5 hours to finish for Nix..

5 hours to finish for Nix doing 10 knts down wind, 9 more miles and then around Redonda (a rock between Nevis and Montserrat) and then upwind beat of 30 miles to the finish at Antigua.. (eta 14.25 or (19.25 NL time)). http://caribbean600.rorc.org/2014-fleet-tracking.html

The orange spi is no more...

The orange spi was thorn under St Maarten...  they have to use the smaller one further on..

 from left 2 right...
Paul Soons, Bob, Willem, Nico, Joop, Hein, Paul St

Nix position/details after 19 hours racing seen on the tracking.. (25 feb 0700)

    http://caribbean600.rorc.org/2014-fleet-tracking.html 
 They have under 15 knots of wind acording to Ugrib..

600.. I'm not on board...

I'm back on the Condor..  My left leg has problems..

 Rough trip SXM-Antigua, we left 1945 and arrived 13 hours later...  Trimaran Jonny Be Good left 2 hours later then us and needed 12 hours...

 Openings party.. free drinks and meals..

 There they go without me..

 Start of the race in the distance from the rocks..

Start of the Nix..  boat on the right withe the crew with light blue Caribbean 600 shirts..

http://gallery.rorc.org/v/2014/rc600/

 I can see the Orange Genaker from the air when I fy over..  Can't see it on the picture..

I'm back on board of the Condor, in the Lagoon of St Maarten..   The Nix will pass later today, will try to go out with appie Stoutenbeek to make pics..

 Nix details after 19 hours racing seen on the tracking..  (25 feb 0700)

2014 RORC Caribbean 600 Race with the 'Nix'

Monday we start with the Nix (a X 612) the 600 at Antigua, with a nice fleet of 60 boats..  http://caribbean600.rorc.org/entries/entries/race-entries.html

Captain Nico Cortlever made a schedule.. 

The race will take 3 days.. Looks like around 15knots wind from the east at the end SE:

24-2 11:00 Start at Antigua, short beat upwind the first hour, then Genaker
24-2 15:00 Gybe around mark under Barbuda 24-2 20:30 Nevis (gijp)
25-2 01:30 Saba beat upto  St. Barth
25-2 07:00 St. Barth down wind to St. Maarten
25-2 10:00 St. Maarten beat up the Anguilla channel
25-2 12:00 Tintamare (end of Anguilla channel) ..to Guadeloupe
26-2 07:00 Iles de Saintes beat up to Les Desirades
26-2 14:00 Les Desirades reach to Barbuda
26-2 22:30 Boei Barbuda reach to Redonda
26-2 03:00 Redonda beat to Antigua
26-2 09:00 Finish Antigua

Biggest problem is passing under Guadeloupe. Doldrums..?
RORC safety regulations..  
We will be sailing with 3 shifts of 3 persons (Nico-Paul.St-Joop) (Bob-Pieter-Han)
(Willem-Hein-Paul So.) Letty does the catering..  
3 are sailing the boat, 3 others are ready to help, the others sleep/rest
We use 1 set of sails, below 20 knots the  Carbon racemain, the Carbon gib #3 always, spare..
dacron gib, spi/Genny upto 25 knots.. 

You can follow us with the fleet tracking system..   

Cheers

Boat info and Nix site:  http://www.regattacharter.nl/yacht.htm
 

Champagne.... :)

14 teams of 3, 8 boats, 16 races total, every team sailed 9 races in a double rotating system meaning you change boats and opponents every time..  the fairest way to race ....   start.. up..down..up..down.. up.. finish..

Daily Herald                                             

 Champagne...   Left Pieter, right Paul Soons..

 words.. explanation and of thanks to all of course 

 Final results

Amongst others ..  one thing I will not forget.. :
The second or third race we won with such a lead (everything we did that race was spot on..) that when we came back to the change over dock after the finish while the rest of the fleet was just rounding the last downward mark..  At arrival  we got applause from the 6 teams x3 + 10 others = 28 people..  I bowed ... nice..

The last race.......  for the win directly against Andrea,  was about the same like above in distance to the rest of the fleet, but now Andrea was fighting me all the way.
I had the A1 start at the pin, but Andrea on my tale around the first mark and downwind, upwind. downwind and then last beat upwind to the finish..  close battle,  and close to the finish he passed in front of me (inches) but this way he was not able to cover us..... and the race and the win was ours.... in the end just a few meter in it at the finish......

Had Andrea won we would have had same points, 16, and then both 3 bullets, then u count the 2nd places of which they had more, so i think Andrea would have won had he won the last race in front of me.. 

But until the actual price giving..... came to the 2nd price winner....  and that not being us... we were not 100% sure ......    Yeahhh

 Start of a race seen from the 'change over dock' and trimaran ...

 Bar

2nd..  Andrea, Ryan and Chris

 Preparation/moving the 'change over' dock with Frits and Robbie... passes under the new Causeway bridge and down wind.... It was anchored near the airport, next to the start/finish line with Andrea's trimaran mored next to it on one side...  8 teams were always sailing while the other 6 teams waited/relaxed on the dock/tri with refreshments..  Note.. Robbie is in underwear because he had to go swimming to get a line out of his propeller..



 ......................................................
Score after the first day:
 I was 1 point behind Andrea and 0.8 points behind Andy, and Robbie 1 point behind me but with one more race sailed... 
1st Andrea Scarabelli, Chris Marshall & Ryan Hope-Ross
2nd Andy Budgen, Ali Merridew & Pippa Kirchman
3rd Han de Bruyn Kops, Pieter Soons & Paul Soons
4th Robbie Ferron, Antonia Martinez & Ruud van Herewijk
5th Roel ten Hoopen, Travis McGarry & Dylan McGarry
6th Frits Bus, Rien Korteknie, Paul Henriquez
7th Carlos Beckmann, Karine Beckmann, Carlos Jr & Mateo Beckmann
8th Luc Knol, Leonardo Knol and Jimmy Drijgers
9th John Gifford, Jolyon Ferron & Rhone Findlay
10th Jan van den Eynde, Gijs Reulen & Ellie den Hartog
11th Matt Ward, Christina Ginger Price, Shane Reid & Lawson
12th Tom Robinson, John Macaulay & Robyn Phillip-Norton
13th Petro Jonker, Mario Jonker & Max Hern
14th David Donnelly, Joseph Dominic Vergani & Niklas Ivvarson.


Sunday 5 more races were sailed in perfect conditions...making every team sailed 9 races...

More info about the competition.. (as far as I know)

Two crews based on the Volvo 70 racing boat Monster Project participated in the race:

Andy Budgen   placed second in the world championships in the 49er class (1998) and was National Champion in the UK. He was also in the top three of the Skiff World Championships.

Tom Robinson   recently won class at the Dartmouth Week and the Hamble Winter Series.

SXM based... :

Andrea Scarabelli..  Extensive experience in racing large sailing yachts and current captain of the Budget Marine Gill team..skippered on big boats on big races, also around the world, now sails for Budget Marine for years winning many races in  LSR, Melges 24 etcetc..   North Sails..

Robbie Ferron..  Mr Budget Marine and Mr Heineken Regatta, trying to win (t)his race for years..  always in the top though, and owner and facilitator of the LSR's (Jeanneau Sun Fast 20)

Frits Bus..  Family doctor who uses all his spare time to sport/sail..  With Island Water World on his shirt, boat and sails..  he manage to sail also everywhere around the world in Lasers up to winning in  (Luxury) Perini Navi 49.80m Silencio (ex Perseus) and in between like LSR;s and Melges 24, also winning his share..

Roel ten Hoopen..  Crew member of Frits and IWW, also sailing his share himself, good boat and race handeling, mainly found in front part of the fleet..


Carlos Beckmann, also mainly in front part of  LSR races with his crew..  his wife and 2 kids 6 and 5 yrs old...

John Gifford..  Heineken Regatta's Chairman Steering Committee

 Budget Marine report..   http://www.budgetmarine.com/EventsItem.aspx?id=3518