Finished the Caribbean 600

48 hrs and 11 minutes to do 600 miles around a lot of islands and marks was not easy but it was a very rewarding race and a new experience for the crew of Bella Mente.  The boat preformed very well in all conditions.  We had a very tight race with a very well sailed Cookson 50, the Canted keel Privateer.  The canted keels gives a very large advantage sailing in this type of racing as it is mostly power reaching, and they have the added advantage of more RMC given with the keel out over 40 degrees.

here you have a Tim Wright shot of the start, and Bella has the jump on the fleet.

The course of 600 miles starts off English Harbor, Antigua.  We rounded Antigua after a short beat and then reach off to the North Sails Mark just off the island of Barbuda.  Leopard, the 100' canted keel fastest boat in the fleet, took the lead of around 2 miles as we gybed around and headed to Nevis on a fast run in 16-22 knots of wind.  The sailing was really perfect as this video shows.  In the video you can hear Bella screaming, in over 12 knots of boat speed, the keel hums, at over 20 knots, it is quite loud.  But we get used to it and it help keep the boat moving at speed.

The sun was going down as we rounded St Kitts.  In darkness we then rounded Saba, St Barths, St Marteen and again St Barths to head south east to Guadeloupe.  We were leading the race for a few minutes over Privateer as we got near the large Island of Guadeloupe.  We had a plan and it was not so go.  We ran ran right into Leopard and stopped for 3 hrs.  Boats behind could watch our travels and head in around us toward the shore.  Many did not stop at all.  We continued to sail hard and make large gains back.  Only to lose to Privateer by about 20 minutes.

look Ma, no hands

But we did set an elapse time record for mono haul, non powered or non-moveable ballast boats.  We also won our class and was first out of all non powered and non moveable ballast boats.  We could have won the whole thing but our stop under Guadeloupe was too long.

Bella sailed very fast and hard the whole way.  The crew kept it moving fast but in a very safe way.  only problems we had was some batten problems on a couple of jibs.  600 miles about 110 miles of beating and we averaged over 12.5 knots. pretty fast including our 3 hr tour...

I really enjoyed the race.  So much fun sailing in strong trades, warm water...

Check out the website: http://caribbean600.rorc.org