Mike Sanderson and team aboard the VO70 ABN AMRO have won the Yachting World Round Antigua Trophy race.

Team ABN AMRO who started off the week well yesterday, during the opening day of the regatta by winning the first stage of the YW Round the Island Race with a 25-minute lead over Tom and Dotty Hill’s 75ft maxi yacht Titan 12, have scored another top result today beating Titan 12 once again by 13 minutes.

The weather for the second half of the race – from Dickenson Bay (north west of the island) back to Falmouth (on the south coast) once again came up trumps with a fairly stable 17-20 kt breeze.

Sanderson describing the day’s sailing as he stepped ashore in Falmouth Harbour this afternoon said: “Great, fantastic day’s racing. Once again ABN AMRO One did us proud with a 13-minute lead over the second boat. We got some good sailing in the constant 17-20 kts easterly. That suited us well and allowed us to show everyone on the island what the boat can do.

“We raced as hard as we could so the crew had a lot on but it’s good to win the Yachting World Round the Island Race here in Antigua.”

Elsewhere in the big boat racing fleet Pindar, helmed by British champion match racing sailor Ian Williams, finally made it out on to the racecourse following yesterday’s rigging problem (see previous news story here) and finished seventh overall just behind Sir Peter Ogden’s Spirit of Jethou and beat the Open 60 Artemis Ocean Racing by one place on the water and on corrected time.

Andrew Pindar chatting from Falmouth Harbour Marina said: “Great day. We think we were about 34 minutes behind ABN AMRO on the water which we were pretty pleased with. We also beat Artemis over the water and on corrected time so we are pretty happy with ourselves today. Ian Williams is an absolute superstar on the helm and working with the likes of Nick Crabtree and Brian Thompson is great. They are a wonderful team. Unfortunately we’ve lost Alex Thomson who had to fly home today unexpectedly.”

Gringo from Artemis Ocean Racing said, “Yes, we were beaten by the VO60 today. They went well and the course, with a lot of beating, was more favourable to them. They go well upwind, point a lot higher and they can get round the tacks quicker, so as far as the course goes it was their day.”