LIGHT WIND DAY CONCLUDES ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK
29 Apr, 2005
Titan XII, Tom Hill's R/P 75 from Puerto Rico and always the favourite
this year, racked up another first today to win Big Boat Racing II with
four points and the fleet prize by four points. After her fifth place
yesterday, Equation managed to take Sir Peter Ogden's Swan 601 Spirit
Of Jethou to a tiebreak with a second place finish today. However,
Ogden came out better to get second in class with Bill Alcott and his
Equation crew taking the third place spot.
Les Crouch's R/P 44 Storm with the boat's builder Paul Amon at the helm
also beat Edgar Cato's Hissar on a tie-break in Racing II - both had
seven points each. Filip Balcaen's Swan 56 Aqua Equinox was third.
Enzyme, the Trinidadian Henderson 35 comprised of old Legacy crew, paid
Dougie Myers, their skipper who passed away last year, the respects
they had hoped by winning Racing IV. Antiguan Lost Horizon II was
second having suffered a disqualification yesterday. EIB-Marina Bas du
Fort, the Beneteau First 10 from Guadeloupe was third. Russian Swan 48
Murka topped Racer/Cruiser III.
Tarka, the Cork and Cowes Week class winner, can now add Antigua
Sailing Week to the list. The UK-based First 40.7 bested fourteen other
boats including five other First 40.7s in Racer/Cruiser II and took the
Sanhall Trademarks Trophy for best overall racer/cruiser. Having
cruised and raced the Caribbean since crossing the Atlantic with the
ARC, Antigua Sailing Week was the prize. Nick Jones, owner and bowman
for the week said: "This [Antigua Sailing Week] was always the big one
and this was the one that we went ball's out for to try and get all the
boys out from home and do well. It's always nice to finish up a regatta
with four points from four races even beating the mighty Titan which I
think had six [in fleet] in the end."
Some of the larger faster boats in Performance Cruiser I suffered
shifting winds on the Division B course when the beat back to the
finish turned to a fetch for the boats at the back of the fleet.
Burggolf took the day and Swan 75 Dasian was relegated to tenth place,
Symmetry, eighth. Next 57 Genesis - full of Maximus crew left high and
dry by the 100-foot supermaxi's no-show - took the class win for the
week and Dasian was second. Swan 46 Milanto was third.
In the hard-fought Bareboat classes, Nanuk with a slightly smaller jib
than the other Beneteau 50s in her class, suffered a little in the
light winds and dropped her first and only race today with Jasmin
slipping into first place. However Nanuk won class by three points.
Bareboat V saw Beneteau 44 Seabiscuit with an all-woman crew win today
to take the class and fleet prize. "It has been a hard week all week
long," said skipper Pat Nolan. "We concentrated really hard. We paid a
lot of attention to our navigation, we worked very well together as a
team and we kept our eye on our competitors the whole time to try and
stay between them and the mark. We just tried to sail as fast as
possible and as smart as possible – at the same time!"
At press time results in Bareboat III were still subject to a protest that will be resolved tomorrow morning.
Division A, class standings after three races (Class, Name, Builder, Skipper, Country, Class Points):
Racing Big Boat II - Titan XII, R/P 75, Tom Hill, USA, 4
Racing III - Storm, R/P 44, Paul Amon, Trinidad, 7
Racing IV - Enzyme, Henderson 35, Paul Solomon, USA, 10
Racer/Cruiser I - Murka, Swan 48, Mikhail Mouratov, GB/Russia, 5
Racer/Cruiser II - Tarka, First 40.7, Nicholas Jones, Great Britain, 4
Division B, class standings after four races (Class, Name, Builder, Skipper, Country, Class Points):
Performance Cruiser I - Genesis, Next 57, Rusell Steiner, USA, 15
Performance Cruiser II - L’Esperance, Bobby Velasquez, St Maarten, 13
Performance Cruiser III - Finn, Finngulf 391, Diederik deMesel, Belgium, 12
Cruising I - Mustang Sally, Farr 46, Warren Batt, Australia, 7
Cruising II - Arawa, Columbia 50, Doug DeCluitt, USA, 8
Bareboat II - Nanuk of the North, Beneteau 50, Patrick Festing-Smith, Canada, 6
Bareboat III - subject to protest to be heard tomorrow morning
Bareboat IV - Justice, Beneteau 47, Justin Barton, USA, 6
Bareboat V - Seabiscuit, Beneteau 44, Pat Nolan, BVI, 8
Bareboat VI - Durley Dene, Bavaria 36, Alsop Thompson, British Virgin Islands, 6
Tomorrow the top three bareboats in each class will be competing one
more time in the third annual Bareboat Championship Race. Prize
giving in the afternoon and the Lord Nelson’s Ball in the evening will
conclude the 38th annual Antigua Sailing Week.
Stanford International Bank Limited is a diamond sponsor of the event.
Platinum sponsors are Cable & Wireless, English Harbour Rum and
Yachting World. Virgin Atlantic and LIAT are silver sponsors.
Oceanus is the official timer of Antigua Sailing Week.Click here to see all news
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