New Format & Diverse Fleets Across All Classes = Exciting Outlook for Antigua Sailing Week

by Michelle Slade / Antigua Sailing Week 17 Apr 05:18 PDT

Whether the goal is to set records or ensure that the cooler is filled with ice-cold cocktails, there's something for everyone at the new Antigua Sailing Week, the island's longest-running sailing event which offers racing and cruising options enticing a broad range of participants.

The event kicks off on April 22 with registration at Nelson's Dockyard and features a multi-venue around-the-island format and LOTS of Caribbean-style parties.

Conditions permitting, the course is designed to highlight the best that the island has to offer together with the special camaraderie that is unique to sailing. Sailors start from Nelson's Dockyard on April 23 and race to Green Island, approximately 8 NM, where they will anchor for the night and enjoy the first of many onshore post-racing festivities. Day 2 extends the sailing leg to about 17 miles as the fleet sails from Green Island to Jumby Bay Island. A longer day is also scheduled for Day 3 with a 21-mile leg from Little Jumby Island to Ffryes Beach - renowned for white sand and clear turquoise waters. The final leg on Day 4 will take the fleet on an 11-mile course from Ffryes Beach returning to Nelson's Dockyard for prize-giving and a post event celebration party.

Boats and teams will participate in four divisions – Monohull Racing, Multihull Racing, Monohull Cruising Rally and Multihull Cruising Rally. Peter Blunden, skipper/owner of the Dufour 500 GL Life of Reilly III, will be on the start in Monohull Racing and he’s thrilled that the new event caters to a style of competition that he really enjoys: destination racing.

“In 2023, we participated in the Antigua to Bermuda Ocean Race which we enjoyed very much so we signed up for that again this year then heard about this new event,” Blunden, who hails from Halifax, Novia Scotia, smiles. “In the past we’ve just been spectators of the former Antigua Sailing Week event so when we saw the change in the format, we said, oh, that's perfect for us, we can do that. The competition looks good – I see there is another Dufour 500 participating albeit in the Cruising class, and I've only passed a couple Swans in my life so it should be good racing.”

While the Monohull Racing division will host a diverse fleet, nonetheless the competition will be tough especially among local Antiguan sailors like Sandy Mair who is a regular on the Caribbean circuit campaigning his Beneteau First 36 Cricket. Mair frequently makes podium and sailing on his home turf, he’ll certainly be chasing another podium place. Youth sailors – and brothers - Carrack and Tyden Jones have also enjoyed time on the podium racing their family boat Blue Peter, a J30; they recently won the local Valentine's Regatta and Jolly Harbour Regatta in the racer cruiser division. No stranger to success on the Caribbean circuit, local Bernie Evan-Wong will be vying for a top place on his Mumm 36 High Tension but he says his main agenda is to just have fun.

“The new format should be interesting - I know the racecourse area that is planned very well but still, it can be tricky on the North Coast and around Green Island,” Evans-Wong notes. “My crew are a great bunch of friends – we’re no rockstars but we love having fun!”

Competing in the Monohull Cruising division on a 46ft Beneteau Mystic Lee (Rob the Dawn), Rob Britts and his wife Dawn Menegazzi from St Petersburg, Florida, look forward to taking it easy after many years of racing hard in fleets like the J24 and J70, and recently the exciting Melges 15 fleet. Not paying attention to what they were signing up for, they registered for the new Antigua Sailing Week. In hindsight, they’re more than okay with that.

“The lure of Antigua was the possibility of a big fleet of bareboats in one class like we had in St Maarten, that’s what we were excited about, and we did not catch on that the former Antigua Race Week had been split into two different events,” Britts laughs. “By the time we figured it out we were committed to the bareboat we chartered and decided to stick with Antigua Sailing Week. It did change our crew dynamic and so now we’re just bringing two friends and plan to have a really fun time: a rally-cruise party around the island. We have no expectations – we’re not looking at it as a serious racing event or even a typical bareboat racing class although we’ll be cognitive of the mark roundings as well as some of the teams who may not know the racing rules of sailing. We’re just excited to see the island with a little bit of a format.”

Jerome Delire, skipper of the Hanse 588 Impala, notes with a smile that his boat is fully set up to compete in a cruising rally.

“Everything is electric and absolutely not designed for racing but we have 2 asymmetric spinnakers on board and we love to use them!” Delire jokes. “I’ve sailed for a long time with Impala’s owner Alain-Phillippe Poncelet in the Mediterranean and recently for a Caribbean tour. Antigua Sailing Week will be the last Caribbean party for us before we cross back to Europe. The owners have invited friends who love sailing and the only objective for us is to take a maximum of pleasure before crossing back; that's the reason why we like the new format; to race like a rally!”

Steve Turnbull will jump ship to participate in Antigua Sailing Week in the Multihull Cruising Rally division. From Hereford, England, he bought his boat Blue Dolphin, a Lagoon 440, in Grenada last September and has spent the past 8 months cruising the Caribbean islands. He sailed into Antigua 3 months ago and has quickly become enamoured with all the island has to offer and other cruisers who he has met. For the event he’ll sail with Tom and Ana Allison from Seattle, Washington aboard their Leopard 45 catamaran Senora.

“We're cruising people who've sold our homes, bought boats, and now live aboard,” Turnbull says. “Antigua Sailing Week is effectively what we are lucky to do every day here, but with a specific agenda that includes parties, so for us it is more of a social event. I have become familiar with the general area we will be cruising for the event and I’m mostly looking forward to sailing on a different boat; the Allison’s boat is 15 years newer that mine so it has different technologies, and I’m interested to see how their boat sails. While we’ll be sailing around marks to get to our destinations we’re very much cruising and won’t be concerned with who gets there the quickest!”

Bill Greene, from Palm Beach, Florida, is also participating in the Cruising Rally division on his 42’ catamaran Freedom Greene. He’s been cruising his boat since he bought it in 2020 and spends six weeks each spring in Antigua mainly because he enjoys all the racing activity on the island during that time. The new format for this year’s Antigua Sailing Week offers he and his wife Michele an opportunity to actually participate in something that they can manage.

“It's fascinating to see all these world-class boats and sailors converge here to compete, demonstrate, show off and have fun with fellow world-class sailors and all of the participants, supporters, volunteers and observers that also come here for the spectacle, so it will be nice to be part of that even though for us it will be a cruising experience versus a racing experience. We’re looking forward to making stops at places on the rally where we have not yet discovered, exploring different parts of the island and enjoying the camaraderie of the other cruisers and racers on the rally - just enjoying the hospitality of the wonderful Antigua experience.”

Marketing & Race logistics Manager Rana Lewis says, "We are very thankful to the boats and crews who are taking the leap of faith with us this year and heading back around the island. For the crews and for us as the organisers, the logistics are challenging, but that is half of the fun. We are delighted that we will be able to reconnect Antigua Sailing Week with the rest of the island and give our sailors the full experience of our culture, food, different types of venues and ultimately have a fantastic week."

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