Jiang Lin will be at the start of the Sydney Hobart 2025 again this year. Still aboard her JPK 1030 Min River, she will be joined by a top-class co-skipper in the form of Alexis Loison, two-time winner of the 2025 Solitaire du Figaro and Fastnet Overall...
The story of Jiang, our Australian friend and customer of Chinese origin, began well before the spring of 2023, when she arrived at the JPK shipyard 12 months earlier to meet us and order her future JPK 1030.
We were immediately impressed by her audacity (it takes a lot to cross the planet to discover a shipyard at the other end of the world!) and her determination. After several seasons sailing her X43 with a crew, she decided to embark on a new and more challenging adventure: double-handed offshore racing. After our victory in the 2019 Fastnet Race with Alexis Loison, Jiang identified the JPK 1030 as the ‘right’ boat for performance.
In March 2023, Jiang finally arrived in Larmor-Plage to take delivery of her boat and start sailing. We helped her find a skilled crew member to quickly get to grips with the boat and perform as soon as possible, because Jiang loves competition and sets herself ambitious goals. JPK Cup, Armen Race, Fastnet: Jiang is well settled here in Brittany and has found a highly talented co-skipper in Aymeric Belloir.
Unlucky in the 2023 Fastnet due to equipment failure, their goal is now the Sydney Hobart. The boat is prepared and loaded for transport to Sydney and arrives in good time to finalise preparations. On Christmas Eve, the race starts... and goes well, but ends with an approach to Hobart in stormy weather with 45 knots of headwind and heavy seas! The crew holds on, as does the boat, and the results are there: 2nd in IRC 2 and 3rd in IRC double... it's truly magnificent.
Jiang did it again in 2024 with a superb season that earned her the title of ‘Female Ocean Racer of the Year’ in her country, and finished just off the podium in the 2024 Sydney Hobart with another French crew member: François Guiffant.
This year, for her third double-handed participation in the famous Sydney Hobart, Jiang invited the famous Alexis Loison aboard Min River to try to take the prize... Tough and resilient, Jiang compensates for her small stature with a strong mind and is looking forward to learning from Alex's expertise to improve her skills.
Go Min River, we're all behind you!
— JP
