Antigua Classics Week

Spirit of Regatta Cup
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We arrived in Antigua two days before the Classics Week began. The steep entry fee ($5 US per foot) initially put us off entering but David soon had this reduced by half and we found ourselves in the race.
Crew was no problem to find among the cruising boats and a ‘uniform’ of a colourful Hawaiian shirt was decided upon. The decks were cleared as much as possible, all our rubbish piled high in the dinghy and left bobbing behind a friend’s boat.
For five days, we were given free marina dockage amongst a diverse group of boats, from a 6m racing sloop to a 200 ton J-class racing machine. We were given a ‘goodie bag’ containing course details, flags and a bottle of rum and every morning a bag of fresh croissants, orange juice and a paper appeared on deck.
Dave rose to the challenge of the first single-handed race and managed to tack the boat upwind for a mile or so. Due to the severe lack of windward ability, this took eight tacks, by which time the rest of the fleet had long since finished and the committee boat gave up waiting for us to cross the line!
For the next two days, we had full crew on board – ten loud Hawaiian shirts at Dave’s command. One person for each rope made manoeuvring much easier but still didn’t improve the windwind performance. Despite all attempts, we couldn’t manage the upwind legs of the first two races and our decision to retire from the race was met with relief by the boat waiting to recover the marker buoys.
The final race was called ‘The Cannon’ and had no windward leg so we weren’t left behind quite so quickly. At one point, we thought we might actually overtake the boat in front but it was not to be… instead we made a point of waving to all the boats on their homeward leg, each one getting an extra cheer if they waved back. After four hours and 24 miles, we crossed the finish line in a frenzy of excitement and even the committee boat were delighted to see us actually finish a race.
The following night was Prizegiving and the Hawaiian shirts came out for the final time. We were somewhat surprised not to get a mention in the slowest boat category but our surprise turned to joy when we were awarded the ‘Spirit of the Regatta’ prize for our enthusiasm against all odds.
Dave went proudly up on stage to receive a silver cup and he even did a little jig on stage amid the cheering. We barely had time to admire the engraved cup before it was filled with rum punch and passed around the crew, without whose help we would never have won the award. It has been an unforgettable experience.