FAREAST Boats (Shanghai Fareast Composites)

FAREAST occupies a position no other entry in this directory does. It competes at the small end of the sport, where the customer is a race organiser or a national federation rather than a private owner, and where the qualifying standard is class-rule compliance rather than luxury specification — and on that measure it is the most internationally recognised Chinese boatbuilder listed here.

Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Shanghai with a large production base in Jiangsu, the company was originally Shanghai Fareast FRP Boat Co. and was renamed to reflect a broader composites remit. Boats sit alongside carbon-fibre automotive components, shielded enclosures and insulated cases; the same lightweight composite capability serves Formula 1 and UAV structural parts.

Two facts define its standing. It has been the world's largest builder of Optimist-class dinghies for ten consecutive years — the Optimist being the boat almost every Olympic sailor learns on. And in 2015 the FE28R was adopted by World Sailing as an International Class, making FAREAST the only Chinese company to join the ranks of internationally recognised boat brands. In 2016 World Sailing authorised the company to establish the International FE28R Class Association, whose first president was drawn from the company — the association holds the right to host and sanction world and continental championships. Domestically, FAREAST keelboats account for more than 70% of all keelboats in China, international brands included.

The keelboat line was developed with the European design studio Simonis Voogd over five years from 2009. The FE28R is a sports keelboat exceeding 20 knots at a displacement of only 1,200 kg; the FE26 is an entry keelboat; the FE18 is 5.8 m with a carbon fibre keel and vacuum-infused construction. Manufacturing runs on semi-automated lines with production robots, five-axis and three-axis machining centres and large-format laser cutting. The company holds 3 invention patents, 11 design patents, 17 utility model patents and 18 software copyrights, and has served more than 100 international and national events.

The founder is a composites specialist of more than thirty years, a three-time world champion in model sailing, a former researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Sports Science and a former technical advisor to the national and Shanghai sailing teams.