The canon fires as Mike Slades 100′ ICAP Leopard crosses the line for line honours at the Guadeloupe to Antigua Race – the pre-event to Antigua’s Sailing Week which kicks off in full for all boats tomorrow. Finishing in 2hrs 26m 7s, Leopard missed out by an agonizing 7mins 25s on the overall race record, which has remained with Mari Cha IV since 2004. With its finish line at the spectacular entrance to English Harbour, the annual Guadeloupe race has been the opener for Sailing Week for the past 40 years, but for the first time this year it will count towards the Antigua Ocean Series, which includes Yachting World’s Around the Island Race on Sunday 26th April and the Corum Round Redonda Race on Wednesday.
Slade and his team were narrowly ahead of the record for the first half of the race revelling in the 18-20knot winds, but with no large multihulls in the race this year, will still be happy with line honours, with Peter Harrison’s Sojana taking second.
With 141 boats entered this year, Sailing Week is shaping up to be another cracker, and Yachting World will be here to keep you up to date with the action.