RORC Caribbean 600 - America's Cup winner reports from aboard Momo

by Matthew Mason on 27 Feb 2016 Multiple America's Cup winner, Matthew Mason recently competed in the RORC Caribbean 600 aboard the Judel Vrolijk 72 Momo, skippered by Dieter Schon.

The Caribbean 600 takes the fleet on a 600nm zig-zag course around several islands between Anguilla and Gadaualope in the Caribbean.

Matt lodged this report ahead of the start (apologies for not publishing earlier due to being out of internet/mobile coverage for four days):

24 hours out from the start of the Caribbean 600 it looks like a relatively light start.

The breeze will build through the middle of the race, and we will finish in good breeze of around 20plus knots

Onboard the JV 72 'Momo' we have spent the whole week testing sail cross-overs which has been really good for us. We have a pretty big reaching inventory onboard and there are some quite large cross-overs, so we have been getting all our combinations sorted.

There is a lot of reaching in this race so boat speed will be key and will win you this race - barring getting caught rounding the big island of Gadaualope.

There are four 72 fters in this race so it will be a big push the whole way.

We expect the race to take around 40 hrs and Commanche is clear favourite to take line honours and maybe a new record.

Racing in IRC Zero division, another 72fter Proteus finished the race just over 20 minutes ahead of Dieter Schön’s Maxi72s Momo which finished second overall.

Comanche was the first to finish but was unable to better the race record set by Rambler 88 (George David)