Coastal race

From a deck chair on the beach Dana Paxton reports on Rolex Antigua Sailing Week

Spectacular race conditions greeted the well-rested fleet today at Rolex Antigua Sailing Week. Steady, 12 to 16 knot wind and sunshine created another picture-perfect day. Despite fairly light wind for Antigua - many competitors here talk of years past seeing wind in the high 20s - competitors reveled in the conditions and turned in solid performances. Both Divisions started and finished the South Coast Race just outside Falmouth Harbor and were treated to an approximately 20-mile race along the rocky shores with distant views of neighboring island sisters Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis.

"Everything comes down to tomorrow's race," said Spirit of the North's Chris Hanson of the competition in Cruising I class. " Southern Dream (the Beneteau 50 owned by Jim Flanagan) won the first two races and we've won the second two, and at the moment we are leading the fleet."

Although many of the boats in this class were involved in some congestion at the start, Derek Waiter's London-based Bavaria 49 found its way to a good overall race. "It was a fetch to the first mark, when it should have been a beat. Then the wind came round again by the time we got to the next mark and we had a nice spinnaker leg. During that leg, Ikra II (Hakan Norberg's Preles 72 from Norway) caught up to us and just got by us at the finish." Among Spirit of the North's crew is skipper Owen Parker, captain of the late British Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath's Morning Clouds.

Typical of the enthusiastic competitors found at this year's regatta, Abid Hussain from San Francisco couldn't keep the huge smile off of his face moments after returning to the dock from racing in Bareboat IV class. "This regatta is fun because you have all of these different classes and different levels of ability on every boat," said the young sailor who chartered the boat along with friends from the Bay Area and Greece. "We are in the middle of our class. There are the top boats and the bottom boats and we are one of five in the middle. We are all within a couple of minutes of each other and we're always near each other in the standings. It is great sailing!"

With another win today, Tom Hill's Titan 12 continues to lead Racing Big Boat I class over Rosebud, the TP52 owned by Roger Sturgeon. Additionally, Titan is leading its fleet - a combination of its own class combined with Racing III - with Rosebud in second.

The winner of today's race in Racing III was Crash Test Dummies, Tim Kempton's Melges 32 from Trinidad. A battle among the two Swan 45s, the Italian DSK-Comifin, owned by Danilo Salsi and Murka 2, owned by Russian Nikhail Mouratov, with Chris Law on board.

Tomorrow's final race, the Ocean Race, will take place off the south end of the island and decide the fate for many classes.