Antigua Sailing Week, the party’s here (we’re there and we tell you about it)

From our correspondent in Antigua Ida Castiglioni – It’s now in its 56th edition, and that’s about to change: from next year it will be raced a month and a half early – March 18 to 22, 2026 – to allow boats and crews to cross the Atlantic in time to qualify and then participate in the Fastnet.

Antigua Sailing Week, the celebration of sailing is here

It isAntigua Sailing Week 2025, the historic week-long regatta that for decades, between late April and early May, has engaged racing and cruising yachts in the Caribbean, brought by professional crews or-sometimes-by groups of friends. It was invented in 1968, when the owners of ten boats got together to race each other around a few buoys along the west coast of Antigua in front of English Harbour.

Since then, the Antigua event has grown to become a classic rendezvous for North American racing boats, cruising boats based in the Caribbean, and ocean-going boats accustomed to spending the summer in the Mediterranean to avoid hurricane season. It has also become a special week, full of parties and fun, when crews take a breather before taking to the ocean again or heading north back to the States. The number of boats entered has been increasing year by year until in the early 2000s it surpassed the largest number of participants, with as many as 350 competitors.

What happens these days

This year’s event includes five days of racing, from Sunday, April 27 to Friday, May 2. Fifty-three boats turn out to be registered, and the most competitive among them are grouped in the CSA’s four main handicap classes, Racing 1, 2, 3, 4. Several boats, on the other hand, are racing in some simplified handicap classes, such as Club Class A and B. Then there is a very special class, which is the BB (Bareboat), in which all boats leased by a German charter company converge.

Among the regatta days, two are dedicated: today’s was aimed at the presence of women on board, while Thursday’s was aimed at the participation of young people.

All the women of Antigua Sailing Week

There were 29 sailboats with one or more women on board for a total of 107 women. Among these boats, four had a woman as skipper while only one boat lined up a crew consisting only of women.

And it is indeed an Italian boat: Second Star Sail’s Blue Moon, the Grand Soleil 43 brought by Lyssandra Barbieri (Racing 4).

Our interview with Lyssandra Barbieri

The other female skippered boats are Katy Campbell’s Panacea (Racing 4), Donna Syers’ Joya (Bareboat) and Susanne Blankenhagen’s Talisman (Bareboat).

Women also on board the two Italian boats Fox Hunt, Carlo Falcone’s One off IOR, deployed here in Antigua, and ABA by Andrea Maccaferri.

How did the day go

Winning the April 28 trials in the most competitive classes were: for CSA Racing 1, Pyewacket 70, the modified Volvo 70 of Roy Disney (USA); for CSA Racing 2, WakeWalker, the Swan 58 of Woody Cullen (USA); and for CSA Racing 3, El Ocaso, the J122 of Steve Rigby (GBR). Not the best weather with a nice wind at the beginning, followed by rain showers and then very weak or no wind.

Interview with Jaime Torres, race manager of Antigua Sailing Week

See you soon with many stories and updates from Antigua Sailing Week 2025.