ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK

The 56th edition of Antigua Sailing Week will start next week in spectacular fashion, with strong tradewinds forecast to provide adrenaline-packed sailing across nine classes. Competitors range from family crews and long-term cruisers to some of the most successful sailors on the planet, including America’s Cup winner Dean Barker.

“Whatever their background, every sailor will share the thrill of racing with carefully tailored courses for each class,” says Race Manager Jaime Torres. Teams from 17 nations, including Australia, France, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, USA and from several Caribbean Islands, are set for thrilling racing and sensational parties in one of the sailing world’s most beautiful settings.

Their boats range from 24ft RS Elite dayboats, up to a pair of all carbon fibre Volvo Ocean 65s, a Volvo 70 and Adrian Lee’s high octane HH66 catamaran Lee Overlay Partners lll. “The unbeatable combination of intense competition, incredible scenery and the sense of community among sailors,” particularly appeal to Lee, who has raced at Antigua for 14 years. “The challenge of racing in such a dynamic environment pushes me to improve every year,” he adds, “especially this year as I have a new boat!”

Other notable contenders include classics such as Lennart Davidsson’s 79ft (24m) Sparkman and Stephens designed maxi, Kialoa lll, the largest yacht entered this year.

The action starts on Saturday April 26, with the Peters and May Round Antigua Race. From Sunday April 27, Antigua Sailing Week has five days of racing plus a Lay Day on Wednesday April 30.

CSA Racing 1

The top of this year’s high performance big boat class is expected to see a close fight between three grand-prix yachts: Philip Rann’s VO65 I love Poland, Oliver Kobale’s VO65 Sisi and Roy Disney’s turbocharged Volvo 70 Pyewacket.

“Roy loves racing in the Caribbean, and this will be his first Antigua Sailing Week,” says navigator Peter Isler. “The Pyewacket tradition goes back a generation when his dad, the late Roy E. Disney, built the first of many successful offshore racing boats named after a black cat in one of his favourite movies.

“Pyewacket 70 hails from California but has spent the last few years campaigning in Europe and the east coast with a top-notch international crew. We are looking forward to having a great time sailing in Antigua's idyllic conditions and to learning more about our boat. We are a crew of all professional sailors, aside from Roy, who no longer works as a pro sailor, though he did an America's Cup campaign as a grinder for the Young America team in San Diego in 1995.”

These boats will race on new longer courses, along with the fastest multihulls, as Torres explains: "We created these 20 to 50 mile courses specifically for the high-performance monohulls and multihulls to stretch their legs on very fast reaching angles, along with tactically challenging upwind and downwind sections."

CSA Racing 2

This class has a wide range of boats, ranging from Kialoa lll to Sir Hugh Bailey’s Farr 45 Rebel. However, all slot into a fairly narrow rating band, promising close action on the water throughout the week. Bailey, who was knighted for his services to yachting, is seen as the ‘grandfather’ of sailing in Antigua. Last year he won the High Tide Trophy for best Antiguan yacht in the CSA Racing division. He’s also a previous winner of the coveted Lord Nelson Trophy, which is presented to the yacht best performing CSA Racing yacht, regardless of size, type or division.

CSA Racing 3

Racing is also expected to be extremely tight in CSA Class 3 according to Torres, who notes this class has, “the greatest number past winners of the Lord Nelson Trophy.” He picks out several boats with enviable track records, all of which have a strong chance of lifting the trophy this year.

Local Reichel Pugh designed RP37 Warthog, for instance, is closing out a long and successful season of Caribbean racing. Crewed by top-level Antiguans, and skippered by Jim Vos, she is a strong favourite to win the class. However, they face strong competition from stand-out teams including the J/122 El Ocaso, chartered by Steve Rigby. “This is the fifth Caribbean event on this boat for the team,” says jib trimmer Josh Redgrave. “However, this is our first time competing at Antigua Sailing Week, where we are looking forward to the big winds and waves.

“We have been sailing together since 2021, chartering race boats in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. A lot of our crew also campaigned a J/122 in the UK for a number of years and twice won the IRC National Championship.”

Another formidable entry gunning for the top spot in this class is marine industry legend and long-time ASW competitor Sir Richard Mathews. He has chartered the J/122 Liquid for his Oystercatcher team. “It’s a fast boat with a stellar racing reputation,” says Torres.

A big unknown in this class is a newcomer to the event with a long history of racing success: double Olympic gold medallist and five times Dragon World Champion Poul Høj Jensen. He will be racing a recently acquired custom 37ft Steven Thomas design, Danish Blue.

CSA Racing 4

Top contenders in this group include Quintessence III, David Crum’s classic IOR 45-footer, which he races successfully with friends and family. He finished on the podium at this year’s Heineken Regatta and is hoping to top that with victory at ASW. Equally Katy Campbell’s, Salona 45 Panacea X, recently came a close second at the BVI Spring Regatta and is clearly a strong challenger this week.

RS Elite

The three teams racing this one-design keelboat class can expect a different experience competing on tailor-made courses from their own committee boat. ASW is the main yearly event for this budding Antigua One-Design Class. Racing within Falmouth Harbour will be hotly contested with newcomer Geoffrey Pierini, veteran and chairman of Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta Paul Deeth and Lesley Martin.

CSA Bareboat

The 10 bareboats competing are all in the 44-46ft bracket, setting the scene for further close tussles on the water. These boats may be easier to sail than the most performance oriented at Antigua Sailing Week 2025, but extracting the absolute maximum speed from them is an art few have mastered.

Entries include Italian skipper Andrea Zuppiroli’s Beneteau 46 Shore Thing, whose experienced crew will be at ASW for the first time. “Antigua Sailing Week is a must for every sailor,” says Zuppiroli. “We want to enjoy the Caribbean location, the atmosphere and don’t want to finish last in the rankings!

“We are a group of seasoned sailors with common experiences of offshore navigation, offshore and coastal racing. We are also members of the Tavola di Bisanzio, one of the two groups in Ravenna (Italy) of the Italian Brotherhood of the Coast. In the last years we have sailed frequently together, and consequently we party, eat and drink together!”

Over the years, hundreds of German sailors have enjoyed sailing at ASW thanks to Hartmut Holtmann and KH+P charters. This year they have three boats racing, including KH+P Talisman, a Moorings 42.3 skippered by Susanne Blankenhagen. “It has been a dream for many years to be part of Antigua Sailing Week,” she says “We have only heard how good Antigua and the organisation is, and it will be our first time sailing in the Caribbean. We are very excited to get to know the new sailing area and to meet fantastic people.”

A group of urologists and neurosurgeons have chartered Sorrel, a 44-foot Sunsail yacht, skippered by Steve Clarke. Most have sailed at the regatta before and won the Bareboat division back in 2013. “We enjoyed the atmosphere and the racing, so we are back,” says Clarke. “We've all sailed in various regattas, some in the Med, some in Phuket, Thailand, some in Cowes, but mainly at Hamilton Island Race Week in Australia.”

While there’s a huge diversity of different motivations for competing in Antigua Sailing Week, whatever their prime motivation, everyone can be assured of excellent competition and excitement on the water, plus an unparalleled social scene on shore.

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