Caribbean 600: Proteus declared Overall Winner

(February 25, 2016; Day 4) – George Sakellaris’ Maxi72, Proteus (USA) has been declared the overall winner of the 2016 RORC Caribbean 600. Whilst several yachts are still racing, by the afternoon of Thursday 25 February the remaining teams will be unable to better Proteus’ corrected time under IRC. Sakellaris was awarded the RORC Caribbean 600 Trophy for the best corrected time under the IRC Rating rule.

George Sakellaris receives the RORC Caribbean 600 Trophy © RORC/Emma Louise Wyn Jones

It is the second time that George Sakellaris has skippered the overall winner, having won the 2014 race with Maxi72, Shockwave. Proteus was also the winner of the highly competitive IRC Zero class featuring four Maxi72s.

“I would like to congratulate all competitors for attending such a great, great event,” said Sakellaris. “I am glad to have been part of it. We got a little bit lucky and won the day, but this event has many great teams and sailors. I am so happy; we hope to see you next year.”

Racing in IRC Zero division, Proteus finished the race just over 20 minutes ahead of Dieter Schön’s Maxi72s Mom which finished second overall.

IRC One
Eric De Turkheim’s French A13, Teasing Machine finished the RORC Caribbean 600 at 0710 AST on Thursday 25 February in an elapsed time of two days and 20 hours to provisionally win IRC One and claim third overall for the race. In the eight editions of the RORC Caribbean 600 no other boat under 50ft has made the podium for the overall prize. As Teasing Machine moored stern to at Antigua Yacht Club, the mass of soaking wet offshore clothing on board was testament to a tough race.

“To win our class and to be third overall is a fantastic result for us,” said owner of Teasing Machine, Eric De Turkheim. “It was a big trip to get the boat here from Australia, including sailing the boat 1500 miles upwind from Panama, but we knew we had the potential to do well in this race. This is a great race and I will always remember the leg from La Desirade to Barbuda averaging 15 knots for 140 miles with full sail and warm water cascading down the deck; it couldn’t be better! We like to win but not at all cost. The ambience on board is fantastic and we were often toasting our performance with a small glass of red wine in the evening.”

Tactician of Teasing Machine, Laurent Pages adds: “Teasing Machine is like a mini Volvo 70 with a lot of stability and power and we can run it nicely into heavy air and sea state. We tried to be precise everywhere, especially the island roundings and wind shadows, but also holding a good course and perfecting sail changes. We were careful to avoid making any big loss and one of the key areas was Guadeloupe; we didn’t stop at all in the wind shadow of the island and a lot of that was due to our navigator, Jeremie Beyou.”

More
Finishing today at 0336 AST was the Class40 Tales II to win the Class40 division for the third year in a row. The Tales II team broke their own Class40 record by 11 minutes and 23 seconds to set a new Class40 record of 2 days 16 hours 26 minutes 29 seconds.

The magnificent 213ft schooner Adix finished at 0703 AST in an elapsed time of 2 days 19 hours 33 minutes 5 seconds to win the Spirit of Tradition Class.

Event website – Results – Entry list – Tracking

Report by race media.

Background: The RORC Caribbean 600 starts from Antigua on Monday 22nd February 2016. The 600nm course circumnavigates 11 Caribbean Islands starting from Fort Charlotte, English Harbour, Antigua and heads north as far as St Martin and south to Guadeloupe taking in Barbuda, Nevis, St Kitts, Saba and St Barth’s.

Thousands of spectators will gather at Shirley Heights to watch the impressive 66-boat fleet begin the 8th RORC Caribbean 600. Hundreds of thousands more will watch the race unfold via video, photographs, race reports and blogs from the boats. All of the competing yachts will be fitted with YB Trackers.

Event website – Entry list – Tracking

Report by race media.

Background: The RORC Caribbean 600 starts from Antigua on Monday 22nd February 2016. The 600nm course circumnavigates 11 Caribbean Islands starting from Fort Charlotte, English Harbour, Antigua and heads north as far as St Martin and south to Guadeloupe taking in Barbuda, Nevis, St Kitts, Saba and St Barth’s.

Thousands of spectators will gather at Shirley Heights to watch the impressive 66-boat fleet begin the 8th RORC Caribbean 600. Hundreds of thousands more will watch the race unfold via video, photographs, race reports and blogs from the boats. All of the competing yachts will be fitted with YB Trackers.