The 2022 Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta
It was Exciting!
It was Exhasating!
by David H. Lyman
This article appeared in the May/June 2022 edition
of Caribbean Compass magazine
Due to strong winds, the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta 2022 got underway on March 31st with the cancellation of the single-handed race. And the winds kept blowing for the next two days, testing boats, gear and crews. We’ll get into that in a bit. First, some background on this very special event in Antigua’s jam-packed calendar of sailboat races.
This was the 33rd running of the Classic, back on course after a two-year break due to the pandemic. Participation was down from previous years, but enthusiasm remained high as 35 boats raced in seven classes: Classic GRP, Traditional, Historic, Vintage, Spirit of Tradition, Schooner and Tall Ships. One–design Dragons also raced (see sidebar).
For the Classic GRP Class, boats must have a full long keel with a keel-hung rudder, and be a descendant of a wooden boat design. Traditional is for Carriacou sloops and other indigenous craft; Historic is for yachts designed and built before the end of 1976 in any material with any keel configuration. To be eligible for Vintage, Traditional and Tall Ship classes, boats shall have a full keel, be of moderate to heavy displacement, built of wood or steel, and have a traditional rig and appearance. Old craft using modern materials, such as epoxy or glass sheathing, or new craft built along the lines of an old design, are acceptable. Boats built of other materials may be acceptable if they have a gaff or traditional schooner rig. Schooner Class is self-explanatory. All boats in the Classic are monohulls.
The Classic broke away from Antigua Sailing Week years ago when one of the big boats, the 114-foot schooner Aschanti IV, driven by Uli Pruesse, had to make an emergency maneuver to avoid one of the bareboats that was racing. Later that day, the owners and skippers of the larger boats came together in Aschanti’s cabin to discuss the need for a separate category for the large, traditional sailing yachts. The Classic Regatta was added to the beginning of Sailing Week as a separate three-day event.
More recently, the Classic Regatta was moved a month earlier in the calendar, as skippers of the large yachts wanted to leave for the transatlantic voyage to the Med earlier than mid-May.
This sailing event now is one of the Caribbean’s standout regattas, drawing classic yachts large and small. Each year crews and boats from around the world end up in Antigua just for this gathering of like-minded sailors and their boats. “It’s the boats that draw them here,” Jane Coombs told me. She and her late husband, Kenny, founded the Classic with a few others back in 1996. “The racing is just an excuse to gather,” she added.
The 2022 Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta encompassed three days of round-the-buoys racing with a party each evening. It was exhausting. It was exciting.
Each year, the Classic draws a variety of ketches, sloops, schooners and yawls, including traditional craft from the islands. Tall Ships, more newly built Spirit of Tradition yachts, and a fleet of Dragon Class racing sloops also get out on the water.
Thursday, March 31st
The single-handed race was to have been the kick-off event, but strong winds prompted officials to cancel. So, there was just a party……and, of course, the Concours D’Elegance. Since it’s all about the boats, the Classic has a Concours D’Elegance judging to award recognition to crews and skippers on how well they care for and present their yachts. Varnished trim, scrubbed decks, coiled lines, polished brass, cabins clean and organized, it all counts.
Gold winners were the 2003 Nat Benjamin gaff schooner Juno, the 1983 46-foot gaff cutter Windbreker, the 1936 Herreshoff ketch Ticonderoga, the 1936 H. Rasmussen Seefalke, the 2004 40-foot sloop Freya of Midgard, the 2010 32-foot Carriacou sloop New Moon and the 1973 Swan 48 Montana. The Arne Frissel award for the most seaworthy vessel went to Vela, a 112-foot sail-training schooner built in 2020. The overall winner of the Locman Italy watch was Ticonderoga.
Friday, April 1st
The first race, the Old Road course, started off Rendevous Bay and wound around three marks. Winds were east, brisk, 20 to 28 knots, gusting to 35.
Seas were five to 12 feet, some larger and breaking. No one came ashore dry, as spray would often engulf entire boats. More than once, the bowsprit of the 141-foot schooner Columbia was buried, the bowman hanging on to a forestay for dear life.
The challenge to watch was between the two black, steel-hulled schooners, Aschanti and Columbia. The Gruber-designed Bermudan-rigged staysail schooner Aschanti was built in 1954, and Columbia, a gaff-rigged replica of the original Starling Burgess design, was built in 2009. Try as he could, Columbia’s skipper Seth Salzmann could not best Aschanti’s ability to work to windward. Columbia’s large main can drive her faster on the downwind legs, but Seth said, “We couldn’t catch and pass Aschanti. The downwind legs were not long enough. We never had enough time to beat her to the next mark.”
The day’s winners included Aschanti in Schooner Class, and the 42-foot Carriacou sloop Genesis in Traditional. Seefalke topped the Vintage Class, the Spirit of Tradition Class was won by the 91-foot yawl Bequia, the Tall Ship Class was topped by the 157-foot staysail ketch Chronos, and 44-foot L.J.Windward won the Historic Class.
Alani won the day’s Classic Class. She is a 36-foot sloop, built in 1960 in Denmark after a design of Alan Gurney. Her current owner, Sarah Schelbert, found her on a beach in Guatemala, bought her, spent three years returning her to seaworthy condition, sailed her to the Eastern Caribbean, and this year entered Alani in the Classic. It was Sarah’s first-ever regatta, racing with a novice crew of friends and relatives.
In the evening, with the day’s competition put to rest, the dock party at the Antigua Yacht Club was standing room, or dancing room, only. There was a steel band, and with plenty of Carib beer and Mount Gay rum the crews, skippers and owners partied until midnight.
Saturday, April 2nd
On Saturday, the second day of the Classic, winds remained east, but were down to 18 to 25 knots. Swells from the previous day’s winds continued, so it was another wet-deck race around the buoys for all the crews. The Butterfly course took boats out into the Caribbean Sea south of Antigua. Skies were clear, with a warm spray over the bow, and there was another party ashore after the boats were secure and the salt washed off.
The 65-foot Alfred Mylne cutter The Blue Peter, built in 1929, won the Vintage Class and Montana beat the rest of the fleet in the Historic Class. Bequia came first again in the Spirit of Tradition class, as did Aschanti in the Schooner Class, Genesis in Traditional, and Chronos in Tall Ships.
Sunday, April 3rd
Winds were still east, but down to a comfortable 15 to 18 knots. The fleet sailed around the circular Windward course outside Falmouth and English Harbours. It was a pleasant romp in moderate seas. Juno emerged in first place in Schooner Class, Ticonderoga in Vintage, and Antiguan-owned Contention 33 Encore in Historic. The other class winners were repeats of Days One and Two.
The Antigua Classic Regatta 2022 wrapped up with a prizegiving ceremony on Sunday evening at Lucky Eddie’s, a concert venue at English Harbour. The crowd of more than 400 boat owners, captains and crews filled the arena. The regatta chairman, Carlo Falcone, introduced His Excellency Sir Rodney Williams, Governor- General of Antigua & Barbuda, who presented the awards. “Admiral” Tommy Paterson, dock master at the Yard Club Marina, was a jovial and knowledgeable MC.
In the overall standings, Chronos won the Tall Ship Class with three bullets and a special mention for best start. Encore, with a first and two seconds, won Historic Class. Alani took home a Locman watch by sweeping Classic Class. Genesis, also with three wins, topped Traditional Class. The Blue Peter won the Locman watch prize in Vintage Class with a first and two seconds. Bequia won first place in her Spirit of Tradition Class, another clean sweep. Aschanti, with two firsts and a second, won first place and a Locman watch in her Schooner Class, as well as the Lyman Morse-Wayfarer Trophy for the lowest corrected time overall.
Press Officer Ginny Field reports, “The feedback from the yacht owners and captains was positive and enthusiastic for them returning next year. We are hopeful that as Covid restrictions ease worldwide more classic yachts will return to the Caribbean next season.
“Please come back and mark our dates — March 29th through April 2nd, 2023 — in your calendar. We look forward to you joining us then!”
The Dragon Challenge
Over the three days of big boat racing off Antigua’s southern coast, the invitation-only Dragon Challenge was going on inside Falmouth Harbour, where wind and seas were more lenient. Seven identical 29-foot Olympic Dragon Class boats competed against each other, with teams flown in from New York, Monaco, Italy and St. Maarten competing against local teams from the Mill Reef Club and the Antigua Yacht Club.
Rocco Falcone, representing Antigua Yacht Club, successfully defended his 2019 title, while Filippo Amonti of Italy’s Cortina Yacht Club took second and Jules Mitchell representing the Monaco Yacht Club came in third.
This fleet of seven Dragons lives most of the year hauled out in the Yacht Club Marina, not being used. They are fun and demanding boats to sail and, since they have an international reputation, more could be done to promote their use here on Antigua and throughout the Caribbean.
Well reefed down, the 1929 Alfred Mylne designed The Blue Peter in hot pursuit of the 1936 Herreshoff-designed Ticonderoga in Vintage Class.
The Schooner Columbia shoulders into 12 foot swells on the first day of racing in the 2022 Antigua Classi Yacht Regatta
