At the finish, Hualien City government will provide a special docking area, overnight guards for the boats and facilitate customs and immigration. The city will also host the awards ceremony on May 1.
More marinas
Shikina said the special accommodations provided by Hualien were important to making the event possible.
"Lots of people want to sail to Taiwan, but because Taiwan doesn't have many facilities for yachts, many people don't feel comfortable docking their vessels in Taiwanese ports. If Taiwan had more marinas, more people would go," he said.
At the other end, Yonaguni's municipal government became the race's major financial sponsor two years ago when it took over the Japan end in an effort to develop closer relations with Taiwan through its "sister" relationship with Hualien.
"The idea is to develop the relationship between Yonaguni and Taiwan, because they're actually already so close together," Shikina said.
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