Thursday 23 February, Antigua
ROYAL OCEAN RACING CLUB
20 ST JAMES'S PLACE, LONDON SW1A 1NN
DAY 4 - Looks like Rán
By Louay Habib
At noon on the fourth day of the RORC Caribbean 600, Niklas Zennström's JV72, Rán
look to have clinched the overall win and will lift the sterling silver RORC Caribbean
600 Trophy at tomorrow night's Prizegiving ceremony. This morning Scarlet Logic,
co-skippered by Ross Applebey and Tim Thubron, was the only yacht which posed any
sort of threat, but realistically the Oyster 48 will not cover the last 70 miles
of the course by 17:40 local time today.
Niklas Zennström's JV72, Rán
All of the yachts racing in IRC Zero are now accounted for. Rán are the class winners
with George David's RP90, Rambler,in second place. Swan 80 Selene,skippered by Benjamin
Davitt, finished the race this morning to secure third place in class and possibly
lay claim to the Swan Caribbean Challenge Trophy.
By noon, none of the yachts racing in IRC One had finished. Colin Buffin's Swan
62, Uxorious IV is expected to finish the race in a few hours and looks like the
strongest contender to win the class after time correction. Amanda Hartley's Swan
56, Clem is currently correcting out as the leader, but the beat back from Redonda
to the finish may see them fall behind Uxorious IV. Jaime Torres' First 40, Smile
and Wave rounded the North Sails mark at Barbuda shortly after noon today and are
currently lying third in class.
Oyster 48, Scarlet Logic, have put in a sensational performance and look almost
certain to win their class. The racing school Sailing Logic chartered the yacht
from Ross Applebey which is co-skippered by the highly experienced Tim Thubron.
It is unlikely they know exactly how close they have come to winning the ultimate
prize. However, if Scarlet Logic continue their fine form, the team could well be
a contender for the prize of a week of luxurious accommodation, generously donated
by race sponsor, The Inn at English Harbour, Antigua. Christian Reynolds' Swan 51
Northern Child sailed by Team Merkle are currently second after time correction
with Bernie Evan-Wong's Mumm 36, High Tension in third place.
Scarlet Logic, Oyster 48 Credit: Tim Wright/Photoaction.com
There is a fantastic battle in the Class40 Division on the water between Christophe
Coatnoan's Partouche and Christof Petter's Vaquita. However Vaquita will be receiving
a penalty after the finish for not starting the race correctly. Both yachts are
neck and neck heading for the solitary island of Redonda. Partouche skipper Coatnoan
is sailing two-handed with fellow countryman Eric Calmard. Vaquita is fully crewed
with six on board. The run to Redonda may well have favoured Partouche as with just
two on board, the French yacht will have been significantly lighter than their rivals.
However for the 40-mile beat to finish Vaquita will be able to stack the rail and
have six crew hiking out, which will surely be an advantage.
The RORC Caribbean 600 attracts a wide variety of people from all over the world
to the sparkling conditions in the warm breezy central Caribbean. In January, Brian
Thompson became one of Britain's most famous sailors, winning the Jules Verne Trophy
aboard Banque Populaire V, skippered by Loick Peyron. Brian and his French team
mates did a lap of the planet in an astonishing 45 days. Brian is racing Ondeck's
Spirit of Juno for the RORC Caribbean 600 and sent this message from the Farr 65:
"I remember passing by Antigua during the Jules Verne attempt and thinking how nice
it would be to come and compete in the RORC Caribbean 600. Ondeck very kindly invited
me out and here I am! All going well on board Spirit of Juno, really enjoying this
great RORC race as we weave our way through the green Caribbean islands. Though
this is an all-amateur team, we have had to work hard. The spinnaker was up and
down like a yo-yo to get through the calms and fluky breezes. We saw a whale just
30 miles away on our approach to Guadeloupe, a great sight to go with the soaring
frigate birds off St Martin and the beautiful and varied landscapes of each island.
I am really enjoying seeing some land when sailing after virtually none in my last
trip."
"There is a great group of people on the boat, few of them had met before the start
and we are fast forming a solid team. I am so pleased to see how hard everyone worked
to press on through to the south side of Guadeloupe. Roll on Antigua." Spirit of
Juno are currently 10nm from the finish at 1400 local.
16 yachts had finished the RORC Caribbean 600 by 1200 on 23rd February 2012.
8 yachts have retired over the last couple of days:
DAY 4 - Time Travellers
By Louay Habib
Both Adela and Windrose capture the imagination of years gone by. In spectacular
surroundings the golden age of the schooners was recreated in an epic battle between
two magnificent yachts and just before dawn on the fourth day of the RORC Caribbean
600, the gentlemanly duel was settled.
The magnificent schooners Windrose of Amsterdam and Adela at the start of the RORC
Caribbean 600, off Fort Charlotte, Antigua Credit: Tim Wright/Photoaction.com
The wondrous 180ft schooner, Adela crossed the finish line to take the gun just
1 hour and 42 minutes ahead of great rival, the 154ft schooner, Windrose of Amsterdam.
The two schooners had enjoyed an intense battle around the 600-mile course with
the two yachts trading places for the lead on eight separate occasions.
Greg Perkins, skipper of Adela spoke dockside after the win:
"The RORC Caribbean 600 is a race that really suits schooners. There is lots of
reaching involved rather than upwind, so I suggested to the boss that this would
be great race to do. Unfortunately the owner could not come due to work commitments
but one of the owner's business friends came aboard as a guest and I think he thoroughly
enjoyed it and he fitted in really well and enjoyed the experience."
Adela's guest was Erik Hershman a friend and business associate of the owner: "That
was a bit different to my usual experience on Adela. When I saw all the cushions
packed away and all the creature comforts removed or covered in protective tape,
I realised that we were in for a wild ride. I could not believe how wet the boat
was and how tough it was on board. I knew I was in for a hard time when I was served
my dinner in a plastic bowl, the silver service was nowhere to be seen, but it was
such a great time. I would definitely do it again but not in cotton shorts!"
Adela skipper, Greg Perkins continued: "It was a stunning race, we had such a great
battle with Windrose, a match race of schooners over 600 miles. I think that it
is a race that will grow in the future as it is such a great romp around the Caribbean.
Adela was not designed to race, but over the years we have got into new sails and
tweaked a few things."
"The race has been very popular with the crew. I had to turn away a lot of good
people. Everybody gelled well together and there was a lot of banter on board with
plenty of laughter. All in all it was a great experience. 28 people on board all
had the time of their lives, no injuries and we only broke one snap shackle."
Alex Howard, Skipper Windrose of Amsterdam
"It was a tiring race with only 5 hours sleep and an interesting battle with Adela.
We were doing alright until we got around the back of Guadeloupe and then they got
away from us and after Desirade it was a drag race really so that's that, they got
us. It's a shame we didn't do better, but there is always a next time. We'd like
to have got Adela but that's the way it goes. Compared to the race last year it
was a bit slower due to the wind, but it was a great race and it is good to get
five big superyachts and Spirit of Tradition boats in this event for sure."
"I think it is important to recognise all of the hard work into making the RORC
Caribbean 600 such a great success, especially past RORC Commodore, Andrew McIrvine,
RORC CEO, Eddie Warden Owen and Stan Pearson. It has been a very good second year
for Windrose and we have been delighted to have so many RORC members sailing for
the second year in a row."
Andrew McIrvine, Past RORC Commodore, Windrose of Amsterdam
"I think this year was much more fun as we had people to race against. It was cat
and mouse all the way to Saba, and we had a fantastic tacking duel in the Aguilla
Strait and came out in front, so that was exciting and then on the long reach they
just got away. But we had great fun with other yachts including Lloyd's IDEA and
Blackbird. Last year there was nobody to race against, we didn't see anybody that
much. I think that all the crew enjoyed the race, including wife. Deborah hasn't
been on a long race before and she enjoyed the night sky and I haven't had any
complaints from the rest of the crew so that's all good."
The 'meet and greet' team on shore and crew on board Windrose sang 'Happy Birthday'
to RORC Commodore, Mike Greville just before he was ceremoniously thrown into the
water. A dripping wet Mike commented: "You know who your friends are for sure. I
wondered why someone wanted to borrow my phone. The race for us wasn't too much
like hard work. A nice comfortable bunk, air conditioning, good food and lots of
young lads to do all the hard work! We had a great race with Adela who unfortunately
managed to get in front of us but our watch did manage to get ahead of them more
than Andrew's (McIrvine). I don't think Andrew's watch passed Adela once, where
as we did at least three times. They also made us get up for 'all hands on deck'
twice and we never made them do that."
It is only fair to give the victors the last word: "This season, Adela races Windrose
at three regattas and we have a barrel of rum on each event and I am two up at the
moment, so I think Alex will be fuming! The boats are evenly matched; we have had
tacking duels, luffiing matches, and all great fun. I would love to say that Adela
will do the race next year, if there is a schooner class, I say bring them down,"
says Greg Perkins, Adela. ENDS/....
DAY 4 - 600 mile Superyacht Match Race
Peter Harrison's 115ft ketch, Sojana and Gerhard Andlinger's 124ft sloop, P2 have
never done battle before in an offshore race. The two magnificent superyachts had
a 600-mile match race around the entire course. P2 were the first home by just over
13 minutes in a race lasting over two and a half days. However, Sojana was well
over an hour quicker than P2 after time correction. The two skippers, Marc Fitzgerald
and Jonathan Kline spoke dockside, as the two yachts finally came to rest in Falmouth
Marina.
Marc Fitzgerald - Sojana:
"We don't often have a match race on Sojana, we try an avoid it to be honest, especially
when you are up against someone as good as Peter Holmberg who was at the wheel of
P2. However, we ended up with a match race all the way around the course. P2 got
away at the start, basically because they were much quicker in the light upwind
but we reeled them in on the reach to Barbuda."
"Sojana was also quicker downwind, partly because we had bigger spinnakers from
our new bowsprit and P2 had reduced the size of their downwind sails by not carrying
their running spinnaker, presumably to lower their rating. When the breeze got up,
we were definitely quicker upwind. However P2 is 10ft longer than Sojana, which
sort of evened-out the performance of the two yachts."
"The race showed that we both have strengths and weaknesses but they are pretty
small, so we were never that far apart. Sojana has a more extensive sail inventory
than P2, especially reaching, but we managed to blow up our Code Zero which was
a set back. We also had the hydraulics to the index clew and the mizzen clew fail
on the final leg to the finish, which slowed Sojana down for some time but no disrespect
to the crew work. We have a lot of very good sailors on Sojana and they instinctively
got stuck in and kept the loss to a minimum. All credit to P2, they came back at
us at Guadeloupe and we didn't pass them until after the Barbuda mark, if we hadn't
had our problems on the beat to finish, we would have beat them to the line but
P2 sailed extremely well and made it a great race with Sojana."
Jonathan Kline, P2
"Definitely a great battle with Sojana, I think we changed places six times during
the race. This was our first offshore race and with the owner on board who is 81,
to be able to battle like that around the course and take the finish was a lot of
fun for everybody. I think we saw a bit of everything during the race, which made
things quite tough. When you look at the course from afar you think that it's going
to be 15-20 knots of wind for 72 hours but in fact there were so many different
variables; squalls, island lees and everything else, which made it a bit tougher
than expected. The variations kept as all awake a lot of the time and we had designed
our watch system the way we thought it would be, but most portions of the course
required everyone on deck."
"P2 has done lots of bucket racing and superyacht events but what attracted P2's
owner Mr A, to the race was that we could sail long legs and let P2 do what she
was designed to do. The RORC Caribbean 600 gave P2 a chance to shine and give the
owner the experience of long distance sailing offshore but still in the vicinity
of great islands and magnificent views."
"The mood after we tied up was a bit grim because we didn't have much beer to celebrate,
but then the race 'meet and greet team' showed up at 4 a.m. with three cases of
cold Carib and the mood changed rapidly. A big thank you to the RORC and Antigua
Yacht Club for organizing such a great event."
Team P2: Credit: McNaughton Media
The 4th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600 has five yachts competing in the Superyacht
Class. The Royal Ocean Racing Club has commissioned a new trophy for the class.
Fashioned from an antique glass bowl dating back to 1907, The Superyacht Trophy
will be awarded to the best superyacht racing in IRC.
ENDS/....
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