Antigua, Saturday 4 May: The 55th edition of Antigua Sailing Week attracted 88 boats from 20 different countries and 750 crew from all over the world. Antigua Sailing Week is one of the most celebrated regattas in the sailing world; the 2024 edition added another great chapter. Light winds gave a gentle start to the regatta but that built to a full-on foam up by the final day. The racing through the classes was fierce and the camaraderie was strong.

The Final Prize Giving was held in the historic surroundings of Nelson’s Dockyard. Guests of Honour were the Governor-General of Antigua & Barbuda  His Excellency Dr. Sir Rodney Williams & E.P Chet Greene, Minister of Parliament for ST. Pauls. J’ana Million sang a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem of Antigua & Barbuda. Antigua Sailing Week President Alison Sly-Adams thanked all of the sponsors and the volunteer SWAT team, over a hundred strong, for their hard work. ASW Race Manager Jaime Torres was the Master of Ceremonies and welcomed the trophy winners to the stage. All of the Class Winners received Locman Italy watches presented by Camilla Holme.

The Lord Nelson Trophy is the biggest prize at Antigua Sailing Week and is adorned with the names of famous raceboats over six decades. Two boats have won the famous trophy three times in previous editions: Larry Ellison’s Farr Maxi Sayonara and Sir Peter Harrison’s Farr 115 Sojana. For the 55th edition of Antigua Sailing Week, the  J/122 El Ocaso has joined that elite club. Chartered to British couple Tony & Sally Mack, McFly on El Ocaso lifted the Lord Nelson Trophy in Nelson’s Dockyard Antigua for the best performance at Antigua Sailing Week.

RESULTS: https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=16104

 

“I am feeling just fantastic!” exclaimed Tony Mack. “This is a lovely place to come sailing. I have been to world championships and I have never been to a prize giving like this one! The message to anybody is that if you can come and race out here, do it! Antigua Sailing Week is great fun.”

“You hope to surround yourself with good people and we have a golden rule that if we do well it is always a team effort. If we do badly it is down to me; the blame culture stops there! This has been very much a team effort, everybody worked so hard. We won and lost races by seconds, it was ever so competitive and that makes it mean a lot.”

CSA 1
Winning the Curtain Bluff Trophy and the Ricochet Trophy for best American yacht was Woody Cullen’s Swan 58 Wavewalker (USA). Winning the Corum Trophy for second was Sir Hugh Bailey’s Farr 45 Rebel (ANT) which also won the Hightide Trophy for best Antiguan yacht in CSA Racing. Adrian Lee’s Swan 60 Lee Overlay Partners II (GBR) was third.

“A super experience,” commented  Wavewalker’s Woody Cullen. “We worked really hard as a crew getting the boat ready and in training. We put a lot of effort into this and it just feels super!”

CSA 2
Winning the English Harbour Rum Trophy and also the Fletcher Trophy for Best British yacht was McFly on El Ocaso (GBR). Second in CSA 2 was Ed Bell’s Dawn Treader (GBR). Richard Matthews’ ST370 Holding Pattern (GBR) was third.

CSA 3
Winning the Chippy Fine Yacht Woodwork Trophy was Michel Ngo’s J/133 Credit Mutuel Jivaro (FRA). In second place was Chris Woods Swan 48 Assuage (GBR). David Crum’s Frers 46 Quintessence III (GBR) was third.

“The boat is really well prepared and we have a great crew,” commented Credit Mutuel Jivaro’s Michel Ngo. “This gives us an advantage and the design of the boat is really good for this type of racing. I was here five years ago with another boat and I have come back because I like this regatta as there’s always good wind, the courses are tactical and it is a very good week.”

CSA 4
Winning the Sanhall Trading Cup was First 40.7 Strada Geothermal – Escapado (GBR), skippered by Mark Zamaria (FRA). Second was Carlo Falcone’s One-Off Caccia alla Volpe (ANT). Patrick Holloran’s First 40.7 Caipirinha (GBR) was third.

“We have a superb team that have raced together a lot all over the world, that experience allowed us to gel quickly,” commented Strada Geothermal’s Mark Zamaria. “This week we had a charter boat but we brought our own sails. We have loved being here and we will definitely be coming back.”

CSA 5
Winning the Governor General’s Cup was Sacha Daunar’s FC10 Pepsi Zéro – Montebello (FRA). Second was Jean-Francois’ J/109 Sang Neuf (FRA). Third was Alan Paris’ J/99 Learning to Fly (USA). After being presented with their silverware, Sasha Daunar invited all of the podium teams to a group photo.

“On the water we fight for victory, but afterwards it is very important to congratulate everybody for a great competition,” commented Sasha. “When you sail, everybody is family!”

CSA 6
Winning the Grant Thornton Trophy was Nicolas Gillet’s Surprise 25 Clippers Ship (FRA). Second was Ashley Rhodes Melges 24 Whiplash (ANT). Tristan Marmouzes’ Surprise 25 GFA Caraïbes – La Morrigane (FRA) was third.

Bareboat 1
Racing in Bareboat 1, Tim Ford’s Braque KH+P (GBR) was the winner after strong competition from runner up Botero (USA) skippered by Patrick Henrikson. Braque KH+P was also declared overall winner of the three Bareboat Classes winning the Wave Ice Bucket. Tim Ford and his team come from Dorset, UK and are self-confessed Poole Pirates!

“We will be celebrating tonight!” laughed KH+P Braque’s Tim Ford. “It’s a very big surprise to win first overall in Bareboat. We think we can sail a bit in Poole, and this is justification to get more people to come to Antigua Sailing Week! We will definitely be back.”

Bareboat 2
Racing in Bareboat 2, Bill Lehnert’s young team Lunatic Fringe – Island Time  (USA) was the winner. A very close second was the ‘cool German kids’  racing Barbuda KH+P (GER). Lunatic Fringe was second overall in the Bareboat Class.

“I think this week, the young crew has learnt to work together as a team,” commented Lunatic Fringe’s Bill Lehnert. “They have learnt to work a big boat, big waves and big wind on a great race course!”

Bareboat 3
In Bareboat 3, the winner was Alex Pfeiffer’s Culebra KH+P (GER). Second was Helmut Haas’ with Nevis KH+P (GER).

“You always have to have the boat up to speed, that is the secret to one design racing,” commented KH+P Culebra’s Alex Pfeiffer. “It doesn’t matter what kind of one design boat it is. Good speed, the right tactics and a very good team will win the race.”

One Design Racing – Dragons and RS Elites
In the RS Elite Match Race, Justin Scott’s A Sombra da Bananeira (USA) won eight races to take the class. Second was Robbie Ferron’s Budget Marine (SMX) with five bullets, including the last two races.

In the Dragon Class, Poul Jensen’s Jabberwock (ANT) scored 10 race wins to take victory by five points from Simon Strauss’ Simplicity Dragon (GBR). Third was Neave O’Clery’s Fresia (GBR).

Legacy Class
Winning the West Indies Publishing Cup Trophy in the Legacy Class was the youngest team at Antigua Sailing Week. Tyler Jones’ J/30 Absolute Properties Blue Peter (ANT) was co-skippered by his teenage sons Carrack and Tyden Jones with a team including crew as young as 12. Second was Bernie Evan-Wong’s Cal 40 Huey Too, and third was Sandy Mair’s Beneteau 35 Cricket (ANT).

“These kids have learnt that if you don’t give up and you push through, good things can happen,” commented Blue Peter’s Tanner Jones. “They didn’t stop once, they kept pushing each other and they were amazing.”

Club Class Max
Winning the American Airlines Trophy in CSA Club Class Max by a single point was Matthias Maus’ Swan 65 Alpha Centauri of London (GER). Second by the narrowest of margins was Juerg Schneider’s Swan 65 Saida (SUI). Third was Thierry Bergerault’s XP-50 Madness (FRA).

“That was so close and a good match race this year,” commented Alpha Centauri’s Matthias Maus. “It was fantastic racing, we both had full crews who knew the boats well. The winner came down to unforeseen circumstances, which you cannot calculate, so luck played its part!”

Club Class Modern
Jon Constantine’s Feeling 39 Imagine of Falmouth (ANT) was the winner of CSA Club Class Modern by a single point from Ian Galbraith’s Oyster 53 Jigsaw (SCO). Third was Sebastian Gylling’s Swan 51 Eira (FIN) from the beautiful Nyländska Jaktklubben in Helsinki.

“Just one point between the 1-2-3,” smiled Imagine of Falmouth’s Jon Constantine at the prize giving. “It was a fight for the win. On board we had one of the Youth 2 Keel graduates from last year; Ryanne Small and she is great. We like to encourage that here, sailing for young people is what Antigua is all about, we have got to bring them on.”

After a wonderful Final Prize Giving, Asha Otto & Itchy Feet played a live set on the main stage followed by the After Party with DJ Charlie spinning the tunes until the early hours.

We look forward to seeing everyone again next year at the 56th Edition of Antigua Sailing Week in 2025.

For more information about Antigua Sailing Week including racing, watching the action and the fun-packed shoreside entertainment, visit the official website: www.sailingweek.com

RESULTS: https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=16104

ENDS/… Louay Habib

Thursday, May 2: Racing at Antigua Sailing Week continued with Antigua Yacht Club Marina (AYCM) Women’s Race Day. One hundred and ninety women are racing at the 55th edition of Antigua Sailing Week, representing over a quarter of the sailors competing. 75% of the 88 boat fleet have women on board for the famous regatta.

Antiguan sailor Junella King has been very much in the limelight since victory with Maiden in the McIntyre Ocean Globe Race. Junella returned to Antigua for AYCM Women’s Race Day at Antigua Sailing Week. She started sailing at the National Sailing Academy in 2015 and became a dinghy instructor in 2019. Junella joined the Maiden Factor after meeting Tracy Edwards in 2021. Racing on Maiden, she became the youngest black women to navigate around Cape Horn. Antigua Sailing Week President, Alison Sly-Adams welcomed Junella King to the stage on AYCM Women’s Race Day. To a huge ovation, Junella accepted the award for Inspirational Woman in Sailing; being presented with a Locman Italy timepiece.

 

After three days of gentle conditions, the trade winds were in for AYCM Women’s Race Day. White horses were speckled across both spectacular race courses, with 17 knots from the east piping up to over 20 knots in the gusts. As the penultimate day of racing at Antigua Sailing Week, contenders for class honours are beginning to emerge.

Congratulations to all of the provisional race winners on AYCM Women’s Race Day: Wavewalker, Clippers Ship Doub 6, Pepsi Zéro–Montebello, Dawn Treader, Team Budget Marine, Assuage, Credit Mutuel Jivaro, RYU, Absolute Properties Blue Peter, Imagine of Falmouth, Strada Geothermal Escapado, Caccia alla Volpe, Cricket, Botero, Cachucha, Culebra KH+P, Braque-KH+P, Barbuda KH+P, Jabberwock, Simplicity Dragon, Donna, and Team Budget Marine Oozlumbird.

PROVISIONAL RESULTS: https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=16104

 

On AYCM Women’s Race Day, the CSA Racing Classes were in action on the Rendezvous Course, strutting their stuff on short sharp windward leeward courses. On the Windward Course, the Bareboats, Legacy and Club Classes enjoyed courses on long legs at every point of sail. With two-metre swell the Windward fleet experienced spectacular ocean racing conditions.

In CSA 3, Michel Ngo’s J/133 Credit Mutuel Jivaro (FRA) from Martinique has a substantial lead having scored a string of bullets. Chris Woods Swan 48 Assuage (GBR) scored their second race win of the regatta by just two seconds after CSA time correction. Assuage is in second place just 2.5 points ahead of David Crum’s Frers 46 Quintessence III (USA).

 

Katy Campbell’s Salona 45 Panacea X (CAN) is racing in CSA 3 with seven women on board, including Antiguan Youth 2 Keel sailors Belinda Gilbert and Jhanna Paredes. “To see where past Y2K sailors are right now, like Junella is so inspiring,” commented Jhanna, referring to Antigua’s Junella King, part of the Maiden Crew that has just won the McIntyre Ocean Globe Race – the first all-female crew to win a round the world yacht race. “I see what Junella has done and I look at sailing not just as a sport but as a way of life. It shows that young girls in Antigua have talent and potential,” continued Belinda Gilbert.

In CSA 4 First 40.7 Strada Geothermal Escapado (FRA), with a team from Antibes skippered by Mark Zamaria, leads the class having notched up six race wins. Carlo Falcone’s one-off Caccia alla Volpe (ANT) has scored three race wins to place second, just five points off the lead. Patrick Holloran’s First 40.7 Caipirinha (GBR) is in third.

 

Lyssandra Barbieri’s Dufour 40 Hatha Maris (ANT) is racing in CSA 4 with an all-women crew. Hatha Maris is based in Jolly Harbour. The sailing school Second Star Sailing organises the Women At The Helm project, open to all women eager to gain sailing and racing experience. “Two of the crew have never sailed before and two more have very little experience. We have progressed as a team to a level where we can pull off sharp manoeuvres. Out on the race course competitors have been encouraging us, which is great. We are really enjoying the parties but always ready to sail as best we can every day too. We have not stopped laughing all week!”

 

Antigua Sailing Week features the classic International Dragon Class, racing in both Falmouth Harbour and on the south coast of Antigua. Antigua Yacht Club Marina is home to a fleet of Dragons available for invitational events. The Dragon Class at Antigua Sailing Week is being dominated by Poul Høj Jensen’s team racing Jabberwock (ANT). Poul is a double Olympic Gold Medallist, has won the Dragon World Championships two times and the Dragon Gold Cup five times!

On AYCM Women’s Day it was a wet ride in the Dragon Class with two-metre seas outside Falmouth Harbour. Beth Fleisher’s astonishingly named ‘Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill” (USA) is from Southold YC, New York. The team didn’t score a race win, but did fish a competitor out of the water who had gone overboard!

“We don’t normally sail Dragons, but they are fast, tweaky and fun to sail. It’s something new and very different to the J/80 that we sail back home,” commented Beth Fleisher who is racing with her son Ben and sisters Caroline and Charlotte Keil. “Everything we are learning here is going to be a great bring-back. This the first Antigua Sailing Week for all of us. Everybody is really friendly, it’s a great community, the spirit of the event is fantastic.”

After racing, the Regatta Bars were lively on the Antigua Yacht Club Lawn. A jam-packed crowd cheered on the prize winners on stage at the AYCM Women’s Day Daily Prize Giving. The fancy dress theme of Ladies Nite in White at the AYCM Platform was accompanied by Antiguan Party-Band Climaxx. Later in the evening, Antigua Sailing Week party go’ers will get a second helping from Black Slate. The British Reggae sensation is all set for a live performance at Lucky Eddi’s in Falmouth Harbour.

Racing at Antigua Sailing Week will come to a thrilling climax on Friday 3 May with Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Race Day, followed by the Final Prize Giving in Nelson’s Dockyard.

Saturday, April 27: The Peters & May Round Antigua Race was blessed with gorgeous conditions. The stand-alone race prior to Antigua Sailing Week was held in a warm gradient wind of 10-14 knots, just south of east, with a smooth sea state.

The overall winner, lifting the Peters & May Round Antigua Race Trophy, was Ed Bell’s JPK 1180 Dawn Treader (GBR). Second was Jim Vos’ RP37 Warthog (ANT) and third overall, winner of the CSA Racing Class and Monohull Line Honours, was Woody Cullen’s Swan 58 Wavewalker (USA). Justin Scott’s Outremer 51 Uhuru (USA) was the winner of the CSA Cruising Multihull Class, winning the Peters & May Multihull Line Honours Trophy.

RESULTS: https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=16164

The Peters & May Round Antigua Race is the perfect way for any team to tune up for Antigua Sailing Week. Local boats are also welcome to enter, even if they are not racing at the famous regatta.

All of the Dawn Treader team are from the UK, including three members of the Bell Family. Ed, Cate and their son George Bell are racing with friends from home, with Mark Spearman as Boat Captain. George Bell is taking time out before going to university and has raced thousands of miles on Dawn Treader this year, including the RORC Transatlantic Race and the RORC Caribbean 600.

“This is my first time at Antigua Sailing Week and the Peters & May Round Antigua Race was a great event to get the team up-to-speed,” smiled George Bell. “We had great competition on the water with Apollo and we were checking our watches at every mark rounding against Warthog on corrected time. I will be going back to the UK after Antigua Sailing Week and all the Dawn Treader crew want a really enjoyable last Caribbean regatta for a great send off.”

After Antigua Sailing Week, Dawn Treader along with many other racing and cruising boats will be shipped back to the UK by Peters & May. Craig Stanbury, Peters & May Global Director of Operations for Racing has been coming to Antigua for over 20 years and explains why Peters & May have supported the Round Antigua Race since 2016 and will continue to do so.

“Peters & May love supporting Antigua Sailing Week and I personally have a big place in my heart for Antigua,” commented Stanbury. “I love everything about Antigua; the people, the friendliness, and it is a wonderful place to come sailing. The Round Antigua Race is the perfect fit for Peters & May and our sponsorship allows us to give something back to sailing. Peters & May are very proud to be involved and support Antigua Sailing Week to give boat owners the option to ship their boats to and from the Caribbean.”

While the Racing classes were set a full anti-clockwise circumnavigation of Antigua of approximately 50 miles, the Cruising classes and smaller race boats were set a 25-mile course, taking in the headlands on the south side of Antigua, plus a taste of Atlantic racing off the windward side of Antigua.

The winner of the Almost Round Antigua Race was Donald MacDonald’s Salona 38 Bonkers (GBR). Andreas Bock’s KK28 Karin (GER) took Line Honours for the race, but was second after CSA time correction by under three minutes. Third was Bernie Evan-Wong’s Cal 40 Huey Too (ANT). Justin Scott’s Outremer 51 Uhuru (USA) was the winner of the CSA Cruising Multihull Class.

“A beautiful day with classic Antiguan conditions for the Peters & May Round Antigua Race,” commented Jaime Torres, Antigua Sailing Week’s Race Manager. “Getting a gentle start to the event was just perfect as none of the teams were too challenged. We are expecting the wind to pick up during the five days of racing for the 55th edition of Antigua Sailing Week.”

 

The Peters & May Round Antigua Race Prizegiving at the Antigua Yacht Club also included the awards for the second edition of the Antigua Wingfoil Championships, which comprised of three thrilling days of racing, including new records and great camaraderie among the competitors.

Local wingfoiler Idani Edwards emerged as the undisputed star of the event, claiming victory in every race and setting a new long-distance record of just 29 minutes. Reflecting on his success, Idani exclaimed, “I am absolutely thrilled with this event! We had a blast, with fantastic racing and incredible Antiguan conditions!”

After racing, Antigua Sailing Week was officially opened with Antigua Sailing Week President Alison Sly-Adams welcoming to the stage Guest of Honour, Hon. ‘Max’ Fernandez. The Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Transportation & Investment gave a rousing speech, welcoming all of the 750 competitors from 22 different countries to Antigua Sailing Week. Live entertainment at the Antigua Yacht Club included wonderful cultural artists and the Original Steel Orchestra, which panned a spirited rendition of the National Anthem of Antigua & Barbuda.

Racing for the 55th edition of Antigua Sailing Week starts tomorrow, Sunday, April 28 with English Harbour Rum Race Day.

For more information about Antigua Sailing Week visit the official website: www.sailingweek.com and follow on social media: #antiguasailingweek #ASW55 #racechasecelebrate #asw2024

ENDS/… Louay Habib