Wednesday, February 23, 2011
All change in IRC 1 Class
Well a very interesting night has been had by all it seems in the Caribbean 600.
As Rambler the 100 foot maxi yacht is just about to cross the finish line, the yachts in Class IRC 1 have sailed around St Maarten the northern most part of the race and have had fast reaching conditions south passing St Barts again to starboard, and are only now approx. 20 miles for the northern tip of Guadeloupe. The course will then take them around the bottom of the island, then to les Desirade, back north to North Sails buoy off Barbuda, west to Redonda and then the sprint home, due east to Falmouth Harbour, Antigua.
Fenix, the Swan 60 has overtaken Tonnerre on handicap, which leaves Hydrocarbon 3rd, EH01 4th and Spirit of Minerva 5th; so all 3 Sailing school charter yachts are together. Hydrocarbon have pulled out a 12 miles lead over EH01, which is great, and Spirit of Minerva are some 19 miles ahead of Hydrocarbon on the water.
The wind is still ENE 20 knots, forecast to stay the same for at least the next 12 hours. The sun should just be rising now for the yachts, and what a wonderful sight it must be, leaving Antigua behind them and racing towards the island of Guadeloupe. Meanwhile its foggy, wet and somewhat miserable back here in good old Blightly!
\Good luck to all the teams out there today, and come on Hydrocarbon, we know you can do it!!
