ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK

Falmouth Ocean Club Y2K Race Day

Jim Vos has been a longtime supporter of young Antiguan crew on his RP37 Warthog © Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com

Antigua, May 1, 2025: Racing at this year’s Antigua Sailing Week is so close that one-third of the classes started the penultimate day with boats tied on points at the top of their respective leaderboards. CSA Racing Class 1 is the only one in which a consistent overall winner has emerged – Roy Disney’s turbocharged Volvo 70 Pyewacket, the winner of every race so far. The Volvo 65s Sisi and Sailing Poland are currently lying in second and third places respectively overall.

By contrast, CSA Racing Class 4 has seen three boats – Caccia alla Volpe, More Zessin’ and Quintessence III – take race wins to date, while two others have also scored podium results. In addition, Colin Baldwin’s Archambault A40 Sete Mares was fourth in both of today’s races, missing out on third place by only 6 seconds in the first race and by 7 seconds in the second race.

Woody and Carolyn Cullen’s Swan 58 WaveWalker raced with a local youth sailor for the second year © Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com

Today’s spotlight also swung onto the many young Antiguan sailors who now compete across all classes at Antigua Sailing Week. Among numerous success stories is that of 16-year-old Isaiah Tonge, who has been sailing for three years. He raced on one of the largest boats at ASW last year, Woody and Carolyn Cullen’s Swan 58 WaveWalker from Nantucket Yacht Club, joining them again this year as part of the foredeck team. “Isaiah is a local youth sailor we met last year – he came up and introduced himself to Carolyn and myself and asked to sail with us,” says Woody. “We were fortunate enough to say yes. “He always shows up early, stays late, helps the whole crew with prepping the boat and cleaning up afterwards. “It's a real joy to have him – he’s a very passionate young sailor, a student of sailing with high aspirations and there's no reason he won't achieve those.”

“The experience on WaveWalker has been a dream for me ever since I started sailing,” says Tonge. “When I saw my first Antigua Sailing Week, I saw WaveWalker sailing and I was saying, ‘yeah, I should get on this boat because it’s just so amazing’. When I spoke to them last year for the first time, these people were so nice. They treat me like family. So I'm really appreciative of Carolyn and Woody, for allowing me to go on this boat again this year.”

“It’s a fantastic mission,” Woody says of the Youth to Keelboat (Y2K) initiative that places young local sailors aged 14-25 with competing yachts. “Antigua is full of young, very good sailors and they just need an opportunity to get on these boats to both grow and to show their skill. We're lucky to have him, not only does he bring his skill and his passion to our boat, he also brings local knowledge. So it's a win-win for boat owners and the youth of Antigua.”

A young crew on Poul Hoj-Jensen's Steven Thomas One off 37 Danish Blue © Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com

Today’s first race started in 9-10 knots of wind, with the breeze later reducing to mostly 6-7 knots as a storm cell developing to the west of the island progressively sucked wind away from the course area. Nevertheless it remained dry and warm both on shore and on the race course throughout. WaveWalker posted a solid performance in CSA Racing Class 2, taking second place in both races, while Don Terwilliger’s Beneteau First 47.7 Dauntless finished with a pair of third paces. However, Wayne Zittel’s X-Yachts XP50 DNR has been consistently improving all week and won both her races today. WaveWalker now leads the class on 13 points, with Dauntless on 15 and DNR on 17. With two races scheduled for the final day of competition all three boats have a mathematical chance of overall victory.

The top three boats in CSA Racing Class 3 – Jim Vos’ young Antiguan crew on his RP37 Warthog, plus two chartered J/122 Steve Rigby’s El Ocaso and Richard Matthews’ Oystercatcher – all remain in contention for an overall class victory. Roughly half of Warthog’s crew, including skipper Jules Mitchell, are alumni from the early days of the Y2K programme, while Matthews is racing with three current members.

Richard Matthews’ Oystercatcher has Y2K members as part of the crew © Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com

This initiative was created in 2018 by Antigua Sailing Week, the Antigua and Barbuda Sailing Association, the Caribbean Sailing Association and the National Sailing Academy. The latter provides dinghy sailing for all Antiguan secondary schools, plus a Sailability programme for disabled adults and children, all of which are free of charge to participants. However, it doesn't have resources to leapfrog them from dinghies into keelboat racing on an international stage.

The Y2K scheme provides opportunities both for young people to sail with their peers on all-youth boats and on boats with adult crews and has grown significantly since its advent. This year there are 31 participants, roughly one third of which are female, across 13 boats competing at ASW. These range from some of the smallest boats at the event, through Gary O’Grady’s traditional long keel Tradewind 35 Cara of the South, to the biggest yacht at this year’s regatta, Lennart Davidsson’s legendary 79ft Sparkman and Stephens designed Kialoa III.

Lennart Davidsson’s legendary Kialoa III has raced all week with Y2K sailors on board © Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com

“Getting on a boat with crew from countries around the world can take young people out of their comfort zone, where they have the opportunity to learn both sailing and teamwork within a different culture,” says ASW president and National Sailing Academy general manager Alison Sly-Adams. “Creating those pathways is vital because otherwise, you've excited someone about the opportunities available, but you still can't give them the means to get there.”

“The programme offers our young people exposure to what the yachting industry has to offer, providing opportunities and making connections,” adds Y2K coordinator Allison Anthony. In the two years she has been working with the initiative she has seen remarkable personal growth in participants as they develop teamwork skills and confidence.

Youth to Keel (Y2K) sailors at the day's prizegiving © Travis Harris 268 Media

Provisional Results HERE

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.

ENDS/…Rupert Holmes/ASW