After the challenging and windless conditions of the second day of Antigua Sailing Week, the wind returned for the third day of racing yesterday. The 12-20 knots that greeted the Division A racing boats was a pleasant surprise as they raced on the South Coast Race between Curtain Bluff and Shirley Heights. The Division B Falmouth Harbour Race started with lighter winds off Jolly Harbour. The course started with a short beat, which was followed by some deep downwind sailing, a reach and then a good solid beat in a freshening breeze with 20kt gusts to the finish off Falmouth Harbour.

In Division A, as it was for Division B towards the end, sailing the shifts – of up to 30 degrees – was the order of the day. As the fleet headed upwind good size puffs came off the island to the left and while following them was the thing to do, the key was to not get too close to the cliffs and get becalmed below Shirley Heights. Downwind these same puffs held further offshore and so the winning boats stayed further out where there was also a little more current to carry them back to the leeward mark.

Both divisions converged towards the end of racing at the Legacy mark off Curtain Bluff, the last windward mark for Division B, and the leeward mark for Division B.

Tom Hill’s Titan XII racked up another win to go into lay day leading class and fleet with two points in each. Edgar Cato’s Swan 56 Hissar won Racing III and shares class lead with Swan 56 Aqua Equinox and Trinidad’s R/P 44 Storm.

“We got a good start and got out in the fresh air before the other boats did and then we had really good speed and legged out from the other boats” said tactician Jack Slattery. “Once we got about 50 yards out we stretched from there and stretched all day.”

Hissar, Aqua Equinox and Storm are also tied for second place in fleet with six points each.

Disco Inferno II, the UK-based First 47.7, racked up her first win in Racer/Cruiser I just seconds ahead of the Swan 48 Murka. Tarka, one of six First 40.7s in the class, won racer/Cruiser II to solidify her class lead.

In Performance/Cruiser I, Abbott Brown’s 96ft Symmetry finally got the better of the Italian Swan 75 Dasian. So did Genesis, Capercaillie and Burggolf. Dasian found herself fifth today but still remains top of the class with Symmetry only one point behind.

In the Bareboat classes, some yachts are beginning to entrench their positions: Patrick Festing-Smith’s Nanuk Of The North racked up a third win today and now leads Bareboat II by three points. Justice also racked up her third win and leads by seven points as does Durley Dene in Bareboat VI.

In Bareboat V Ora, Seabiscuit, BVI Yacht Charters and KHP Bulle 12 are shaping up for a tussle after LayDay with a six-point spread between them. Ora took a first, Seabiscuit took the other two days. Overall in bareboat, Pat Nolan’s Seabiscuit leads Justice by one point with Durley Dene three points behind Justice. Two more races after lay day will decide not only class and overall winners but also those eligible to enter the third annual Bareboat Championship Race.

Division A (class standings after two races)

Racing Big Boat II – Titan XII, R/P 75, Tom Hill, USA, 2

Racing III – Hissar, Swan 56, Edgar Cato, USA, 4

Racing III – Aqua Equinox, Swan 56, Filip Balcean, Belgium, 4

Racing III – Storm, R/P 44, Paul Amon, Trinidad, 4

Racing IV – Lost Horizon II, Olson 30, Jamie Dobbs, Antigua, 3

Racer/Cruiser I – Murka, Swan 48, Mikhail Mouratov, GB/Russia, 3

Racer/Cruiser II – Tarka,First 40.7, Nicholas Jones, Great Britain, 2

Division B (class standings after three races)

Performance Cruiser I – Dasian, Swan 75, Danilo Salsi, Italy, 7

Performance Cruiser II – Hu Go II, First 456, Hugh Bailey, Antigua, 8

Performance Cruiser III – Finn, Finngulf 391, Diederik deMesel, Belgium, 6

Cruising I – Mustang Sally, Farr 46, Warren Batt, Australia, 4

Cruising II – Arawa, Columbia 50, Doug DeCluitt, USA, 5

Bareboat II – Nanuk of the North, Beneteau 50, Patrick Festing-Smith, Canada, 3

Bareboat III – Dill, Dufour 50, Jan Soderberg, Sweden, 6

Bareboat IV – Justice, Beneteau 47, Justin Barton, USA, 3

Bareboat V – Seabiscuit, Beneteau 44, Pat Nolan, BVI, 4

Bareboat VI – Durley Dene, Bavaria 36, Alsop Thompson, British Virgin Islands, 3

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