On Monday 22^nd February, the fleet will cross the start line of the RORC Caribbean 600: a 600 mile race starting and finishing in Antigua with a course taking the fleet through the Leeward Islands as far north as Anguilla and southwards to round Les Saintes – the island just south Guadeloupe.

The diverse fleet includes two Cookson 50’s – Adrian Lee’s Lee Overlay Partners and Ron O’Hanley’s Privateer and Richard Oland’s 52ft Reichel Pugh Velo Voce. Within the fleet there also three Class40 yachts which will provide the close racing that has become a hallmark of the class and will be competing for the inaugural Concise Trophy: a prize initiated by Tony Lawson whose Concise was the first Class40 across the finish line in the 2009 RORC Caribbean 600 taking 7^th overall in IRC.

Racing on a Pogo 40, Lou – winner of the double-handed division in last year’s race - Guadeloupe-based yachtsmen, Willy Bissainte, will be competing again. Sailing on Peter Harding’s 40 Degrees – a third generation Owen Clarke Design Class40 launched last year - the well-known Class40 yachtswoman and veteran short-handed offshore racer, Miranda Merron, is joined by two highly-experienced Irish sailors, Michael Boyd and Niall Dowling – winners of the 2008 RORC double-handed trophy – and John Patrick Cunningham, a US sailor who has considerable experience in transatlantic racing. The yacht has proved to be robust, fast and immaculately prepared with Harding and Merron taking 7^th place in the double-handed, transatlantic La Solidaire du Chocolat last winter.

On board the third Class40 entry, Ocean Warrior – an Express 40 built in Cowes and launched in 2007 – American yachtsman, Joe Harris, is joined by British solo sailor, Josh Hall; Belgian Yachtsman of the Year, Michel Kleinjans; and South African sailor, Peter Van der Wel. The depth of experience on Ocean Warrior is impressive: skipper of the Class40, Joe Harris, took second place in the 50ft monohull class of the single-handed, 2004 Transat on Wells Fargo – American Pioneer and the following year, Harris teamed-up with Josh Hall for the double-handed Transat Jacques Vabre and took first place in the 50ft class on Gryphon Solo. Hall, Race Director of the 2008-09 Portimão Global Ocean Race (PGOR) and Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR), is a serial solo circumnavigator with BOC races and a Vendée Globe to his credit and will be sailing with two competitors from the PGOR, Kleinjans and Van der Wel.

By Oliver Dewar