Six Irish sailors are listed for the 16th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600 starting from Antigua on Monday, 24th February, with 68 boats (as of 29 January) ranging in size from 10.34m to 30.47m and competitors aged 17-80+ from 31 countries, from Australia to Kazakhstan, France to Canada and the UK to the USA.
Royal Corks Harry Durcan and the National Yacht Club's Will Byrne are on board Russell Whitworth's American TP52 Final Final. Irish crew David Jackson and Garrett Kinnane are on Peter Dunlop and Victoria Cox's ISORA J122 Mojito from North Wales. Dublin Fastnet Race winner Cian Guilfoyle and Wicklow's Simon Johnson are back on board the American Volvo 70 Tschüss 2 co-skippered by Dublin ex-pat Johnny Mordaunt.
Royal Corks Harry Durcan and the National Yacht Club's Will Byrne are on board Russell Whitworth's American TP52 Final Final for the RORC Caribbean 600 starting from Antigua on Monday, 24th February Photo: Tim Wright
The impressive fleet will line up for this classic 600-miler, competing for class wins and the overall prize - the magnificent RORC Caribbean 600 Trophy, awarded for best corrected time under IRC.
Prior to this, the stand-alone RORC Nelson's Cup Series will see several competitors 'warming-up' ahead of the main event, with two days of inshore racing, a new Maxi race day on Thursday, 20th, and the Antigua 360 race round the island on Friday 21st.
Twelve boats will be fresh from their 3,000NM RORC Transatlantic Race, including Christian Zugel’s Tschüss 2 (USA), the overall winner that had some significant Irish input.
Several past winners, veterans of the race, newcomers, corinthian sailors, plus some of the world's best ocean racers, all competing in the same challenging race around 11 Caribbean islands, starting and finishing in Antigua.
