Antigua Regatta

More than 100 yachts participate each year ranging in size from 24 feet to over 100 feet. The Regatta attracts all types of yachts from serious racing boats like OMII, to a variety of performance cruising boats.

The sight of all these yachts is unforgettable, both from vantage points on the shore and from spectator boats carrying onlookers alongside the races.

The reputation of Antigua Sailing Week attracts some of the world’s top racing and performance cruising boats and some of the most famous professional sailors in the world.  You don’t need a high-tech boat to participate. In my travels Olympians or often seen racing barefoot.

For five days I have seen crews challenged with a variety of coastal race courses tacking duels around the buoys.

This is all in the picture perfect setting of the deep blue Caribbean Sea, off Antigua’s south coast with the ever present trade winds.

The idyllic racing is enhanced by sailors retiring to Antigua Yacht Club for passionate post-race analysis and daily prize-givings which carry on into the evening. Hundreds of locals and visitors will continue partying well into the late hours but yacht crews know there is another day of racing so they leave the late night revelry for the others to finish.