Caribbean 600

Now in its sixth year, the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s annual Caribbean 600 has become one of the darlings of the North Atlantic’s ocean racing calendar. With a course that beats, reaches and runs its way through eleven islands and a fleet that includes a who’s who of AC, VOR and Olympic talent, winning is no easy task. Beginning in typically beautiful tradewind Caribbean sailing conditions off Antigua, the 60 starting yachts raced upwind to Green Island before cracking sheets and reaching towards the island of Barbuda at warp speed. Pre-race line honors favorites Bella Mente, Rambler 90 and Shockwave wasted no time in locking into a three-way battle at the pointy end of the fleet. Reaching at 20 knots, the leaders rounded Nevis and peeled into spinnakers for the run north to St. Barth and St. Martin

Sailing upwind and close reaching south toward the French island of Guadeloupe, the fleet encountered one of the biggest tactical decisions of the race; how close to sail to Guadeloupe. The wind shadow to the west of one of the Caribbean’s largest and tallest islands can be all-enveloping, spelling out lost miles for any yacht that finds itself trapped in the shadow. Despite the tactical challenge, the three leaders stayed glued together before emerging from the shadow and drag racing north toward a hair-raising late-night reach-to-reach gybe at Barbuda before rounding a mark and beating toward the finish.

When the dust settled, Hap Fauth’s JV 72 Bella Mente stole a thrilling line honors victory from her Reichel-Pugh designed rivals, including George David’s 18-ft longer Rambler 90 and George Sakellaris’ 72-ft Shockwave, with the three boats finishing within half an hour of one another. After leading early, Ron O’Hanley’s Cookson 50 Privateer has slipped to third overall, while Johnny Vincent’s British TP52 Pace is in a race against the clock to finish quickly enough to correct out over Shockwave for the win. Matt Brooks’ Bay Area-based S&S 52 Dorade is deep in the fleet, currently ranked 39th.