After the sedate start on Sunday gloves came off for the second day of racing in the 37th annual Antigua Sailing Week yesterday. After two races for division A and one for division B, 21 protests were heard by the international jury last night.

By nine o’clock the final protest, between Mari Cha IV and Volvo 60 Venom after a collision on the start of their second race, had finally been heard. The collision resulted in Venom’s retirement and a rather large chip in the bow of Mari Cha. The protest resulted in a DSQ for Venom who sadly is also out of the regatta because of the damage to her stern.

Division A raced a windward/leeward and an Olympic triangle six miles offshore in winds that started to hit 25 knots for the start of the second race causing some sail choice issues; but generally winds hovered around the 18-22 knot range.

The maxZ86s Morning Glory and Pyewacket match racing their way around the course with Morning Glory racking up another two wins. “Morning Glory and Pyewacket are very similar in boatspeed and we’re just having some very, very good races,” said Robbie Haines from Pyewacket. ” We seem to be doing a little better job on the first weather leg and they’re doing a little better downwind and at the end they’re just beating us by a few seconds except for this last race where they beat us by a minute or so.”

Tom Hill’s Titan is sneaking up the leaderboard with a second – by only six seconds – and a third. “We’re in the hunt,” said tactician Peter Holmberg, ” and we’re only half way through the regatta.”

Aspiration with Alinghi’s Brad Butterworth calling the shots racked up two bullets in Big Boat Racing II while Swan 68 Chippewa got two seconds. Aspiration leads the class, Chippewa is second and Bermudian Starr Trail is third. Peter Harrison’s Sojana lost its headsail about a minute into the first leg of racing on Sunday, sailing headsail-less for the entire first beat. Her woes seemed to continue on Monday and although she was seen in the starting area, she never crossed the line.

Ker 55 Aera has started to find some form in Racing III with a win and a second place. However, Frank Savage’s Swan 56 Lolita leads the class after a second and third. But Lolita has to get past Morning Glory, Pyewacket and Titan to repeat last year’s fleet honours. Aera and Rosebud are tied for second. Richard Matthews’ Flirt that suffers under the Caribbean Sailing Association (CSA) rating had a better day today with a third place in the first race. “We’re in Antigua so it’s wonderful to be here, I’ve never done this event before, it’s fantastic. It’s sunny, there’s good breeze and the boat seems to be going OK,” said tactician Andy Green. “We’re beating the Swan 45s in a little more breeze which we weren’t able to do in the last few Caribbean regattas.”

Jamie Dobbs’ Lost Horizon II leads Racing IV by one point with Legacy, Guardian Star and Caccia Alla Volpe tied for second place. Mabuhay II is top of the tree in Racer/Cruiser I while Crescendo’s first place yesterday helped her hold on to second in class today. Disco Inferno II is third. Jagga and Pipe Dream traded places in Racer/Cruiser II today but Pipe Dream leads after two days. Jagga is tied for second with Huey Too while White Lady is tied fourth with Tango Mike.

On the division B course, Gefion, Spirit of the North and Yocahu are tied for first in Performance Cruiser I. HuGo leads Performance Cruiser II, Pavlova II Performance Cruiser III and Farrfly, Cruising I.

In Bareboat I, Sunday’s winner Grenat was relegated to third place yesterday by Island Flyer and Nanuk but she’s still second in class while Island Flyer is first.

Jan Soderberg and his crew onboard Rosco, a Dufour 50, won putting him at the top of Bareboat II and Carnival which has been have a strong Caribbean season won Bareboat III and leads fleet. Palourde won Bareboat IV and Vague L’Ame leads V.

Bavaria 36 Durley Dene racked up her second win yesterday. “Very Challenging conditions today,” said skipper Jon Alsop. “A lot of wind and quite a confusing course, great running, we hit ten knots in a 36-footer. It was very close at the end, two Fast 37s ahead of us and we managed to get them on corrected time.”

Today the fleet is lining up for the Falmouth Harbour Race which takes the fleet back to the south of the island followed by lay-day fun on tomorrow at Antigua Yacht Club.

Thursday, the yachts are back on the ocean with Division A racing windward/leeward courses and Division B sailing the South Coast Race. Friday marks the last official day of racing with the Ocean Race. Saturday, the prize giving is preceded with the Second Annual Bareboat Challenge Championship Race.

The Lord Nelson’s Ball and prizegiving wraps the event on Saturday evening.