Pyewacket, the 75ft Reichel-Pugh racer, is competing at Antigua Race Week and, with a 15-minute win in the first race of the Big Boat class, she’s going to be a tough one to beat overall. Sue Pelling chatted to Roy Disney Jnr, the skipper, about the boat and the events the first race

Pyewacket is known for her downwind speed but today out on the racecourse she seemed to fly upwind too. What’s the secret of success?

She is the result of a number of development boats we’ve built on the west coast of the USA designed to go to Hawaii. But she’s now been modified slightly to go upwind as well. Consequently she’s become more sophisticated. Her modifications include making her heavier and stiffer and we’ve added more sail area to take advantage of the rules. The mast is about 10ft taller than it was when we went to Hawaii last year and we have about 3,000 pounds more lead in the keel.

How was today’s first beat?

It looked fairly short but in fact it was quite a tough first leg. Although the wind never really rose above 19 knots, our biggest problem was weaving our way through the smaller boats which started earlier. Once we were through them we just seemed to pull away.

What boatspeed were you achieving downwind?

We were averaging between 13-14 knots most of the downwind legs with 17-18 knots of boat speed at times.

How do you rate Serano of London who finished second to you today?

She’s new, stiff, and quite fast upwind. We had a hard time shaking her off at the start but we managed to pull ahead and finish about 15 minutes in front of her.

How did you managed to persuade your father, Roy Disney Snr, to let you take the helm at this regatta?

Although he writes the cheques and he is the boss, we do take turns at helming. He does however, have a lot of business concerns so I step in when he can’t make it. We also work well together on the boat because he’s a much better downwind driver, we trade off, and it seems to be quite a good system.

Do you have a regular crew?

Some of our crew have been together for 25 years, which is pretty good going.

And finally, as a first timer to Antigua Race Week, what do you think so far?

I’ll take it!