Looking at RORC's Caribbean 600, the McIntyre Mini Globe Race, and the Bacardi Winter Series
by David Schmidt 24 Feb 08:00 PST
February 24, 2026
RORC Caribbean 600 © Tim Wright / Photoaction.com
As the world adjusts its gaze from the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics to non-quadrennial sports, and as the Northeast of the USA weathers yet more snowfall while many ski areas out West endure their worst season in years, if not decades, the sailing world finds itself in the lucky position of having a world-class event unfurling right as winter is officially getting old. The Royal Ocean Racing Club's annual Caribbean 600, which began yesterday (Monday) on the warm waters off of Antigua, is taking crews on a 600 nautical mile adventure that's wending past 11 islands before returning to Antigua to cross the finishing line.
Fifty-seven boats began this 600-mile classic race. This includes Black Jack 100, il mostro, and Leopard 3 in IRC Super Zero, Palanad 4 and Ran in IRC Zero, five Class 40s (racing in their own class), and—in the 11-strong multihull class—a pair of MOD 70 trimarans, namely Argo and Final Final-Zoulou.
While racing had barely begun at the time of this writing (Monday morning, West Coast time), it's fair to say that all monohulls will be chasing the race record, set by George David's former Rambler 88 (now called Lucky), which dispatched the race's 600 nautical miles in just 1 day, 13 hours, 41 minutes, and 45 seconds back in 2018.
On the multihull side, all eyes will be on the benchmark record of 1 day, five hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds that skipper Jason Carroll and his Argo crew set in 2022. This includes Carroll and company, who would no doubt be delighted to break their own record.
"There's going to be moderate to good trade winds but shifted 30° more right than normal for the first day and a half," said Carroll in an International Maxi Association report on the Caribbean 600. "So anything that was a beat will be more of a one-tack beat. And anything that was a reach turns into either upwind or downwind."
As for breaking his own record, Carroll was circumspect.
"It looks a touch slower than normal, because the biggest leg, which is usually fast to Guadeloupe, is now going to have some tacks in it for the fast boats, whereas the boats behind will probably lay it in one," he said in the same IMA pre-race report. "But other legs, like Saba to St. Barth, will be heading at the mark upwind, rather than tacking fully upwind. The fastest leg is probably going to be Barbuda to Nevis, which will be a beam reach."
Sail-World wishes all entrants in the Caribbean 600 good luck and good sailing as they take on this classic trade winds distance race.
Meanwhile, jumping from super-fast boats, professional crews, and sat-comms-based weather routing to 19-foot homebuilt monohulls that have been plying the world's oceans for over a year, the 11-boat fleet of ALMA Class Globe 580s that are competing in the McIntyre Mini Globe Race began the final leg of their circumnavigation race last Thursday.
This 2,300 nautical mile closing chapter will take the fleet from Recife, Brazil, to a finishing line off Antigua, thus completing their lap of our lonely planet.
All told, 15 skippers began this around-the-world adventure race on February 23, 2025, however three skippers were forced to drop out due to financial constraints, while a fourth left for medical reasons.
As of this writing, Switzerland's Renaud Stitelmann is leading the hunt, followed by Spain's Pilar Pasanau and Australia's Daniel Turner. But with more than 1,700 nautical miles of brine remaining (at the time of this writing), this game of minimal waterlines and massively bold ocean crossings is far from over.
Finally, closer to home, last weekend marked the second (of two) Bacardi Winter Series, which was hosted by Shake-A-Leg Miami (February 20-22), and which saw racing unfurl in the J/70 and Melges 24 classes.
After nine races, Sandy Askew and her Flying Jenny crew took top honors in the 15-strong Melges 24 class. They were joined on the winner's podium by Bora Gulari and his Full Mavi crew and by Harry Melges and his Zenda Express team.
Amongst the 26-strong J/70 class, David Jannetti's Two Odd crew took top honors, followed by Alec Cutler's Hedgehog-Old Nads crew and by Paul Green's Progress team.
As for anyone stuck shoveling driveways in the Northeast, we at Sail-World can only hope that good old Punxsutawney Phil was wrong about seeing his shadow, while for skiers across the American West (my hand is waving in the air), we hope that March proves to be a much more generous month when it comes to snowfall than the rest of this (miserly) winter.
May the four winds blow you safely home.
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor