Hap Fauth's American JV72, Bella Mente has been declared the overall winner of the 2015 RORC Caribbean 600. Whilst several yachts are still racing, by the morning of Friday 27th February none of the remaining teams had the ability to better Bella Mente's corrected time under IRC. It was third time lucky for Bella Mente as the Maxi 72 has finished second overall for the past two years. Bella Mente was also the winner of the highly competitive IRC Zero Class and retained the Bella Mente Trophy as the first IRC Yacht to finish that is wholly manually powered, without either variable or moveable ballast. A delighted Hap Fauth spoke about the achievement and was full of praise for both the race team and shore crew:

“Friday, before the race start, we had a structural problem with the boat and limped home from practice to assess the problem. We took the boat apart and for two days the shore team set up a temporary boat building workshop and did a great job just to get us to the start line. Throughout the race we had no problems at all and my hat goes off to our ground crew.

"This is the third go at winning this race and three is the beauty! This is the third Bella Mente since 2006 and the majority of this team have been with me for at least five years - it is an outstanding group of guys. They like each other, we have a good time together – they are all mates. Everybody puts safety first, that's the way it should be offshore but after that we push to the limit.

"This race is a series of sprints and every leg is different, you are trying to get out of the blocks at the start of each segment and as soon as you get going, you are looking to get to top speed without increasing the distance sailed in that quest for boat speed. We try to make a couple of minutes up at every corner – with 12 corners if you save three minutes a corner then that makes a real difference to your finish time. Everybody works together, it is our big strength; the crew did a phenomenal job.”

Figaro II Focus

Four Figaro II teams, all from the Guadeloupe Grand Large sailing academy, are racing in this year's RORC Caribbean 600. 18 sailors from the offshore racing academy are racing on four identical yachts and have high aspirations for the future; the Solitaire du Figaro, Route du Rhum or the Everest of offshore solo-sailing, the Vendée Globe.

At 1200 local time on Day Four of the RORC Caribbean 600, the leading Figaros in the race had just rounded Barbuda for the second time and were 78 miles from the finish. Benjamin Augereau's Bandit Mancho was less than a mile ahead of Alienor Fleury's Urga Burga. Simon Lefort's SOR was six miles behind the leader and Arthur Bouwyn's Bato 1 was in fourth place.

The battle at the front is intense with a photo-finish likely between Bandit Mancho and Urga Burga at around midnight tonight.

0700 AST 26th February 2015

By the morning of Day Four of the RORC Caribbean 600, 19 yachts had completed the race and 43 yachts were still racing. Last night the lighter southerly wind had switched back to an easterly direction with substantial cloud activity providing changeable conditions for the competitors. The wind speed was steadily building and squall activity provided sudden exponential increases in the wind speed and a variable wind direction.

In the IRC Canting Keel Class, with all yachts accounted for, George David's Juan K designed Rambler 88 has scored the best corrected time. Mike Slade's Farr 100 Leopard, sailed by Chris Bake's Team Aqua, is in second place with Ron O'Hanley's Cookson 50, Privateer in third.

In IRC Zero, three yachts are still racing but Hap Fauth's JV72, Bella Mente is the provisional winner of the class with Peter Harrison's TP52, Sorcha second and True, Doug Baker’s Kernan 47, third. These three yachts also dominate the provisional overall ranking under IRC with Bella Mente currently leading the fleet, Sorcha second and True third respectively.

George David's Juan K designed Rambler 88 set the time to beat for the overall winner of the 7th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600, but it didn't last for long. Hap Fauth's JV72, Bella Mente finished the race just after 1130 on Day Three to set the bar for the remaining yachts to better. Whilst Bella Mente has registered the best time for a yacht racing under IRC, there are several yachts that are in contention to better that: Peter Harrison's TP52, Sorcha, Piet Vroon's Ker 51, Tonnerre 4 and 180ft Dijkstra schooner, Adela.

Mike Slade's Maxi 100, Leopard, sailed by RC44 champion Chris Bake, was the second monohull to finish the race but Leopard's corrected time was not enough to secure the overall lead. Chris Bake's Team Aqua has won the RC44 Championship on four occasions and Chris decided to produce a bucket list of races that the team should do with the RORC Caribbean 600 at the top of the list.

Lloyd Thornburg's MOD 70, Phaedo3 crossed the finish line of the 7^th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600 at 20:35:30 AST on 24th February 2015 in an elapsed time of 1 day, 9 hours, 35 minutes and 30 seconds.

Phaedo3 has broken the multihull race record set by Claude Thelier and John Burnie's ORMA 60, Region Guadeloupe by 6 hours, 35 minutes and 35 seconds.

“Fast, really fast,” commented a shattered looking Lloyd Thornburg as Phaedo3 tied up in Falmouth Harbour. “Sailing with Michel Desjoyeaux has been an incredible experience. When I was driving, he pushed me out of my comfort zone and then got the guys to wind on the sails even more and the speed just kept climbing and my confidence and experience with it. Surfing at over 30 knots for hours is just an incredible experience. A big thank you to Brian Thompson for putting this all together in such a short period of time. This is right up there; a totally amazing experience!”

Jules Verne record holder, Brian Thompson spoke dockside: “We only left France two weeks ago so this has been a whirlwind preparation for the race, but I always knew that a MOD70 would be an absolute weapon on this course and what a welcome when we arrived; the superyachts blasting their air horns and hundreds of people on the dock making a lot of noise. It was like finishing the Vendee Globe!”

Michel Desjoyeaux has never done the RORC Caribbean 600 before: “I had never heard of this race before, but it is a great course for multihulls and I hope to be back. It would be even better if there were a number of multihulls racing, that would make it really special. As we rounded Redonda, I saw some yachts heading for Guadeloupe, they were only half way to the finish and I thought about the Figaro teams who have so far to go - aaaagh! - That must be hard for them.”

At 1600 local time on Day Two of the RORC Caribbean 600, Lloyd Thornburg's MOD 70, Phaedo3 had been racing for exactly 29 hours and was just 60 miles from the finish. Phaedo3 is expected to finish the 600-mile race at sunset, smashing the course record by hours. Race fans in Antigua can cheer Phaedo3 in tonight as the bright green multihull will be docking outside the notorious Skullduggery Cafe, Falmouth Harbour, famous for their Espresso Martinis!

As forecast, the wind has gone south of east and decreased in strength. George David's Juan Kouyoumdjian designed Rambler 88 is expected to finish the race in the early hours of Wednesday morning, taking Monohull Line Honours but the American Maxi looks to be outside record pace, unless the breeze picks up significantly.

Lloyd Thornburg's MOD 70, Phaedo3 crossed the finish line in Antigua at 20:35:30 AST on 24th February 2015 in an elapsed time of 1 day, 9 hours, 35 minutes and 30 seconds.

Phaedo3 has broken the multihull race record set by Claude Thelier and John Burnie's ORMA 60, Region Guadeloupe by 6 hours, 35 minutes and 35 seconds.

By dawn on the second day of the RORC Caribbean 600, the vast majority of the 64-strong fleet were negotiating the chicane of islands to the northern end of the course, weaving through the stunning islands of Saba, St.Martin and St.Barths. However Lloyd Thornburg's MOD 70, Phaedo3, was literally miles ahead of the fleet. Screaming down the big reach out of St.Barths, Phaedo3 entered the stealth zone at Guadeloupe to the south at 0300 this morning. The 'Green Flash' has been averaging over 20 knots of boat speed since the start and at that rate will smash the course record by 10 hours.

George David's Juan Kouyoumdjian designed maxi, Rambler 88 has been charging round the course at an average speed of 15 knots. At 0600 this morning Rambler 88 had reached the half way stage. In real time they are on course for the monohull record, but their average speed must be maintained or increased if Rambler 88 is to set a new benchmark.

A fascinating battle is developing for the overall winner of the RORC Caribbean 600, which is decided after IRC time correction. At 0600 on Day Two, Hap Fauth's JV72, Bella Mente, had the best corrected time of the 54 yachts still racing under IRC. Rambler 88, although ahead on the water, is over two hours behind Bella Mente on corrected time. These two yachts will be the first of the IRC fleet to enter the 'twilight zone'. Bella Mente's navigator, Ian Moore spoke about the difficult passage around Guadeloupe before the start of the race.

66 yachts started the 7th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600, with hundreds of race fans watching the impressive fleet from Fort Charlotte and Shirley Heights. Thousands more are now glued to the tracker and social media feeds. After a classic start in 15 knots of easterly trade winds, the fleet powered past the Pillars of Hercules, heading for Green Island where they will bear away and accelerate towards Barbuda, the only mark of the 600-mile course around 11 stunning Caribbean islands.

Lloyd Thornburg's MOD 70 Phaedo3, with Michel Desjoyeaux and Brian Thompson on board, had a conservative start with Petro Jonker's cruising catamaran, Quality Time crossing the line first. Phaedo3lit the blue touch paper at Green Island, blasting through the surf at well over 30 knots. The lime-green machine reached Barbuda in less than two hours, well ahead of record pace and eight miles ahead of Peter Aschenbrenner's Irens 63, Paradox.