41Judging a concours of yachts must be a piece of cake
when marks are awarded purely for brightwork, polish
and paint. The Antiguans are canny, however, and no such
simplistic approach is tolerated. After all, how do you
match up the 143ft steel replica of a 1923 Starling Burgess
fishing schooner fitted out like a superyacht with Mah
Jong, a 1957 Sparkman & Stephens racing yawl, built in
Hong Kong by Cheoy Lee and restored on Martha’s
Vineyard as a period piece by Gannon and Benjamin?
Now mix in a group of Carriacou sloops and a 32ft
Spanish ocean racer sailed across by a family, add the
Hoek-designed Atalante, a bulb-keeled fast cruising yacht
with traditional lines above water, then note that down
the dock the burgees of the 1936 L. Francis Herreshoff
Ticonderoga and the delicious 1948 Kettenburg Californian
lightweight racer Janley are whipping out in the tradewind.
Taking in this lot and many more, it is soon obvious that
like is not going to be compared with like. The secret
proved to be breaking the fleet up into groups, then
Above: on the
crest of a wave,
the 52ft S&S yawl
Mah Jong.i
Right: all smiles
from the crew of
a Carriacou sloop