A deception, the Caribbean 600, saved by the epic fight between the two Mod 70 trimarans, Maserati and Phaedo 3. Even if on foils, Maserati did not beat Phaedo, but they have put a great fight: the boats have changed 4 times leadership, arriving Phaedo 3 with a 13 minute advantage over Maserati. Maserati had an incident with fish traps holding the boat that took them all chances of victory. The crew had to dive to set the boat free.
On monohulls the big absence was Comanche that left the way to an easy win (in real time) for the 88ft Rambler. The best race was among the two 72fters with Bella Mente beating Proteus and winning on compensated time. 100ft Leopard 3, a 10 year old racer, is not a match for the newer 88ft Rambler and lost almost 4 hours, beating in real time, with some difficulty, the 72ft Bella Mente (also a newer design) that arrived only about an hour after Leopard 3.
Only a bit more of 50 yachts finished the race but the percentage of big and maxi yachts among them was much bigger than on European races. Basically a millionaire's race with some top racing crews and top racing sailboats among them. A pity. This one has the potential to become the America's classic race....if more top racers, professional crews and top amateurs showed up in bigger numbers.
Anyway, some great movies due to excellent sailing conditions, that included a violent squall:
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