Since 2009, the Royal Ocean Racing Club has organised the RORC Caribbean 600 in association with the Antigua Yacht Club. With the trade winds pumping the racing is challenging, but the sensation of racing in The Tropics, deep in the winter months of the Northern Hemisphere, is attractive to a huge variety of boats and sailors from all over the world.
In 2023, the RORC introduced the Nelson's Cup Series comprising two days of inshore racing, the round the Island 'Antigua 360', and the main event of the series, the RORC Caribbean 600. The Nelson Cup series provides six races in total ranging from short inshore day races to the RORC Caribbean 600. Teams can compete in all or part of the series and there are daily informal prize giving's at the Antigua Yacht Club.
The RORC Caribbean 600 is an exciting non-stop 600-mile offshore race on the bucket list of any offshore sailor. Starting and finishing in Antigua, the course weaves around eleven spectacular islands in the central Caribbean.
The overall winner is decided by the best corrected time under the IRC Rating Rule. Multihull and Monohull records are highly contested and there are individual IRC, MOCRA and other class prizes. The RORC Caribbean 600 is part of the RORC Season’s Points Championship, the largest series in the world of offshore racing.
RORC Caribbean 600 Records
Multihull Record
01 days 05 hrs 48 mins 45 secs.
2022 - MOD70 Argo (Jason Carroll)
Monohull Record
01 days 13 hrs 41 mins 45 secs.
2018 - Rambler 88 (George David)
IRC Record
03 days 10 hrs 09 mins 41 secs (IRC Corrected)
2022 - Warrior Won (Christopher Sheehan)
PAST WINNERS
RORC CARIBBEAN 600 TROPHY - IRC OVERALL: (Best corrected time under IRC)
The Royal Ocean Racing Club
Established in 1925, The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) is best known for the biennial Fastnet Race and the international team event, the Admiral's Cup. RORC organises an annual series of offshore races internationally and from its base in Cowes as well as inshore regattas in the Solent.
The RORC works with other yacht clubs to promote their offshore races and provides marketing and organisational support. With the first race in 2009, the RORC Caribbean 600, based in Antigua and the first offshore race in the Caribbean, has been an instant success. The RORC extended its organisational expertise by creating the RORC Transatlantic Race from Lanzarote to Grenada, the first of which was in November 2014. The Roschier Baltic Sea Race was established in 2022, starting and finishing in Helsinki, Finland.
The RORC has 4,000 members and a clubhouse based in St James' Place, London. Since 2014, the RORC Clubhouse Cowes provides superb facilities at the entrance to Cowes Harbour.
RORC website: www.rorc.org
IRC Rating
The RORC has also been a leader in yacht rating systems and in co-operation with the French offshore racing club, UNCL, YCF Race Pole created the International Rating Certificate - IRC. IRC is a World Sailing recognised rating system and the principal yacht measurement system for the rating of racing yachts worldwide.
The IRC rating rule is administered jointly by the RORC Rating Office in Lymington, UK and UNCL, YCF Race Pole in Paris, France. The RORC Rating Office is the technical hub of the Royal Ocean Racing Club and recognised globally as a centre of excellence for measurement.
For IRC rating information in the UK : www.rorcrating.com
For IRC rating globally www.ircrating.org
