Getting Stuck Into* the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta

* Definitions at end of post

Back in March we were contacted by our fellow cruiser friends the Kerrs, owners of the glorious schooner Windjammer, whom we met at the boatyard in Ensenada in Jan 2013. Windjammer was getting a new coat of green paint while Cinnabar was getting her red coat. Since then the Kerrs, who hale from the Witsundays in Australia, have sailed to Antarctica, South Africa, and up through the Atlantic to the Caribbean stopping at such exotic islands as The Falklands, Saint Helena Is. (mid-Atlantic) and Fernando de Noronha (Brazil). 

Windjammer in Antarctica in 2014. More amazing photos HERE

They were even attacked by pirates in Fortaleza, Brazil, but they managed to fight them off. The Kerrs are true adventurers, so when they asked us if we might be interested in coming to Antigua to race aboard Windjammer for the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta, we thought about it for half a second and answered OH HELL YEAH! 

Further to the 'call of the wind' and symmetry, we felt we owed them a like turn; they had raced with us on Cinnabar in Mexico during the Banderas Bay Regatta 2 years ago. We didn't want to pass up the chance to 'throw' their boat around the buoys to return the favor.

Turns out one of the cheapest flights to Antigua was from nearby San Jose del Cabo airport, so we booked our flights.

Upon arrival in Antigua, we were to meet Ashley and Cathie at the historic Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbor. We waited for them at the dockside pub, where we joined the barmy army*, had cold beers, and watched the local cricket game on TV.

Antigua at last after 2 days of travel! 

Ashley and Cathie, an amazing couple!

It was great to see them again, and we dinghied out to Windjammer where she was anchored in the harbor. Windjammer is a very comfortable boat and we even got our own cabin! Little did we know that, in the days to come, we would get to learn a whole new sailing vocabulary, as well as some choice Aussie phrases.

Beautiful Windjammer at anchor in English Harbor.
(She is a modern version of a classic design: a Pete Culler Schooner (U.S. designer), Australian-built, with a fiberglass hull, steel masts, and fitted out with Papua New Guinea Rosewood, a special version of teak.) 

The next day we moved over to Falmouth Harbor, aka race central, where we docked up side-by-side with all the other race boats. Our dockings always drew a crowd as Ashley had to skillfully maneuver his large vessel into a narrow space between Gucci superyachts without the help of bow thrusters, going forward and back using his prop wash to guide the boat, then Cathie would WHACK the anchor post with her mallet...

Kinswoman to Thor? Rightio!*

...dropping the anchor, as Ashley would gracefully back into the dock. The boats on either side were ready with fenders, but they were unnecessary as we always made a smooth landing.

In Falmouth Harbor we also got to meet fellow crew members Holly from England, Rick and Karen from Washington, and Dave and Leah from South Africa, there on their cruising catamaran.

Dave was so strong that we nicknamed him "Winch", since he was the only winch on the boat.

The first day of racing was a singlehanded race, allowing one crew (Cathie) just for hoisting and dousing sails. Some of us went up to Shirley Heights to watch the boats sailing the course below us.

Ashley gets Windjammer ready for the race

Windjammer rounds the windward mark

Dave and I watch the race, English Harbor is below us. What a view!!

Ashley said that operating the boat by himself really made him appreciate Cathie. Cathie said she would be sure to sign Ashley up for at least one singlehanded race per year!

That night Windjammer received one of the Concours d'Elegance plaques for being such a beautifully maintained boat.

Tom's horning in on the glory.

Joe from Lunenberg Co. (Nova Scotia, Canada) was one of the Concours judges. Ashley recruited him and his wife Kayla to race with us!

For us, the real fun began with the crewed racing. It was absolutely breathtaking to see all the beautiful and classic boats out on the water with their numerous sails in use.

Coral of Cowes, c 1900, the oldest boat in the regatta

3-masted tall-ship Picton Castle; look at all those sails!
(This was a semester-at-sea crew training boat that supplied racing crew (youth!), but did not actually race)

Elena of London, an original 136' Herreschoff steel schooner c 1909.

Modern J-Boat replica Rainbow in the foreground/right, Samsara (c. 1918) in the background/left. Rainbow is a replica of the 1934 Americas Cup winner, a Herreschoff design for Harold Vanderbilt. The 40m long replica has an aluminum hull and carbon mast and was a spectacular sight to see. Samsara is an original Dutch workboat, a Skagen 52.

It was a challenging experience to go from sailing Cinnabar, with one mast and two sails, to sailing a schooner with two masts and multiple sails, no winches, and belaying pins instead of cleats. 

Karen next to a rail of belaying pins.

Luckily, Holly, Rick and Karen had sailed Windjammer before, so they, with Ashley and Cathie, managed to keep things sorted out while Dave, Leah, Tom, Joe, Kayla and I learned the ropes.

Holly, a marine biologist from the UK, was a fearless sailor and wonderful photographer. Link to her album is below.

The race courses were 20-24 miles long, in beautiful tradewinds weather. 

Tom with Rick, who helped sail Windjammer from Washington to SF. Tom was a bit of a bludger* the first day, which earned him the nickname "Slacker".

I admired all the foredeck crew who lived out on the end of the very long sprits.

I got to drive quite a bit, which was great fun. 

Every night the Antigua Yacht Club hosted some sort of social event, and we also enjoyed visiting neighboring yachts to see how they were set up.

Our neighbor Samsara, whom the Kerrs met at St. Helena Island

Social gathering aboard Samsara. The family of four took paid charters to help subsidize their cruising lifestyle.

Son Michael loved living aboard

The last day the winds were light and the course had a long upwind leg, which was not a good thing for Windjammer. But we stuck it out and finished the course. We were very disappointed to see that the committee boat had left its post, so we had to take our own finish time. We were all about to chuck a wobbly* over this, and we actually filed a protest about it. In a previous race, the RC had made a serious mistake about one of our starts (later corrected, but still...) so we didn't have a lot of confidence in them. 

Soon Cathie and Tom were tatties deep into* our protest, trying to sort out why the committee boat was not there, etc.  Unfortunately we missed a podium finish by six dubious seconds, but we did win the award for "Best Spirit of the Regatta", which was a beautiful cup that will hold lots of beer or Dark and Stormies. We weren't about to the spit the dummy* over our disagreements with the race committee, so we marched up onto the stage and accepted our award like good sports.

5 Seconds of fame - Tom (red cap, left), Cathie, Sylvia, Ashley (right) on stage.

After the race festivities concluded we headed up to Green Island for a couple of days of relaxing and snorkeling. 

Green Island: Grab a mooring, make the tea.

Leah and Dave followed us up on their big catamaran, and the whole crew treated Ashley and Cathie to a gourmet lunch at Harmony Hall, a restaurant with a fantastic view of Nonsuch Bay. 

We were surprised to discover an America's Cup connection there, the property is owned by Carlo Falcone, father of Shannon Falcone of winning team Oracle.

Tom even managed to squeeze a day of kiteboarding into our last day at Green Island.

Instructor Susi, of 40 Knots Windsurfing (recommended), with her visiting pal Julia, both from Germany. It was interesting to see how they used the dinghy to teach kiting. Tom took notes!

Tom enjoyed the Antigua tradewinds.
(19 sq meter kite in very light (8-10 kt) but warm (!) condx)

After ten days of hosting five boat guests the Kerrs were quite keen to continue on alone with their sailing. So with the help of Tom's kiteboarding instructor Susi, we were all shuttled to the pier at Harmony Hall via dinghy. As soon as Cathie returned to Windjammer, Ashley put the boat into gear and they scarpered* to the island of Barbuda to check out of the country. 

Windjammer's next port of call would be Cuba, and the rest of us returned to our regular lives, full of memories of beautiful yachts, wild parties, and new friends.

THANK YOU Ashley and Cathie!!!!!

Words truly do not do justice to the beauty of seeing the classic yachts on the water with sails unfurled. Check out the following photo albums for more pictures of the sailing and festivities:

Syl and Tom's pics: Antigua Classic Regatta

Holly Latham's pics: Holly's Photos

*Just some of the new words we learned (mostly Aussie slang):

Get stuck into it = do something enthusiastically
The Barmy Army – English cricket fans, (or any English after a drink or two)

Chuck a wobbly = throw a tantrum

Bludger = slacker

Tatties deep into it = in over one’s head

Spit the dummy = Pitch a fit, get in a snit (dummy = pacificier) 

Scarper = run away, leave quickly (Holly's word)

Rightio = you bet! OK. Right. (phonetic: right-EE-OH)