Australian Geoff Hill’s Santa Cruz 72, Antipodes, is the overall winner of the 45th Antigua Sailing Week. (Photo courtesy Agnes Francis)
St. John’s Antigua- In CSA 1A, there was a nail-biting finale to Antigua Sailing Week. Geoff Hill’s Santa Cruz 72, Antipodes, won the last race of the day to take the division.
“This is the first time we have raced the yacht and to be honest we could have done with another week to get her ready for racing. We have been tuning her up as we raced and the team have done a great job,” said Hill at dockside in Falmouth Harbour.
Peter Harrison’s Farr 115 Sojana could only manage a third yesterday, which put them on equal points with Antipodes.
Sojana could only count three first places to Antipodes’ four and lost on countback; it was that close.
Jan Rupert’s Tripp 75, Blackbird, finished the regatta with a second place in the last race to secure third.
In CSA 1B, Stefan Lehnert’s Tripp 56, Passion 4C, won the last race by a handsome margin to secure the division title.
Lehnert said, “I must also congratulate the organisers of this regatta. It has a great atmosphere and I especially enjoyed the daily prize giving, which gives you a chance to meet other sailors during the week. I am sure Passion 4C will be back in Antigua.”
The winner of CSA 2 was already decided before yesterday’s race. Ulrich Rohde’s Swan 53, Dragon Fly Plus, had an unassailable lead, but that didn’t stop Ross Applebey’s Oyster 48, Scarlet Oyster, from going for it yesterday with Yachting World Editor, David Glenn on board.
In CSA 3, Richard Wesslund’s J/120, El Ocaso, made it a perfect seven with their win yesterday. The boat’s captain, Mike Caldwell, spoke dockside after racing: “It may look like we ran away with the victory but many of the races were won by a few seconds. Every single member of the El Ocaso team has made a significant contribution. We all had our moments when the bow, the trim, the driver all needed to step up and be counted, and that is what they did; and I am very proud of them.”
In CSA 4, Calvin Reed’s First 40.7, Elandra, won the last race of the series by a significant margin to win the class for the second year in a row.
Sir Hugh Bailey’s Beneteau 456, Hugo B, finished second yesterday. The team from Falmouth, Antigua had shown incredible consistency. Throughout the week, Hugo B has only been off the podium on one occasion and that was a fourth.
In CSA 5, Geoffrey Pidduck’s Six Metre, Biwi Magic, came out on top in the last race of the series to win the class.
“The decisive moment today (Friday) was the start. Blue Peter was lee-bowing High Tide and I was taking the lee-bow off Blue Peter. But because we can point much higher than both of them, Biwi Magic got right over the top of them and we made the top mark first,” Pidduck said.
“High Tide should have caught up downwind but they chose to go inshore and got caught up in traffic, whilst we stayed in clear air pointing directly at the mark and that was that really. It has been a fantastic week of racing but I have to say I was kicking myself (Thursday) when I rounded a mark the wrong way and had to go back. We could have thrown away the win there and then.”
In CSA 6, Resting Goose had already secured the class win before yesterday’s race.
After a six race series, Horst Schultze’s Sea You Later won the Bareboat Class by the narrowest of margins; while in Bareboat 2, KH+P Sapphire Dancer took a convincing victory.
