100 prizes

Benny Kelly's Panthera takes the big boat division at Stanford Antigua Sailing Week

It was a week of innovation, of lively parties, of big winds and flat calms, and when all was said and done, it was a week that showcased great competition on the water and wonderful camaraderie off. In short, it was another fine edition of Stanford Antigua Sailing Week, the 41st annual one, and everyone who attended was a winner.

Of course, along with those figurative winners, there were also the true champions, the sailors who excelled on the racecourse and earned both the respect of their rivals and the spoils of their success. And in two separate awards ceremonies yesterday afternoon and last night at the regatta’s Event Village here at Nelson’s Dockyard, the top racers in the 17 respective classes for this running of Stanford Antigua Sailing Week reaped the rewards of their top-notched efforts.

Joining the ranks of such famous yachts as Enzian, Kialoa 4, Infinity, Sayonara, Morning Glory, Pyewacket, Lolita and Rosebud - all past winners of the Lord Nelson Trophy representing the overall victory at Antigua - is a new name, Benny Kelly’s TP52, Panthera. Along with the Lord Nelson prize, Panthera also took home the Curtain Bluff Trophy presented to the winner of the big-boat Racing I class.

Racing I was also the domain of two of the more impressive yachts to ever compete in Antigua - George David’s 90-foot Rambler and Mike Slade’s 100-foot ICAP Leopard. Both took home some silverware: Rambler won the West Indies Publishing Cup presented to the overall runner-up for the week, while ICAP Leopard secured the Yachting World Trophy given to the boat recording the Best Elapsed Time in the two-part Around the Island Race that opens the week’s racing. A third Racing I yacht, Sam Fleet’s Swan 601, Aquarius, received the Quin Farara Cup for third overall.

Like Panthera, David Cullen’s J/109 Pocket Rocket was the recipient of a pair of prestigious awards, the Chippy Fine Yacht Woodwork Cup that goes to the top boat in the Performance Cruiser III and IV ranks, and the British Airways Trophy for supremacy in the Performance Cruiser III division. The Performance Cruiser IV champion, Gianfranco Fini’s Comet 51 Bellissima was presented with the Temo Sports Trophy for first-in-class, and the Helical Moorings Cup as runner-up to Pocket Rocket in the overall standings in those combined classes.

A host of other Division A boats in the all-out spinnaker racing classes received sparkling awards for winning in their respective fleets. They included Stuart Robinson’s Swan 70 Stay Calm which won Racing II and the Price Waterhouse Coopers Cup; Robert Swann’s Marten 49 Yani which won Racing III and the San Hall Trademarks Trophy; and the S&S 57 Charisma, which won Performance Cruiser I and the Big Banana Trophy.

In the Racing IV, V and VI fleets, the overall winner in the combined rankings, for which they received the Global Bank of Commerce Cup, was James Dobb’s dominating J/122, Lost Horizon. The J/Boat also was presented with the Air Canada Cup for winning Racing V; the Beefeater Trophy as Best Caribbean Yacht in Division A; and the Hightide Trophy as the Best Antigua Yacht in Division A

First overall in Racing IV was the Anteros 36, Easy, winner of the Henley Trophy. Winner of the Antigua & Barbuda Investment Bank Trophy, for besting the Racing VI fleet, was Philippe Champion’s J/120, Paulista.

A pair of fast multihulls earned prestigious awards: Calle Hennix’s SeaCart 30 trimaran, True Look, which received the La Perla Cup for winning Multihull Racing and John Kwitek’s Gunboat 62, Lickity Split 2, which earned the American Airlines Cup for winning the Gunboat cat class.

Altogether, nearly one hundred individual prizes were awarded in 38 separate categories, including prizes for first, second and third in each class, and a series of special awards presented throughout the fleet. Clay Deutsch’s Swan 68, Chippewa, was given the Budget Marine Trophy as the Overall Winner in the Racing Class of the Caribbean Big Boat Series. Stay Calm scored the Antigua Breweries Cup for Best Swan in Division A, while its counterpart, Julian Sincock’s Swan 51, Northern Child, snared the American Express Cup for Best Swan in Division A.

In the Cruising Classes, Kent Mitchell’s Cape Fear 60, Blue Whale, was the recipient of the Peter Deeth Cup as top boat amongst the Cruising I competitors, and Michel Teerlinck’s Crowther 40 cat We Two Are One earned the Admirals’ Inn Trophy as the leader of the Multihull Cruising fleet. Carsten Jacob’s Sun Odyssey 49, Beluga V, won the Gold Fleet prize for the Bareboat Charter classes, and in doing so was presented with The Governor General’s Cup as the best of the best charter boats.

Finally, longtime judge Arthur Wullschleger, the famous 'Tuna' himself who this year served as the jury arbitrator, was given the Jan Santos Trophy, so named for Sailing Week’s vice-chairman, for his long-time distinguished service to the regatta.

With the 41st running of Stanford Antigua Sailing Week now over, the race's organisers are already turning their attention to the event’s 42nd regatta, which is scheduled for 26 April-2 May 2009. It’s not too early to begin making plans to be there.