There's a good turnout of young Irish sailors competing in the Caribbean 600 starting on Monday.
The Irish crew are among teams from all around the globe arriving in Antigua this weekend and representing over 32 different nations.
The sailors are onboard a spectacular fleet of 75 boats, ranging from 32ft (10m) to 125ft (38.07m) that will take the start of the 13th edition of the 600 nautical mile RORC Race.
Conor Corson and Matt Beecher will be competing on the A13 Phosphorus II. Conor (26) is from Clontarf in Dublin while Matt (23) hails from just outside Kinsale in Cork. Both are now based abroad with Conor residing in Hamble and working professionally in the industry over there while Matt is currently spending much of his time in France preparing for his first season on the Figaro circuit and training with Kenny Rumball’s Offshore Academy. Both are doing their first C600.
Cliodhna Connolly hails from West Cork and is competing again in the Caribbean. She’ll be sailing on the American Swan 82 White Rhino. She is a six-time 1720 sportsboat National Champion and competed in the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race onboard the Irish yacht of the year, Nieulargo. Cliodhna is now based in the UK where she is now sailing with the Cape 31 class
Saoirse Reynolds is based at Dun Laoghaire Harbour and also competes in the C600 for the first time. She is sailing on Taz, an Antiguan Reichel Pugh 37 owned by Bernard Evan Wong, which will feel substantially bigger than Conor Fogerty’s Figaro, the foiling boat she crewed in last season's Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race. Reynolds is a 2019 D2D race veteran along with the 2019 and 2021 Fastnet and has spent the past two seasons racing on Chris Power Smith’s J122 Aurelia.
The 600nm course circumnavigates 11 Caribbean Islands starting from Fort Charlotte, English Harbour, Antigua and heads north as far as St Martin and south to Guadeloupe taking in Barbuda, Nevis, St Kitts, Saba and St Barths.
