The Royal Ocean Racing Club has confirmed the overall winners of the 14th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600: Roy Pat Disney's "Pyewacket 70", a modified Volvo 70, has won the 600 nautical mile Caribbean race around eleven islands by calculated time in the overall IRC standings before the end of the race. The RORC Caribbean 600 Trophy will be awarded on 24 February in Antigua to a top-class crew with America's Cup and Ocean Race veterans on board: Ben Mitchell, Peter Isler, Tony Mutter, Brad Jackson, Brian Janney, Daryl Wislang, David Tank, Jan Majer, Mark Callahan, Matt Mialik, Robbie Kane, Rodney Daniel and Tristan Louwrens.
"The course designers have definitely let their imagination run wild here"
"We are delighted with the overall victory," commented US skipper Ben Mitchell. "With the 'Pyewacket 70', we're not necessarily aiming for a win on corrected time in our minds in races like this. Our goal is more to win the line honours and possibly set a new record. If that results in a handicap win, that's fantastic!"
"The Caribbean has long been a favourite destination for American sailors, but the hard core of Southern Californian sailors don't come here that often," Ben Mitchell continued. "When you do come here, you realise how beautiful this course really is with its fabulous wind conditions combined with warm water and weather. It's a fantastic regatta area! As we have seen with 'Wizard' and now with 'Pyewacket 70', the Volvo 70s are perfectly equipped for this course with its good winds. The course designers definitely used their imagination when they designed the RORC Caribbean 600."
"Black Pearl" sails to sixth place
Erik de Turckheim's NMYD 54 "Teasing Machine" and "I Love Poland", a Volvo 70 sistership of the winner "Pyewacket 70", sailed to second and third place in the overall IRC classification. Stefan Jentzsch's Botin 56 "Black Pearl" took sixth place in the overall IRC classification. Henri de Bokay's Berlin Elliott 52 "Rafale" with skipper Philipp Kadelbach was in 18th place before the arrival of the smaller yachts on the evening of 23 February.
Among the multihull power players, the French Mod 70 "Zoulou" was the first to reach the finish line after a thrilling final. Just eleven seconds ahead of Giovanni Soldini's "Maserati" was enough for the line honours. However, neither team was able to secure overall victory based on the calculated time. Former Vendée Globe star Alex Thomson and his crew on the Gunboat 68 "Tosca" took the multihull honours. Corrected, the Thomson team finished a good three hours ahead of Soldini's Azzurri on "Maserati".
