Antigua Sailing Week - News and Video

Fort James, Antigua – In challenging racing conditions beginning with light winds that built steadily throughout the day, a diverse fleet of 185 yachts set sail in the opening day of the 41st edition of Stanford Antigua Sailing Week.

 

 

-- DAY 1 Antigua Sailing Week --

The Division A racing fleet competed over a 34.5 nautical mile course on the first leg of the Round-the-Island Race from Falmouth Harbour to a new venue for Race Week at Fort James on the island’s northwest flank. Meanwhile, the Division B racer/cruisers and bareboat charter yachts negotiated a 23.1 nautical mile track in the inaugural Fort James Race.

With a northeast breeze topping off at around 10 knots, clean starts and clear air – not to mention staying inshore to avoid the onset of a foul current on the initial windward leg – paid high dividends in the early going for all 17 classes on the respective starting lines. Among the many subplots for the day was how well Mike Slade’s mighty 100-footer ICAP Leopard would stave off the advances of George David’s 90-foot Rambler and Benny Kelly’s TP52 Panthera in the Grand Prix Racing I class.

ICAP Leopard was impressive indeed, blazing around the course to take line honors among the monohull fleets as the first yacht to finish the point-to-point race. But in the provisional standings on corrected time, ICAP Leopard finished a distant fourth in the seven-boat big boat class, with Rambler leading the pack to win the division, just ahead of Panthera in second. Sam Fleet’s Swan 601, Aquarius, also earned a podium finish on Day 1 with a third in class.

Racing II was also the domain of a maxi-sized racer – Peter Harrison’s majestic 115-foot Bruce Farr-designed ketch, Sojana – but, like ICAP Leopard, she was also victimized by a smaller, well-sailed competitor: Stuart Robinson’s Swan 70, Stay Calm, which corrected out to first in the division. Sojana stayed close in the rankings, notching a second, and was followed by yet another Swan, Clay Deutsch’s 68-foot Chippewa, which took third.

The Swans continued an early, impressive across-the-board performance in Racing III, where Barry Sampson’s Club Swan 42, Long Echo, notched a bullet in the ultra-competitive 12-boat class. But Sampson and his crew can’t rest on their laurels, as Frank Savage’s Lolita – the overall winner of Antigua Sailing Week in 2003 – is hot on their heels after a second in the division in the inaugural day of action.

The Anteros 36, Easy, was another boat drawing first blood quickly, taking top honors in Racing IV, and in doing so equaling the performance of the J/122 Lost Horizon, skippered by James Dobbs, in Racing V.

The multihulls, back for their second consecutive appearance in Antigua after a long hiatus, made the most of the day one's building breeze, which rose into the mid-teens in sporadic squalls as morning gave way to afternoon. Claude Thelier’s 60-foot trimaran, Region Guadaloupe, was the quickest boat in the fleet and first-to-finish overall, but when the smoke cleared the spindly flyer was third in the Multihull Racing fleet, behind winner Franck-Yves Escoff on the 50-foot tri Crepes Whaou!, in first, and skipper Calle Hennix’s SeaCart 30, True Look, in second. In the other division of racing Multihulls, the Gunboat catamaran class, the early leader is today’s winner, John Kwitek, on the 62-foot Lickity Split 2. In Multihull Cruising, top honors went to the 40-foot Crowther-designed cat, We Two Are One.

The one-design International Class is new to Antigua, and to mark the occasion, Olga White on Murka Dragon went down in the record books as the first skipper to lead home the 8-boat division.

In the dedicated Performance Cruising divisions, the S&S-designed 57-footer, Charisma, was the top boat in Performance Cruising I, while Stephen Carson’s Dehler 33, Hightide, was the winner in Performance Cruising III. Longtime Antiguan campaigner Hugh Bailey was the top performer in Performance Cruising IV aboard his Beneteau 456, Hugo B. Still another Beneteau, Pat Nolan’s Oceanis 44, Seabiscuit, stood atop the 15-boat Cruising I division after an opening day victory.

Last but far from least were the quartet of Bareboat charter divisions, with four respective winners: David Abromowitz’s 51-foot Beneteau Cyclades, Lubi, in Bareboat I; Burt Keenan’s 46-foot Beneteau Oceanis, Arcadia’s Southern Comfort, in Bareboat II; Sascha Jaeger’s Dufour 46, KH+P Oiseau, in Bareboat III; and Thedy Schmid’s Dufour 385, KH+P Clarabella, in Bareboat IV.

 

 

-- DAY 2 Antigua Sailing Week --

Racing under clear blue skies and fueled by ideal northeasterly tradewinds coursing across the Caribbean, seventeen classes of race boats took to sea for Day 2 of competition in the 41st running of Stanford Antigua Sailing Week. While there were multiple surprises across the board in the respective fleets, the main story lines were scripted in the flat-out Division A racing fleets, where a winner was crowned in the two-stage Around the Island Race, and two of the pre-regatta favorites in Racing II and Racing III, respectively, which ended the day in a long protest hearing after a messy collision in the early going of today’s action.

When all was said and done, Peter Harrison’s Farr 115, Sojana, competing in Racing II, was disqualified after colliding with Frank Savage’s Racing III entrant, the Swan 56, Lolita. Savage’s 56-footer dropped out shortly thereafter.

“We arrived at the little (offset) spreader mark and jibe set at the top mark,” said Sojana skipper Marc Fitzgerald, noting that Lolita had already rounded the mark making Sojana the windward, overtaking boat.

“Lolita went round in front of us and jibe set their kite just before us,” continued Fitzgerald. “They bore off and we went up to clear them but they came up really hard and then wiped out.... We were both on port. It shouldn’t really been a problem but they just lost it and then lost it again. We hit parallel, they came in at a very shallow angle and because we were traveling much quicker they just scraped all the way along the side of our boat and totally wrecked the end of the boom on our mizzenmast. It was really lucky they didn’t take out our rig. Basically I guess their argument will be we were windward boat so should have kept clear. It wasn’t so much we didn’t have an opportunity to keep clear; we just didn’t have a hope in hell.”

Sojana went on to win the race but it turned out to be a hollow victory after their disqualification, which opened the door for the Swan 68, Clay Deutsch’s Chippewa, to move atop the leader board in Racing II for today’s race. By virtue of a first yesterday and a second today, however, the overall class leader is now Stuart Robinson’s Swan 70, Stay Calm.

Meanwhile, in the second, 25.9 nautical-mile leg of the two-part, clockwise Around the Island Race, Mike Slade’s magnificent 100-foot canting keel ICAP Leopard took line honors for the second consecutive day to capture the Yachting World Trophy awarded to the fastest monohull to circle Antigua on elapsed time.

“We had a lovely race after a slight tangle at the start,” said ICAP Leopard navigator Hugh Agnew. “But in fact, it got us out to the right-hand side on the beat…which is exactly where you want to be because you get little right-hand flicks of pressure: the more right you are, the more right you get. We then had a cracking run down (the reach) with the A2 (asymmetric spinnaker). We got a nice jump on (George David’s 90-foot) Rambler – one and a half minutes round the windward mark -- which is well over what we needed on handicap. Then we basically extended on Rambler all the way and beat her by over a minute on handicap. It was our conditions. We need nice long legs to get the boat working.”

However, while ICAP Leopard may have won the boat vs. boat match-up with Rambler, at this stage of the regatta they’ve had not yet won the Racing I war. For sitting atop the class after two days of racing is Benny Kelly’s TP52, Panthera, the new division winner after registering the victory in day two’s contest.

Both of Day 1’s top boats, Barry Sampson’s Club Swan 42, Long Echo, and Savage’s Lolita, both scored DNFs (did not finish) in Day 2 competition. Day two’s Racing III winner was Peter Peake’s R/P 44, Storm, but by virtue of two consecutive third-place results, the overall division leader is Robert Swann’s Marten 49, Yani.

In Racing IV, skipper Paul Solomon’s Henderson 35, BMobile Enzyme, topped the field but the class leader was the Anteros 36, Easy, after earning its second consecutive second-place finish in as many races. Racing VI remained unchanged from yesterday as Philippe Champion’s J/120, Paulista, and the Beneteau 40.7, Incognito, took first and second for the second consecutive day.

The top boat in Multihull Racing today was the 50-foot Crepes Whaou, while the first Gunboat across the finish line was last year’s winner, Bruce Slayden’s 62-footer, Looking for Elvis.

Other winners on day two included Marco Rodolfi’s Swan 62, Berenice, in Performance Cruising I; Richard Burbidge’s Swan 43, Pavlova II, in Performance Cruising III; and Hugh Bailey’s Beneteau 456, Hugo B, in Performance Cruising IV. The top International Dragon was Poul Jensen’s Compass Point. There were no changes in Bareboat I, II and III, where yesterday’s winners – David Abromowitz’s 51-foot Beneteau Cyclades, Lubi; Burt Keenan’s 46-foot Beneteau Oceanis, Arcadia’s Southern Comfort; and Sascha Jaeger’s Dufour 46, KH+P Oiseau, respectively – all repeated their winning ways today. Bareboat IV, however, had a new winner, Jamn Soderberg’s Beneteau 445, Chess.

 

 

-- DAY 3 Antigua Sailing Week --

Day three of Stanford Antigua Sailing Week was a solid day of racing under blue skies, moderate seas and swell, and breezes ranging from 10-16 knots. With three days of racing down and two to go, the final results are far from certain. But the cream is beginning to rise to the top in many of the 17 respective classes competing at Sailing Week, and time is drawing short for mid-fleet boats to make a charge.

The Division A racing fleets have now finished four races in their seven-race series after a pair of windward/leeward contests off Antigua’s southeast shores. Meanwhile, the Division B Performance Cruisers, Dragons, Cruisers and Bareboats have knocked off three races in their five-race series after negotiating a winding 20.5 nautical mile course in the South Coast Race.

On Monday, Frank Savage’s Swan 56, Lolita, was forced to withdraw after colliding with Peter Harrison’s Farr 115, Sojana, an infraction in which the big ketch was disqualified for failing to keep clear of the smaller Swan. As Lolita limped to Falmouth Harbour after the incident, it was unclear whether the boat would be able to continue in the event or withdraw. But Savage’s crew, led by co-helmsman Phil Garland of Hall Spars and ably assisted by local riggers, were able to replace the damaged rod in Lolita’s standing rigging and were on the race course competing today.

And not only did Lolita compete, she registered a second and third and is very much in the hunt for top honors in Racing III, as is Roger Swann’s Marten 48, Yani, which scored a pair of bullets in the day’s two races.

“So much has happened in the last twenty-four hours,” said Savage. “But I’m a very happy man today. Did you see how well my crew sailed today? They always do that. We’ve had a lot of highs and lows and we’ve shown we can come back from those lows. We just wanted to go out and show we could come back and still perform well. And I think we showed that today. I think we’re in good shape and will have a wonderful regatta. We want to win out on the racecourse.”

The same could be said of the sailors in Racing I and Racing II, as well, where standings are tight at the top and it appears nothing will be sorted out until the last race is sailed. In Racing I, where four different boats have won races in as many chances, a single point separates Benny Kelly’s TP52, Panthera (a 3-2 today) and George David’s 90-foot Rambler (2-3). But Mike Slade’s 100-foot ICAP Leopard, which won this morning’s race, and Sam Fleet’s Swan 601, Aquarius, the winner of the afternoon race, are both within striking distance in a class where no quarter is being given in intense competition.

Racing II also remains too close to call, though Stuart Robinson’s Swan 70, Stay Calm, is in the driver’s seat after two straight victories on day three. Hot on Stay Calm’s heels is another Swan, the 68-foot Chippewa skippered by Clay Deutsch, which is two points in arrears after a pair of second-place finishes.

The Racing IV and V, and Performance Cruising I classes also had two-for-two, straight set winners on day three: Outstanding performances were not just the order of the day in Division A, however. In Division B, the following boats and skippers took top honors in their respective divisions in the day’s lone race: David Cullen’s J/109, Pocket Rocket, in Performance Cruising III; Hugh Bailey’s Beneteau 456, Hugo B, in Performance Cruising IV; Sasha Eskov’s Half Moon in the one-design International Dragon class; Seabiscuit, Pat Nolan’s Oceanis 44, in Cruising I; the 40-foot Crowther-designed catamaran, Egon Plovier’s We Too Are One, in Multihull Cruising; David Abromowitz’s 51-foot Beneteau Cyclades, Lubi, in Bareboat I; Burt Keenan’s 46-foot Beneteau Oceanis, Arcadia’s Southern Comfort, in Bareboat II; Sascha Jaeger’s Dufour 46, KH+P Oiseau, in Bareboat III; and Fredy Geisser’s Dufour 40, KH+P Fantasque, in Bareboat IV.

The Multihull Racing class is all about the trimarans this year, and there’s a new kid mixing it up with the big offshore racers. By virtue of two wins today, Calle Hennix’s SeaCart 30, True Look, has earned a tie atop the class rankings with Franck-Yves Escoff’s 50-foot Crepes Whaou. The big 60-foot tri, Region Guadaloupe, is a not-so-distant third. The Gunboat cat fleet remains wide open after two different boats found the winner’s circle today: John Kwitek’s 62-footer Lickity Split 2 in the day’s first race and Bruce Robinson’s 48-foot Blast in the second.

In Division B, the following boats and skippers took top honors in their respective divisions in day three's lone race: David Cullen’s J/109, Pocket Rocket, in Performance Cruising III; Hugh Bailey’s Beneteau 456, Hugo B, in Performance Cruising IV; Sasha Eskov’s Half Moon in the one-design International Dragon class; Seabiscuit, Pat Nolan’s Oceanis 44, in Cruising I; the 40-foot Crowther-designed catamaran, Egon Plovier’s We Too Are One, in Multihull Cruising; David Abromowitz’s 51-foot Beneteau Cyclades, Lubi, in Bareboat I; Burt Keenan’s 46-foot Beneteau Oceanis, Arcadia’s Southern Comfort, in Bareboat II; Sascha Jaeger’s Dufour 46, KH+P Oiseau, in Bareboat III; and Fredy Geisser’s Dufour 40, KH+P Fantasque, in Bareboat IV.

 

These incredible photos of Antigua Sailing Week were sent in by Tim Wright of www.photoaction.com

 

 

-- DAY 4 Antigua Sailing Week --

The fleet enjoyed a day of R&R during Stanford Antigua Sailing Week’s annual Lay Day, the highlight of which was the Sundown Party offering spectacular views of the island of Antigua from Shirley Heights.

Racing continues today, with another pair of races scheduled for the Division A racing fleets, and a 21.6 nautical mile course awaiting the Division B competitors in the Jolly Harbour Race.

 

• Photos of Antigua Sailing Week by Tim Wright.
• Video 1: Sailing in Antigua, view from a boat.

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