After 600 demanding miles around 11 Caribbean islands, and with no remaining competitor able to better her corrected time, Leopard 3’s performance under the IRC rule stands unbeaten.
The result secures a second overall IRC victory for Leopard 3, repeating her success in 2024. Leopard 3 has a rich history of victories in the race, dating back to the first edition in 2009. The 2026 edition was Leopard’s ninth ‘600 campaign under project-manager Chris Sherlock.
Join 20,000+ sailing fans receiving free race analysis, exclusive interviews, and behind-the-scenes context from SailGP, the America’s Cup, IMOCA, and across the sail racing world.
“It’s a surprise to win it,” said Joost Schuijff, taking part in his fifth race and reflecting on Leopard 3’s overall IRC victory. “Black Jack was very strong, congratulations to them for line honours. There are other boats on IRC rating that would easily match us. So yes, it’s a surprise but I think it was due to our performance and lack of problems. It was the best ‘600 that we ever sailed here in Antigua.” Laura de Vere taking part in her third race agreed. “It was super exciting. We are thrilled, over the moon.”
Leopard 3 Crew: Joost Schuijff, Laura de Vere, Chris Sherlock, Aaron Reynolds-Lovegrove, Charlie Wyatt, Chris Nicholson, Corrado Rossignoli, Dom Davies, Gerry Mitchell, Giles de Jager, Guillermo Altadil, Henry Stone, Luke Molloy, Mark Petticrew, Matt Wearn, Nick Ryan, Pablo Torrado, Sam Mason, Samuel Wright, Scott Beavis, Tom McWilliam, Warrick Lilley and Will Best.
For Schuijff, the difference this year was cohesion and preparation. “We have not been sitting still. We’ve been optimizing the boat. The team has been working on it for a very long time. Compared to previous races, where we would always have some issue with equipment, this time people didn’t make mistakes. We got to the finish without a critical issue. That was the best race we have done in that respect.”
The upgrades were deliberate. “There are three things that are different compared to the last race: rudders, interceptor and sails. The sails are a new design with a very smooth surface and less drag, so more efficient. The rudders are remarkably different, and everything with the interceptor was calculated. We’ve been running a lot of data programs, and the result was that these three things would really help us and that’s what we did.”
The battle with Black Jack was intense and tactical. “From Guadeloupe to Barbuda is always difficult for us because we didn’t bring a masthead zero, so there’s a gap in our sail plan,” Schuijff explained. “That’s when they ran away from us for six or seven miles, their strong point. But upwind we point higher and do very well in waves, so we caught up again. They were about 30 minutes ahead at the finish, line honours to Black Jack and we were surprised to win it on corrected time in the end.”
De Vere described the emotional arc of that final stretch. “On the last watch, coming close to shore after a hard race, you suddenly feel how exciting it’s been. We knew we were finishing behind Black Jack, but to still have a chance for IRC Overall that gave us collective excitement on board. Even though we had to wait a while for the result, it was really worth all the suffering.”
Both Laura and Joost emphasised the people behind the performance. “We have probably the best team we’ve ever sailed Leopard with,” said de Vere. “It’s a group effort and not just the race team, but the shore team equally. For Joost and myself, we can’t find many sports where we get to participate at such a high professional level. Our whole team is just great; it’s really fun, with magically moments. We are super-attached to the team.”
Schuijff added: “It’s still the same core team, plus some more people this year. The best team you can imagine, very well trained and using the equipment to the maximum.”
Looking ahead, Leopard 3’s programme continues to evolve. “We think we’re going into a programme for electrification of Leopard,” Schuijff revealed. “We may take next year out to do that job. Then the year after, we’ll certainly be back with a modified boat again. We really love Antigua, it’s one of our favourite places in the Caribbean; the island and the people are just fantastic.”
