RORC members John Burnie and Stan Pearson are two well known characters in the yachting community in the Caribbean. They have often talked about an offshore yacht race, something that the Caribbean has never had, there plans devised over a few beers have now become a reality. The RORC Caribbean 600, in association with the Antigua Yacht Club, is now firmly established as annual event.

Danilo Salsi's magnificent Swan 90 finished the RORC Caribbean 600 crossing the finish line after dusk on Wednesday night, to claim line honours for a fixed keel monohull. Skipper Andrea Casale said: "This is our first race and we are still learning how to sail the boat to its potential, all of the crew have enjoyed the experience, the race course is fantastic; always interesting. We would love to see more Italian boats here next year."

Mike Slade’s 100ft Maxi, ICAP Leopard crossed the finish line under Shirley Heights, Antigua at 07:25:14 Local time (GMT-4) to set the monohull elapsed time for future yachts to beat.

RESULT
2009 RORC Caribbean 600 Monohull Elapsed Time.
ICAP Leopard/Mike Slade
Elapsed time: 44 Hours 5 minutes 14 seconds

Physically exhausted, wringing wet and full of pride, John Burnie’s 60ft ORMA Trimaran, Region Guadeloupe crossed the finish line under Shirley Heights, Antigua at 03:51:05 Local time (GMT-4) to set the multi-hull elapsed time for future multihulls to beat.

RESULT
2009 RORC Caribbean 600 Multihull Class.
Region Guadeloupe/John Burnie
Elapsed time: 40 Hours 11 minutes 5 seconds

Region Guadeloupe the ORMA 60ft trimaran is blasting around the Caribbean at lightning speed but skipper, John Burnie, managed to send this text message after the first night at sea; “It is very rough, unbelievably wet and we were glad to see dawn to bring on the sunshine.” They have averaged 15.5 knots along the rhumb line with a top speed of over 26 knots, in ocean swell! Region Guadeloupe have led the fleet from the first mark of the course and should be back at the Antigua Yacht Club in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

A new exciting offshore race is born, the inaugural RORC Caribbean 600 kicked off at 1100 local time. Solid breeze from the east nudging 20 knots rising to over 25 knots in the squalls was the order of the day but the big factor was the sea state; long rollers some as high as four metres tested the driving skills to the maximum.

First away were all of the monohulls bar the IRC Super Zero Class. David Aisher's Rogers 46, Yeoman XXXIII, got a great start, choosing to take the island shore they looked to be lifted and within seconds they were in clear air ahead of the fleet.