Promising forecast for 2025 Antigua Sailing Week

The 56th edition of Antigua Sailing Week on April 26-May 2 anticipates strong tradewinds for the racing across nine classes, with competitors ranging from family crews and long-term cruisers to some of the most successful sailors on the planet, including America’s Cup skipper Dean Barker.

“Whatever their background, every sailor will share the thrill of racing with carefully tailored courses for each class,” says Race Manager Jaime Torres, welcoming teams from 17 nations, including Australia, France, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, USA, and from several Caribbean Islands.

Entries range from 24-foot RS Elites, up to a pair of all carbon fibre Volvo Ocean 65s, a Volvo 70, and Adrian Lee’s high octane HH66 catamaran Lee Overlay Partners lll.

“The challenge of racing in such a dynamic environment pushes me to improve every year, especially this year as I have a new boat!,” reports Lee, who has raced at Antigua for 14 years.

Other notable contenders include classics such as Lennart Davidsson’s 79-foot Sparkman and Stephens designed maxi, Kialoa lll, the largest yacht entered this year.

The schedule starts April 26 with the Peters and May Round Antigua Race, followed by Antigua Sailing Week on April 27 which has five days of racing plus a Lay Day on April 30.

Event information – Race details – Entry list

CSA Racing 1
The top of this year’s high performance big boat class is expected to see a close fight between three grand-prix yachts: Philip Rann’s VO65 I love Poland, Oliver Kobale’s VO65 Sisi, and Roy Disney’s turbocharged Volvo 70 Pyewacket.

“Roy loves racing in the Caribbean, and this will be his first Antigua Sailing Week,” says navigator Peter Isler. “The Pyewacket tradition goes back a generation when his dad, the late Roy E. Disney, built the first of many successful offshore racing boats named after a black cat in one of his favorite movies.

“Pyewacket 70 hails from California but has spent the last few years campaigning in Europe and the east coast with a top-notch international crew. We are looking forward to having a great time sailing in Antigua’s idyllic conditions and to learning more about our boat.”

These boats will race on new longer courses, along with the fastest multihulls, as Torres explains: “We created these 20 to 50 mile courses specifically for the high-performance monohulls and multihulls to stretch their legs on very fast reaching angles, along with tactically challenging upwind and downwind sections.”

CSA Racing 2
This class has a wide range of boats, ranging from Kialoa lll to Sir Hugh Bailey’s Farr 45 Rebel. However, all slot into a fairly narrow rating band, promising close action on the water throughout the week. Bailey, who was knighted for his services to yachting, is seen as the ‘grandfather’ of sailing in Antigua.

Last year, Bailey won the High Tide Trophy for best Antiguan yacht in the CSA Racing division. He’s also a previous winner of the coveted Lord Nelson Trophy, which is presented to the yacht best performing CSA Racing yacht, regardless of size, type or division.

CSA Racing 3
Racing is also expected to be extremely tight in CSA Class 3 according to Torres, who notes this class has, “the greatest number past winners of the Lord Nelson Trophy.” He picks out several boats with enviable track records, all of which have a strong chance of lifting the trophy this year.

Local Reichel Pugh designed Extreme 37 Warthog, for instance, is closing out a long and successful season of Caribbean racing. Crewed by top-level Antiguans, and skippered by Jim Vos, she is a strong favorite to win the class. However, they face strong competition from stand-out teams including the J/122 El Ocaso, chartered by Steve Rigby.

“This is the fifth Caribbean event on this boat for the team,” says El Ocaso jib trimmer Josh Redgrave. “However, this is our first time competing at Antigua Sailing Week, where we are looking forward to the big winds and waves.

“We have been sailing together since 2021, chartering race boats in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. A lot of our crew also campaigned a J/122 in the UK for a number of years and twice won the IRC National Championship.”

Another formidable entry gunning for the top spot in this class is marine industry legend and long-time ASW competitor Sir Richard Mathews. He has chartered the J/122 Liquid for his Oystercatcher team. “It’s a fast boat with a stellar racing reputation,” says Torres.

A big unknown in this class is a newcomer to the event with a long history of racing success: double Olympic gold medalist and five times Dragon World Champion Poul Høj Jensen. He will be racing a recently acquired custom 37-foot Steven Thomas design, Danish Blue.

CSA Racing 4
Top contenders in this group include Quintessence III, David Crum’s classic IOR 45-footer, which he races successfully with friends and family. He finished on the podium at the 2025 Heineken Regatta and is hoping to top that with victory at ASW. Equally Katy Campbell’s, Salona 45 Panacea X, recently came a close second at the BVI Spring Regatta and is clearly a strong challenger this week.

RS Elite
The three teams racing this one-design keelboat class can expect a different experience competing on tailor-made courses from their own committee boat. ASW is the main yearly event for this budding Antigua One-Design Class. Racing within Falmouth Harbour will have newcomer Geoffrey Pierini, veteran and chairman of Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta Paul Deeth, and Lesley Martin.

CSA Club Class A
The larger, more cruising oriented yachts, including Sebastian Gylling’s Finnish Swan 51 Eira, Ian Galbraith’s Oyster 53 Jigsaw, and Charlie Bloch’s Oyster 655 Laughing Buddha will be battling it out in this class. Jigsaw was second overall in her class last year with Eira third.

CSA Club Class B
This class encompasses a mix of smaller boats, ranging from Carrack & Tyden Jones’ J/30 Absolute Properties (Blue Peter) through Gary O’Grady’s long keel Tradewind 35 Cara of the South to Bernie Evan-Wong’s modified Cal 40 Huey Too. Last year, Absolute Properties Blue Peter sailed with the youngest team at Antigua Sailing Week and won the West Indies Publishing Cup Trophy. The boat is owned by Tanner Jones and co-skippered by his teenage sons Carrack and Tyden, with a team including crew as young as 12.

“These kids have learned that if you don’t give up and you push through, good things can happen,” commented Blue Peter’s Tanner Jones following the 2024 ASW. “They didn’t stop once, they kept pushing each other and they were amazing.”

CSA Bareboat
The ten bareboats competing are all in the 44-46 foot bracket, setting the scene for further close tussles on the water.

Entries include Italian skipper Andrea Zuppiroli’s Beneteau 46 Shore Thing, whose experienced crew will be at ASW for the first time. “Antigua Sailing Week is a must for every sailor,” says Zuppiroli. “We want to enjoy the Caribbean location, the atmosphere and don’t want to finish last in the rankings!

“We are a group of seasoned sailors with common experiences of offshore navigation, offshore and coastal racing. We are also members of the Tavola di Bisanzio, one of the two groups in Ravenna (Italy) of the Italian Brotherhood of the Coast. In the last years we have sailed frequently together, and consequently we party, eat and drink together!”

Over the years, hundreds of German sailors have enjoyed sailing at ASW thanks to Hartmut Holtmann and KH+P charters. This year they have three boats racing, including KH+P Talisman, a Moorings 42.3 skippered by Susanne Blankenhagen.

“It has been a dream for many years to be part of Antigua Sailing Week,” she says “We have only heard how good Antigua and the organization is, and it will be our first time sailing in the Caribbean. We are very excited to get to know the new sailing area and to meet fantastic people.”

A group of urologists and neurosurgeons have chartered Sorrel, a 44-foot Sunsail yacht, skippered by Steve Clarke. Most have sailed at the regatta before and won the Bareboat division back in 2013.

“We enjoyed the atmosphere and the racing, so we are back,” says Clarke. “We’ve all sailed in various regattas, some in the Med, some in Phuket, Thailand, some in Cowes, but mainly at Hamilton Island Race Week in Australia.”

Source: Rupert Holmes, ASW