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Offshore racing in the Caribbean is a relatively new concept. In years gone by it was deemed unsafe to even sail at night in the Caribbean, let alone hurtle around in darkness in a high-performance grand prix racing machine. With the advent of modern charts and navigational aids, though (that and a good deal of courage), the attitude to overnight racing in the Caribbean has changed. In 2009, the Royal Ocean Racing Club held the first edition of the RORC Caribbean 600. Since then competitors—those in the multihull sections, in particular—have been getting faster and faster. The current race record is over 10 hours quicker than the inaugural race, roughly 30 percent faster. American teams have favored well, setting race records and winning the MOCRA Class on numerous occasions. This includes the present race record holder, Jason Carroll’s MOD70 Argo, with a team from New York’s Larchmont Yacht Club.
Not only that, the RORC Caribbean 600 has a long attracted a range of performance-cruisers in addition to record-setting cats and tris. Gunboats, HH Catamarans and a number of other designs have been part of the entry list since the race’s inception. Because the MOCRA Rule considers the size, weight and performance of each boat in computing its corrected time at the finish, they often do quite well.
Held each February, when the northeast trades are usually pumping in from the Atlantic, the RORC Caribbean 600 is a nonstop offshore race around 11 Caribbean islands starting and finishing in Antigua. With myriad maneuvers, it has been described as 12 inshore races, all strung together. After the start outside Nelson’s Dockyard Antigua, there is only one laid mark off the reef at Barbuda. The rest of the turning marks are islands, where wind shadows and acceleration zones add yet another dimension to an already complex racecourse…
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