13th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600 launched: Mighty maxis and multihull giants in the Caribbean Powerplay

Against the magnificent backdrop of Antigua and the rock formation of the Pillars of Hercules guarding the entrance to English Harbour, the 13th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600 has begun. The spectacularly beautiful pictures from the start ( click here for the short film! ) show why this Caribbean sailing area is one of the most popular in the world. 74 teams with more than 700 sailors from 32 nations started the "Race of the 11 Islands" on Monday. The favourites have already formed at the top.

In the three-way battle of the Super Zero Maxis, the Club Swan 125 "Skorpios" has taken the lead after the first 24 hours, ahead of the RORC Transat Race record winner "Comanche" (Verdier/VPL 100) and "Leopard" (Farr 100). They are followed by the Danish Volvo Open 70 "L4 Trifork" and its sister ship "I love Poland". In the largest multihulls, the exciting three-way battle that was already seen in the RORC Transatlantic Race seems to be repeating itself. After the first night, Jason Carroll's "Argo" (MOD 70) was ahead of the Transat Last Minute winner "Maserati" (Multi 70) by Giovanni Soldini and Peter Cunningham's "Powerplay". A look at the overall handicap ranking according to IRC is also exciting: Here, two JPK 11.80 yachts, "Sunrise" and "Dawn Treader", are tied at the top of the leaderboard. The crew quartet on the two-decade-old Imoca "Rosalba", skippered by Richard Tolkien and Frank Sturm from Berlin, initially lined up in 50th place in the overall IRC rankings. Click here for live tracking (please click!).

After last year's edition was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the IRC fleet is looking for successors to the reigning overall winners of 2020 at the start of 2022, when Tilmar Hansen's crew on the TP52 "Outsider" became the first team under the German flag to win the overall title on the owner's birthday.