Yachts & Yachting – August 2019

CSA Class I was almost completely

dominated by Sojana which won the

rst seven races, with owner Sir Peter

Harrison particularly enjoying his

personal celebrations aer two of those

wins came on his birthday, day two of

the regatta. With a new backstay and

her mainsail repaired, Scallywag was

at last able to race on the nal day.

She might have been expected to end

Sojana’s domination but, although she

did take line honours comfortably and

beat the ketch on corrected time, it

was Simonas Steponavicius’s Volvo 65

Ambersail2 which took the race victory.

For many competitors, the shore-based

events were every bit as important as the

racing. Perhaps the biggest was Reggae

in the Park, a massive concert held at

the magnicent Nelson’s Dockyard (a

UNESCO World Heritage Site) with

headline artist Christopher Martin

performing alongside Junior Kelly.

Aer the rst three days of racing,

the Wadadli Lay Day events were held

on Falmouth Harbour’s Pigeon Beach.

ese included a series of dinghy

races in eight RS Zests provided by

the Antigua National Sailing Academy

(your correspondent took part in

one of them and, aer a terrible start,

managed to claw back to third); tug-

of-war contests (your correspondent’s

team of mists won one and lost one);

paddle board races; and various other

games with questionable rules. e

Captains’ Cocktail Party, sponsored

by CIU, took place at the historic

Mollihawk Villa in English Harbour.

And then there were the prizegiving

ceremonies. ese were held daily on

the lawn in front of Antigua Yacht Club

where complete crews were encouraged

to come up on stage to collect their

prizes. Each of these presentations

were accompanied by live music,

large-screen video replays of the day’s

on-water action, and “English Harbour

Rum give-aways”. A couple of hours

aer the last day’s daily prizegiving, the

particularly lavish overall prizegiving

was held in Nelson’s Dockyard. It was

here that, amongst many other awards,

Sleeper was awarded the Governor

General’s Cup as well as the prize for

the Best Caribbean and Best Antiguan

Yacht; Freebird received the National

Parks Trophy; the Dream Yacht Charter

Trophy and a voucher for one week’s

bareboat charter for Antigua Sailing

Week 2020 went to KH+P Barbuda, the

Bareboat Overall Champion; and nally

the Lord Nelson Trophy, awarded to the

overall winner of Antigua Sailing Week,

was presented to Sir Peter Harrison

whose magnicent ketch Sojana

had also won it in 2011 and 2018.

Top left

Scarlet Oyster

Top right

Sojana

Above left

A keelboat

programme

helps local sailors

take part

Right

Sir Peter Harrison

(left) on Sojana

Below left

Pamala Baldwin

and Liquid won

CSA2 in the Round

Antigua Race

38 Yachts & Yachting August 2019 yachtsandyachting.co.uk