4:39 AM Mon 22 Feb 2010 GMT
On Monday 22nd 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 seventh 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 seventh 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 Portim?o Global Ocean Race (PGOR) and Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR), is a serial solo circumnavigator with BOC races and a Vend?e Globe to his credit and will be sailing with two competitors from the PGOR, Kleinjans and Van der Wel.
Kleinjans has already completed two circumnavigations: fully-crewed in the 1985-86 Whitbread Round-The-World Race taking fifth place on Gustaf Versluys' Rucanor Tristar and single-handed on Open 40, Roaring Forty, in the PGOR and is planning a third, double-handed lap of the planet in the GOR. During the PGOR, Peter Van der Wel and his brother, Lenjohn, raced together on Ocean Warrior until mast damage early in Leg 2 between Cape Town and Wellington, New Zealand, forced the duo to retire, although Lenjohn has signed-up for a second attempt in the GOR.
For the Irish duo of Michael Boyd and Niall Dowling on board 40 Degrees, the RORC Caribbean 600 is their first taste of Class40 competition. Boyd provides some insight into the race: 'Two key features of this race - already regarded as a classic ocean race despite is short life - are the long 12-hour nights: twice what we would normally have offshore in an English/Irish Summer, and the wind effects of the mountainous islands that we round or pass - noticeable several miles offshore,' he explains. 'For good measure, we have an active volcano - Montserrat - to pass as well,' Boyd continues. 'There are also many corners and lots of lobster pots off the French island of Guadeloupe.'
With no previous Class40 sailing experience, the 40 Degrees team undertook a practice sail: 'We went out for some 30 hours - around the East coast of Antigua - towards Barbuda (our first mark) and thence downwind, South West, to Nevis (our second),' says Boyd. 'This night-time leg to Nevis was a 50 mile spinnaker run and turned out to be a magical sail - close to a lifetime best - and very special for me as we sailed towards one of my honeymoon islands. It was warm with a clear sky in which we could see every single star. We had the ocean to ourselves, it seemed, as we followed a moonlit path, navigating by the star in Orion's sword named after Phyllis,' explains the Irish yachtsman. 'It fitted perfectly in the triangle between the upper spreader and the main stay.'
For Boyd and Dowling, the test sail has been invaluable. 'We learned much about the best sailing angle, the eight-sail inventory, the two rudders and the several water valves,' Boyd reports. 'Also, the primitive ablution system (thank you Tesco for the biodegradable bags...), the jet boiler - a one-pint bottle that is the boat's sole cooking device, making surprising fast tea and unexpectedly good freeze-dried meals - the importance of the boom preventer, the spinnaker snuffer, and much more kindly explained with great forbearance by Miranda.'
The Class40 competition throughout the RORC Caribbean 600 will be followed on
www.globaloceanrace.com
by Oliver Dewar
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