The 11th edition of the Caribbean 600 kicked off in spectacular conditions off the south coast of Antigua on 18 February 2019. 76 yachts were on the start line, representing 20 countries to sail the 600 miles in this non-stop offshore race. Just a few days before the start of the event, MOD 70 Argo capsized during the training session. It seemed impossible that Argo would be racing. However, owing to the incredible effort of the Antigua sailing community, they were able to start 48 hours later with just a two hour delay. In the Multihull division, Maserati, Giovanni Soldini’s Multi 70 took Multihull Line Honours in a time of 1 day, 6 hours and 49 minutes, smashing the record by 1 hour 10 minutes and 4 seconds.
“It was amazing that this race even happened. It was the first time in history that a multihull so big came back from a capsize like that – incredible. I was very happy to agree to delay that start, to race against one of the best teams in the world,” commented Soldini. “We had a wonderful race, very windy, very fast, with very good manoeuvres from both teams. We had some technical problems at Guadeloupe, we could not use our Solent for five hours and we had a small problem with one rudder, but it was a great fight. After Guadeloupe we could see Argo all the time and they were getting bigger and bigger with our problems, but we had a good lead and we kept calm and solved the problem. From Redonda to the finish we used classic match racing, trying to keep ourselves between Argo and the finish.”
Giovanni Soldini on the Multi 70, Maserati, smashed the record by 1 hour and 10 minutes and 04 secs to take first Multihull overall.
Wizard, David Askew’s Volvo 70 took the Monohull Line Honours in a day, 19 hours, 38 mins and 44 seconds. Charlie Enright, two-time Volvo Ocean Race skipper was at the helm of the winning Wizard. “That’s awesome,” commented David on receiving the news. “This is the first time we have done this race and to win it overall is beyond our wildest possible dreams. It’s a race we have followed and we have always wanted to be in Antigua, but we wanted to have the right boat to do the really prestigious ocean races; the races we dreamed about when we were younger. We really didn’t have any expectations, but we prepared ourselves to perform as best as we could. I am in shock, I really can’t believe it.”
Wizard, helmed by Charlie Enright placed first monohull overall in IRC in the RORC Caribbean 600 (2019)/Arthur Daniel
And our South African sailing stars placed well too. Paul Willcox sailing on Tala, placed second overall in IRC. A really amazing result. Well done for flying our SA flag high!
South African Paul Willcox sailed on Tala, placing second overall on IRC.
Shaun Pammenter on Arethusa had a sad end too the race when they had to retire due to breakages.
For full results Caribbean 600 results
