Neil Pryde's Hi Fi (HKG) held off several strong challenges from two TP52s for the IRC Overall win in the 2010 Rolex China Sea Race having already clinched the Line Honours win.
Hi Fi, which also took IRC Racing A division, held off rival Ray Roberts’ Evolution Racing by less than two hours. Roberts said that Evolution ‘parked up’ two times on the first night and lost about 12 miles to Hi Fi. For the rest of the way down the track the boats would close up and then spread apart again. Several hours behind Evolution, and keeping the pressure on all the way, was Geoff Hill’s Strewth (AUS), which was third overall.Pryde was presented with a Rolex Yacht-Master timepiece for his IRC Overall win, which he generously handed over to Hi Fi crew member Kevin Costin (Kos), who has managed Pryde’s racing programme for the past 13 years.
Kos prepared Hi Fi for the Rolex China Sea Race in 2008, but had to return to Australia for a prior racing commitment – and Hi Fi went on to win Line Honours. So this time Pryde said if they won again, he’d give Kos the watch. Kos said, “It was his threat, the whole race he had a photo of Hi Fi crossing the finish line from last time in the cockpit.”