O'Hanley Wins Caribbean 600

21st February 2013

Afloat.ie Team

#caribbean600 – Ron O'Hanley's Cookson 50 Privateer has clinched the overall IRC win in the RORC Caribbean 600 after a wellnigh perfect race which saw the Newport, Rhode Island boat and crew sweep into the finish at Antigua to topple the much-fancied JV 72 Belle Mente (Hap Fauth) from the winning slot by just over 22 minutes on corrected time writes W M Nixon.

In one of the toughest Caribbean 600s yet sailed, this is the second time a Cookson 50 has won overall – the inaugural race in 2009 had Privateer's Irish sister-ship Lee Overlay Partners (Adrian Lee) taking the title. The continuing list of successes confirms the Farr-designed canting keel boats built by Mike Cookson of New Zealand as a modern classic – Adrian Lee's boat, then known as Ger O'Rourke's Chieftain, was overall winner of the 2007 Fastnet, and the marque has had many other successes since it first hit the water in 2004.

The Irish contingent has had mixed fortunes in this year's race, but two of the bigger boats – the hundred foot Cape Arrow (IRL 1416) owned by Tuskar Shipping, and the Briand 76 Lilla (IRL 7600) owned by Kinsale YC members Simon and Nancy de Pietro, are finished and well placed, with Cape Arrow at 12th overall while Lilla is better again, 8th overall and currently lying first in IRC 1. We'll have a full report and analysis in the Sailing on Saturday blog.

Published in Caribbean 600

Caribbean 600 Race Live Tracker 2026

Track the progress of the 2026 Caribbean 600 Race fleet on the live tracker above

The 17th edition of the 600-mile race organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club starts on Monday, February 23rd from Antigua.

Published in Caribbean 600

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THE RORC:

Established in 1925, The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) became famous for the biennial Fastnet Race and the international team event, the Admiral's Cup. It organises an annual series of domestic offshore races from its base in Cowes as well as inshore regattas including the RORC Easter Challenge and the IRC European Championship (includes the Commodores' Cup) in the Solent
The RORC works with other yacht clubs to promote their offshore races and provides marketing and organisational support. The RORC Caribbean 600, based in Antigua and the first offshore race in the Caribbean, has been an instant success. The 10th edition took place in February 2018. The RORC extended its organisational expertise by creating the RORC Transatlantic Race from Lanzarote to Grenada, the first of which was in November 2014
The club is based in St James' Place, London, but after a merger with The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club in Cowes now boasts a superb clubhouse facility at the entrance to Cowes Harbour and a membership of over 4,000

At A Glance – RORC

RORC Race Enquiries:

Royal Ocean Racing Club T: +44 (0) 1983 295144 E: [email protected] W: http://www.rorc.org/

Royal Ocean Racing Club:

20 St James's Place, London SW1A 1NN, Tel: 020 7493 2248 E: [email protected]

2026 RORC Key dates

Key RORC 2026 dates extracted from the programme:

January–February 2026
• 11 January – RORC Transatlantic Race (Lanzarote to Antigua)
• February (dates vary) – Nelson’s Cup, Antigua
• 23 February – RORC Caribbean 600

May 2026
• 2 May – Cervantes Trophy Race (Cowes to Le Havre)
• 15 May – North Sea Race
• 22–25 May – IRC European Championships, International Poole Regatta
• 23 May – Myth of Malham Race
• 30 May – De Guingand Bowl Race

June 2026
• 12 June – Morgan Cup (Cowes to Dartmouth)
• 20 June – Round Ireland Race (Wicklow)

July 2026
• 3 July – Cowes–Dinard–Saint Malo Race
• 25 July – Channel Race

August 2026
• 8 August – Baltic Sea Race (Helsinki)
• 9 August – Round Britain and Ireland Race (Cowes)
• 26–29 August – IRC National Championship (Dartmouth)

September 2026
• 4 September – Cherbourg Race

October 2026
• 17 October – Rolex Middle Sea Race (counts towards 2027 championship)