Louay Habib Caribbean blog: Land of the Giants
by Louay Habib 6 Mar 2014 13:18 GMT
6 March 2014
Last year, only the Rolex Fastnet Race had a more competitive IRC Class than the RORC Caribbean 600, testament to how a new offshore race, just in its sixth year, has grown in stature and prestige. I could come out with all the flowery adjectives but the facts speak for themselves.
The central Caribbean is one of the best places to sail in the world. Speaking to pros that have sailed all over the world, only the Costa Smeralda and Hawaii can compare and neither run a similar event to the '600. The course offers breeze both day and night, significant sea state and warm conditions, at a time of year when most other sailing venues are in the grip of bad weather.
The course is very unusual in that it has many twists and turns and wind angles, every leg requires anticipation from tacticians and numerous sail changes from the crew. The 182' Schooner, Adela performed over 50 sail changes during the race, the 31 crew have a celebratory lunch after the race, where a bottle of Minuty is provided per sail change!
The RORC Caribbean 600 attracts a very wide variety of yachts and sailors because it really is a course for yachties to dream about: Amazing weather, fast and exciting conditions and stunning views of 11 Caribbean islands. Even people that live out here and sail all the time don't see that many islands in one go, it's a magical tour of the central Caribbean.
However, being honest, the RORC Caribbean 600 is a big boat race for the overall win and for one particular reason – The wind shadow at Guadeloupe. Looking back over the winners of the last six races, the smallest yacht to win overall is a canting keel Cookson 50 (twice). The canting keelers love the course because there is plenty of reaching and the need for maximum righting moment. The smaller yachts tend to arrive at Guadeloupe at night, where there is no sea breeze but still the wind shadow, which is a big disadvantage compared to the larger faster yachts, which tend to get there during the second day. Having said that, winning class in the '600 is extremely difficult, the standard of the competition rises each year. It is also a really tough race for the yachts in IRC Two and Three. Alex Thomson took part this year on Peter Sowery's First 40 Lancelot II, winning IRC Two. Alex admitted afterwards that was far harder than racing an IMOCA 60.
Weapon of choice for the RORC Caribbean 600 would be a Volvo 70, especially one from the last Volvo Ocean Race. However, if some turn up next year, they are in for a real battle. George David's Rambler 88, a canting keel monster will be racing in 2015. As will a number of well sailed performance Maxis that will be competing in the new RORC Transatlantic Race. A MOD 70 was very close to racing this year and the '600 would be a fantastic race course for them.
The RORC Caribbean 600 has grown incredibly in just a short period of time and next year it looks like it will feature some of the biggest racing yachts in the world.
One last word: As readers of the blog will know your scribe correctly predicted that Shockwave would win but Bella Mente was so close. Hap Fauth's team were 20 miles ahead on the last night but got under a big black cloud and grind to a halt, just after passing Barbuda, 100 miles from the finish. I am sure Bella Mente will be back next year and I wouldn't mind betting there will be a number of Mini Maxis blasting round the course.
www.caribbean600.rorc.org