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Record breaking Caribbean 600 win
BY ADMIN • MARCH 26, 2018 • BREAKING NEWS, HOMEMOSAIC, RACING • COMMENTS (0) • 60
Credit: © Tim Wright 2018/RORC
This season has proven to be one of the windiest Caribbean winters for many years. The 10th edition of this now classic 600-mile race around a string of iconic islands therefore proved to be the toughest yet. Competitors had to contend with mean wind speeds of 25-30 knots with frequent squalls, some of which brought gusts of well of 40 knots, along with four to five metre seas.
Credit: © Tim Wright 2018/RORC
The record fleet of 84 yachts set off from Antigua on February 19, but casualties started to mount within the first 12 hours. High profile retirements included Ludde Ingvall’s 100ft supermaxi CQS, which suffered a technical breakdown. More seriously, Greg Slyngstad’s Bieker 53 catamaran, Fujin, capsized off Saba Rock. Fortunately, all eight crew were able to clamber onto the up-turned hull and two nearby competitors, Stephen Cucchiaro’s Gunboat 60 Flow and Jens Kellinhusen’s Ker 56 Varuna, stood by until rescue agencies were able to recover the crew safely.
Credit: © Tim Wright 2018/RORC
Less than half the fleet was able to complete the race, although two of the smallest boats were successful – Shaun Carroll’s diminutive semi-foiling modified Sea Cart 30 trimaran Morticia, and Conor Fogerty’s Sun Fast 3600 Bam. The latter is no stranger to heavy weather, having won the stormy 2017 OSTAR single-handed trans-Atlantic race on corrected time. He returned to Antigua at the end of the Caribbean 600 victorious in IRC Class 3 and in second place in CSA Class 2.
Credit: © Tim Wright 2018/RORC
George David’s giant Rambler 88 screeched round the course in just 37 hours 41 minutes and 45 seconds, at an average speed of almost 16 knots. It was a stunning performance that earned him a hat trick of trophies – monohull line honours, first in IRC Class 0, and the best corrected time under the IRC rating rule. He also broke the race record, which he set himself six years earlier in his previous boat, Rambler 100.
“We sailed a good race and didn’t leave much out there,” David said. “Nobody got hurt and we didn’t break anything. I think it might come down to evolution in design. Six years ago, the conditions were similar, yet we are two and a half hours ahead of a 100ft boat. We made some modifications over the winter to Rambler 88. We draw 7 metres now and… it’s lighter and livelier and gets up and goes quicker; boats just go faster.”