Wide open for the Lord Nelson Trophy at 50th Antigua Sailing Week
by Louay Habib 6 May 2017 09:19 BST
29 April - 5 May 2017
Classic trade wind conditions prevailed for the final day of Antigua Sailing Week, serving up one last helping of awesome yacht racing. There were some shock results today, resulting in a number of teams having the possibility of winning the big one – The 50th edition of Antigua Sailing Week's Lord Nelson Trophy.
One of the favourites for the Lord Nelson Trophy, Ross Applebey's Oyster 48, Scarlet Oyster was called over the line at the start and did not return for some time. However, the Scarlet Oyster team rolled up its sleeves picking off the opposition one-by-one to scrape back into second position. Jonty Layfield's Swan 48, Sleeper X took the gun and the race win, but Scarlet Oyster is CSA 5 champion. In other hot classes, Sergio Sagramoso's Melges 32, Lazy Dog scored its fourth bullet. Bajan TP52, Conviction, skippered by Clint Brooks scored its seventh win, as did Maxi, Kialoa III and Sir Peter Harrison's Super Maxi, Sojana.
There were also other prizes to win, including three of the CSA Class winners and Bareboat One, which were hanging in the balance.
In the last race of Antigua Sailing Week, Cannon & Harvey's KHS&S Contractors came second in Bareboat One to Don Clement’s Texas Outhaul in a terrific race, won by the Texas team by just eight seconds. Mareike Guhr's KH+P Maxwell was third. KHS&S Contractors will have to wait to see if they have retained the Bareboat Overall Trophy for Antigua Sailing Week.
In CSA 7, Ferron & Byerley's J/39, Micron 99 Lord Jim needed to make up a 1.5 point deficit to Sir Bobbie Velasquez's First 45, L'Esperance to win CSA 7. Effectively, Micron 99 Lord Jim had to win the last race and hope L'Esperance was third or lower - and their dreams came true! Micron 99 Lord Jim won the last race by just two seconds from Martin Oldroyd's First 40.7, Ortac, with L'Esperance third by just 24 seconds.
In CSA 8, Steve Carson's Dehler 33, Hightide won the last race of the regatta to secure the class win. Raymond Magras’ St. Barths team racing Speedo Nemo was second in the race and Sandy Mair's First 35, Cricket was third.
In CSA 9, Neil Styler's Oyster 49, Porthmeor scored its third win of the regatta in the final race, but it was not quite enough to win the class. Eduardo Lentz’s Sun Odyssey 44, Voilactus was second. Rodney Dodd's Jeanneau 54 Blue Fin was third, enough to win the class by a point.
The winner of the Lord Nelson Trophy will be announced at tonight's Final Awards Ceremony in historic Nelson's Dockyard. Special trophy winners, class winners, runners up and third place teams will be presented with their awards and the grand finale will be played out by the amazing Antiguan band, Asher Otto & Itchy Feet.
Full and final provisional results have been posted on the event web site, www.sailingweek.com