The Royal Ocean Racing Club's inaugural RORC Caribbean 600 looks set to stage the first battle between the two 100ft super maxi's Leopard and Speedboat.

Chris Sherlock, boat Captain of Mike Slade's Leopard announced recently: "It is likely that we will be racing against each other for the first time in the RORC Caribbean 600 which starts in Antigua on 23^rd February 2009."

As the event mini-site went live and Pre-Notice of Race became available on-line, interest in the race has been flooding in since the announcement earlier this year by the RORC and Antigua Yacht Club to hold the first ever offshore race to circumnavigate the Caribbean Islands.

The race has attracted great interest from all over the world: George David's maxi yacht Rambler, which won the 2007 Rolex Middle Sea Race, is joining the battle with Leopard and Speedboat. Peter Harrison's 115ft super yacht Sojana is a definite entry and classic yachts such as the 155ft schooner Windrose and J Class Velsheda also intend to join the race scheduled to fit snugly between other major events in the busy Caribbean racing calendar.

The Pre-Notice of Race for the RORC Caribbean 600 Race is now available

Start 23rd February 2009
First Warning Signal 1050 (all times are in local time)

Please click on the Read more link to see the online version of the Pre-Notice of Race. Alternatively, you can open the PDF Version by clicking on the link below:

RORC Caribbean 600 Race - Pre-Notice of Race 229.36 Kb 29/09/2008

Antigua Yacht Club was founded in 1967, in 1969 was granted a 25 year lease on two acres of land in Falmouth harbour and the first Clubhouse erected in 1970. Situated in the extremely well protected and scenic English Harbour the yacht club sits in an enviable location. The Committee and members have always done their best to promote the sport of sailing on Antigua, the Club runs a full programme of dinghy and yacht racing as well as extensive training and youth programmes.

Antigua yacht club and its members are proud to be involved in the organising of many prestigious events including Antigua Race Week, Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta and Antigua Mega Yacht Challenge, and now have teamed up with the Royal Ocean Racing Club to organise the RORC Caribbean 600 on the 23^rd February.

English Harbour is located at the centre of Antigua's fifteen square miles of Nelson's Dockyard National Park. Developed as a base for the British Navy, the harbour served as the headquarters of the fleet of the Leeward Islands during the turbulent years of the late 18th century. Although the dockyard was greatly expanded at that time by Horatio Nelson, it was gradually abandoned in the nineteenth century and was closed in 1889. Today Nelson's Dockyard has been completely restored; it is now the only Georgian dockyard in the world and is the largest tourist attraction on Antigua.

RORC CARIBBEAN 600 - Start: 23rd February 2009

The Royal Ocean Racing Club and Antigua Yacht Club will run the first offshore race to circumnavigate the Caribbean Islands. This exciting new race will be called the RORC Caribbean 600.

Conceived by a group of RORC members living in the Caribbean, the race starts on the 23^rd February 2009 off Fort Charlotte outside English Harbour, Antigua. The course takes the fleet to the north passing a mark off Barbuda, the islands of Nevis, Saba and St Barths, to circle St Martin before heading down to Guadeloupe as the most southerly point, then back up to a mark off Barbuda before returning to finish in Antigua. A total of 605 nautical miles.