It was a picture-book start with which the 66 crews opened the Caribbean long-distance race at the beginning of the week. The IRC 2 yachts were the first group to start the race in 15 or 16 knots of wind and gusts of up to 20 knots. In the smallest class, the JPK 10.30 "Momo" led the field after almost 24 hours. The team led by Tobias Brinkmann (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein) with his father Berthold Brinkmann, Sönke Boy and Martin Buck was in first place in IRC 2 ahead of the British "Team Scarlet on Emily" at midday on Tuesday.
RORC Caribbean 600: "Red 2" is catching up fast
In IRC 1, Mathias Müller von Blumencron, Othmar Müller von Blumencron, Maurice Oster and Klaas Simon are attacking under the Swiss flag. After a somewhat delayed start, the crew on the Judel/Vrolijk 43 "Red 2" with sail number SUI 8500 had worked their way back into podium territory within less than 24 hours.
Before the start, the German sailors from "Momo", "Red 2" and the "Haspa Hamburg", who know each other well, had met several times. "We used the last few days to prepare and had some great evenings together with the crews of the 'Red' and the 'Haspa Hamburg'," reported "Momo" skipper Tobias Brinkmann. You can find a picture in our photo gallery.
The young team from the Hamburgischer Verein Seefahrt (HVS) was in seventh place after the first night in the IRC Zero fleet. The team led by skipper Fabian Bläsi uses the races with the Judel/Vrolijk 53 "Haspa Hamburg" for training and further education for young offshore sailors. Joining Fabian Bläsi at the start of the Caribbean eleven-island race are Okke Warner, Line Hamann, Bosse Fahrenkrog, Anika Sprakel, Fritz Meyer, Niklas Hellwig, Tom Lembcke, Inken Borrmann, Konstantin Steidle and Wito Kleinhempel.
"Happy" HVS youngsters for ocean sailing
"We are happy that the HVS can participate with our crews on the 'Haspa Hamburg' in these international regattas, which are mainly sailed by professionals or at least semi-professional crews," said an HVS statement shortly before the race. The Hamburg team is likely to have the youngest average crew in the RORC Caribbean 600.
As expected, the HVS crew's IRC Zero division was initially led by Niklas Zennström's Carkeek CF 520 "Rán", but the rankings in all five divisions changed frequently. The largest yachts compete against each other in IRC Super Zero without a German boat. After the first night of the race, the "usual suspects" fought exciting battles for the calculated podium places. At midday on 25 February, the Greek Volvo Open 70 "Aiolos" was just ahead at the bow. Click here for the live tracker for the RORC Caribbean 600.
"Aiolos" was followed by the Mills-72-Maxi "Balthasar" with Ocean Race veteran Bouwe Bekking, the Italian J/V Wally 93 "Bullitt" and the American Volvo Open 70 "Il Mostro". In the battle for line honours, Bryon Erhart's American Juan K design "Lucky" once again took command.
Former winner "Outsider" is now called "Summer Storm"
It is quite possible that the American Judel/Vrolijk 52 "Summer Storm" will also look familiar to some observers in this country. There is a reason for this: the boat won the RORC Caribbean 600 five years ago, was still called "Outsider" at the time and belonged to Tilmar Hansen. He celebrated his 70th birthday in Caribbean style with the victory.
Now her new owner Andrew Berdon has opened his Caribbean debut eager for success with a new set of sails. On Tuesday, the "Summer Storm" was two places ahead of the "Haspa Hamburg" in the race. Boris Herrmann's co-skipper Will Harris is also in action. The Briton is taking part in the RORC Caribbean 600 as a crew member on Thomas Kassberg's US catamaran "Malolo".
Caribbean good! If you want to watch the start of the race again, you can find the summary here:
