(English Harbour, Antigua)- A good event just keeps getting better and
better. While 50-odd boats is nothing to brag about in the greater
scheme of things (compared to the RORC's legendary Fastnet Race with
350+ boats), it is significant that such a "young race" has grown by
leaps and bounds and, most importantly, that anyone who has sailed it
simply LOVES the race. Q.E.D. 
While
"brother" Peter J's gang of GUNBOATS have amassed a significant
presence in the event with an orange and silver boat or two, J/Teams
have been taking up the challenge as well. Last year, a J/122 and
J/39. This year a very well-sailed J/39 in the form of Jonty Layfield's
SLEEPER VIII. As an avid J/Boats sailor, Jonty was the proud owner of
two J/39’s- the old YES/ASSASSIN which he won Cowes week with and one in
St Thomas that he bought and keeps in Antigua!In between racing his J/39’s, Jonty won a Cowes Week race in August 2012 helming a J/70. He sails with his wife Vicky son Jack and daughter Amy. Here's Jonty's report from the Caribbean.
"Just to let you know we won our class in the RORC 600, amazingly enough! Toughest race we have ever done, steady 25 knots, massive 3-4 m seas and we got soaked at the start and remained soaked the while way around, though the boat is 22 years old she never let us down, well done to J/Boats, we beat a `Swan 44, 46 and a 48 in our class.
We were 5th overall down at Guadeloupe 15 miles offshore then stopped for 4 hours. We then had a bloody awful 60 mile beat up to the Saints. We then ripped the main at the reef clew and could not reef for the rest of the race which made the race even harder. Nevertheless, a great outcome for IRC Class3! Cheers, Jonty". For more RORC 600 Race sailing information
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