With a start planned for February 21 in Antigua, the famed 600-mile Caribbean race is back. The course circumnavigates 11 Caribbean islands starting from English Harbour, Antigua, and heading north to St Maarten and south to Guadeloupe, passing Barbuda, Nevis, St Kitts, Saba and St Barth’s along the way. Early registration has started, and a dozen countries are slated to be represented within this year’s fleet.
Among multihulls are race record-holder Maserati Multi70 skippered by Giovanni Soldini and 2020 Line Honors winner Peter Cunningham on MOD70 PowerPlay. Additionally, Antoine Rabaste and Jacek Siwek will bring the largest multihull in the fleet, the French-flagged 80ft Maxi Multi Ultim’Emotion 2.
For the monohulls, the 100ft Supermaxi Comanche skippered by Australian Mitch Booth is expected to be at the front of the pack and has a good shot at the Monohull record of 37 hours and 41 minutes. Their biggest competition at this point looks to be the boat that set the original record, the Farr 100 Leopard 3, which is under new ownership.
Tilmar Hansen’s German TP52 Outsider, David Collins’ British Botin IRC 52 Tala, American Christopher Sheehan’s Pac52 Warrior One and two new designs—IRC 56 Black Pearl and Infiniti 52 Zeus—comprise the IRC-Zero class, one of which will likely score an overall win.
For more on the RORC Caribbean 600, visit caribbean600.rorc.org.
October 2021
