pressure across the year: winter northeast monsoon bringing steady offshore breeze, summer southwest monsoon bringing lighter variable patches, and the transition seasons bringing the tactical reading that separates local crews from visitors. The KEELRUN-led shape — 28.2% of the fleet ahead of AEROSTREAM at 18.3%, with AEROCORE and AEROFORCE tied at 14.1% apiece — is the structural signature of a fleet that races this full pressure range rather than optimizing for a single condition band: KEELRUN carries the compact Magic 25 and Cape 31 sportboat core through the inshore and coastal calendar, AEROSTREAM brings towering, stiff-reserve grand-prix platforms into the winter monsoon's steady offshore breeze, and the tied AEROCORE and AEROFORCE cruiser-racer tiers go offshore to Subic Bay. Pre-race speculation — actual conditions and crew execution will arbitrate.

  • Fleet lead: KEELRUN 28.2% · AEROSTREAM 18.3% · AEROCORE + AEROFORCE 14.1% each
Pre-race context Weather & design profile (historical)
Nationality/Class/Designer Cluster

Farr Design leads the designer board, the Murray-designed Magic 25 fleet behind — the Hong Kong drawing-board signature.

Farr Design anchors the Hong Kong fleet with the largest designer share at 16.9% (12 boats), and the Murray-designed Magic 25 one-design fleet (12.7%) is the most visible single-design block behind — the concentration that sits on top of the KEELRUN-led structural fingerprint. The Farr-designed share runs through the Beneteau First production line — the First 36.7 cluster (4 boats) is the largest Beneteau class block in the country, and all four classify LEANRUN — alongside the offshore racer lines that have moved into the RHKYC inventory across the past decade. Murray's Magic 25 sportboats are the country's largest one-design block, nine strong, and every one of them lands in KEELRUN — where the five Mills-drawn Cape 31s land too, the two blocks together making fourteen of that archetype's twenty boats: the leading archetype seen through the one-design lens. Mills Design follows on the board at 8.5% (6 boats). The remaining designer board is a long tail (Judel-Vrolijk, Briand, Ker, Johnstone, Frers) where no single line crosses the supportive band. When the Hong Kong fleet writes its racing rhythm, it does so on Farr hulls built in Beneteau molds, with the Murray-Magic 25 line as the most visible single-design block behind.

  • Farr-designed share: 16.9% · largest designer share
  • Magic 25 one-design fleet: 12.7% · Murray design
Complete data Designer & class mix
Fleet vs Race Composition Shift

Eight international events, every entry a singleton.

Hong Kong's eight-event international footprint spans Rolex Fastnet, Rolex Sydney Hobart, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, GL52 Ugotta Regatta, the Chicago to Mackinac Race, Charleston Race Week, and the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series stops in St Petersburg and Chicago — and every one of those entries is a single Hong Kong boat. Five boats carry the whole footprint between them. Unlike the concentrated national fleets that travel as units (Norway's 40-boat squadron at the ORC Double Handed World Championship 2024), Hong Kong's international footprint is structurally dispersed: one boat on the Solent, one to Hobart, one at Porto Cervo, one in Charleston, one in St Petersburg. The macro fleet's KEELRUN-led character (28.2% of the fleet, with AEROSTREAM at 18.3% and the largest designer share Farr-designed) carries across the RHKYC domestic circuit, while the international tier splits the fleet's ambition across eight separate events rather than consolidating at one. Hong Kong's race signature is dispersion over depth, a Pacific fleet with a global reach one boat wide.

  • International events: 8 · max per event a single boat
Complete data FleetEdge Event footprint
Headlines

The newest evidenced line in the Hong Kong archive: Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2025.

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2025, started 26 December 2025, is the most recent evidenced event in the published FleetEdge archive for Hong Kong. The RHKYC domestic circuit in the stories above remains the fleet's home calendar; a newer event in the archive awaits its published analysis here.

Continue

Go deeper.

Fleet Overview

The global offshore racing landscape and how Hong Kong's KEELRUN-led fleet fits within it.

Platform Scale

How FleetEdge measures racing across geographies and fleet types — every fleet's hidden shape.

Join the world's offshore racing teams.

Historical weather meets hull physics — every fleet, every leg.

See Hong Kong Racing — ORC World Fleet See Fleet Overview