Sailing-Caribbean 600 roars into life off Antigua with trade-wind thrills and start-line duels

By Ossian Shine

Feb 24 (Reuters) - The 2026 RORC Caribbean 600 burst into life with a spectacular start from Fort Charlotte in Antigua, as an international fleet embarked on a non-stop 600-mile odyssey around 11 Caribbean islands in what promises to be a thrilling 17th edition of the race.

"What a fantastic day," said Race Director Chris Jackson of the conditions off the iconic Pillars of Hercules.

"15 knots of trade winds, delivering classic conditions for the start. With the wind to the south of east we made a slight adjustment to the line to create a safer, more even approach at the pin end, and that worked really well."

The action unfolded across five separate starts, with white caps confirming the healthy breeze that produced tactical wind shifts from the opening gun.

Jackson noted that all starts had been clean "bar one boat that was OCS, but they returned quickly and didn't lose much time".

Early drama emerged in the prestigious IRC Zero class, where a full-blooded duel developed between Swede Niklas Zennstrom's Carkeek 52 Ran and Frederic Puzin's Carkeek 54 Daguet 5, flying the French flag.

Their pre-start battle was riveting, with Ran forcing Daguet 5 into evasive action before both boats pressed inshore beneath Fort Charlotte's cliffs in a high-stakes game.

The big boat IRC Super Zero class produced its own drama at the crowded pin end of the line, where the buoy marks the boundary.

The Mills 72 Balthasar was marginally early and soon swallowed up by Remon Vos’s Maxi 100 Black Jack 100.

The Farr 100 Leopard 3 then squeezed up to windward of Black Jack, briefly backwinding the 100-footer as both powered towards the cliffs of Antigua with precious little sea room.

In the 11-strong multihull fleet, Marc Guillemot’s MG5 WellnessTraining, of France, judged it perfectly and won the pin, while race record holder Jason Carroll’s American MOD70 Argo took a more cautious approach and stayed clear of the congestion at that end of the line.

By contrast, Jon Desmond’s MOD70 Final Final Zoulou was briefly boxed in amid the pin-end squeeze but wriggled clear without lasting damage.

By the time they hardened up for Barbuda, Argo’s leading margin was under eight minutes, close enough to keep the match simmering rather than settled.

The Caribbean 600 is a 600-nautical-mile offshore yacht race organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club and based in Antigua.

Starting and finishing in English Harbour, the course threads around 11 Caribbean islands, including Barbuda, Nevis and Guadeloupe, offering everything from open-ocean blasts to tight tactical passages in the lee of volcanic headlands.

It attracts a mix of professional crews and top amateur sailors, from giant 100-foot maxis to high-speed multihulls.

The fastest multihulls can finish in a little over a day in ideal trade-wind conditions, while the leading monohulls typically take around two to three days. Smaller boats further down the fleet can be at sea for four or five days, depending on the breeze.