(Falmouth Harbour, Antigua)- One hundred and sixteen teams from 37
different countries raced in the 51st edition of Antigua Sailing Week
held from April 29 to May 4. Strong trade winds blew all week,
delivering classic Caribbean conditions to over 1,000 competitors.Over 3,000 revelers attended Reggae in the Park, featuring international reggae artist Tarrus Riley and Peter Harrison’s Superyacht SOJANA (a Farr 115 foot ketch) was awarded the coveted Lord Nelson Trophy after a perfect scoreline of seven race wins in CSA 2 (Peter is racing his J/70 SORCHA J in this weekend’s Italian J/70 Cup in Porto Ercole, Italy).
“This
is fantastic. It is the second time we have won the Lord Nelson Trophy
and I am really thrilled to win it again,” commented Peter Harrison,
owner of SOJANA. “We have had beautiful crew work, everybody was really
on their game. We had our boat restored three years ago and have new
sails and the crew have all done her justice.”Added SOJANA crew boss Jonny Malbon, “This week has been amazing, with perfect conditions for SOJANA; breezy and lumpy and full-on. We have pushed ourselves and the boat. The crew is very diverse; we have a couple of young guys from the National Sailing Academy of Antigua and professional sailors from all over the world. We broke a few things, but always repaired them. It has been an epic week and the boss is super-happy. This is his favourite regatta, because it’s intense and fun.”
In
the dozen-boat CSA 5 Class, the famous J/122 EL OCASO, sailed by Kym
Kapalla, started off slowly with an 8-7-6 and closed fast with a steady
3-3-2-2 to take fourth place with 23 pts net. Perhaps with a bit more
practice beforehand, they may have had a great chance for 2nd or 3rd in
their class. Pamala Baldwin’s J/122 LIQUID suffered a DSQ in their 6th
race, hurting their chances for a top five finish. In the nine-boat CSA 7 Class, David Cullen’s Irish crew aboard his J/109 POCKET ROCKET sailed a solid series to take the bronze.
Finally, in CSA 8 Class, it was Tanner Jone’s Antiguan crew on the J/30 BLUE PETER/ CARIBBEAN ALLIANCE INSURANCE that lost a tie-breaker on 16 pts each for third place on the podium. Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth/ PWPictures.com For more Antigua Sailing Week sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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