El Ocaso takes historic Lord Nelson Trophy victory at Antigua Sailing Week
by Rupert Holmes/Antigua Sailing Week 4 May 11:06 NZST
26 April - 2 May 2025
After a week of intensely close racing, Steve Rigby's chartered J/122 El Ocaso, triumphed in CSA Racing Class 3, and claimed Antigua Sailing Week's most coveted prize, the Lord Nelson Trophy. This recognises the CSA Racing 2, 3 or 4 class winner with the fastest overall corrected times calculated on a time-on-distance basis.
At the start of the final day of racing several boats were still in contention to win each of these classes. "We started today in second place, so we're really surprised to win," says Rigby, "but we had an amazing first race of the day and won the second as well. We're delighted."
"There are five boats that could have won this regatta," he adds. "We've won four races and the next boat won three, so it's been very competitive and it really could have been anyone's regatta, so we're delighted, despite the boat's success in the past. It feels like the most competitive regatta that El Ocaso has ever been in."
What's the appeal of Antigua Sailing Week? "The seas are amazing. The weather's amazing. It's been rather rainy this week, but despite that, we had amazing racing, so we love coming here," Rigby continues. "We love the people, we love what happens here and can't wait to come back next year."
El Ocaso is now one of a select group of only three boats that have won the Lord Nelson Trophy on three occasions. Sir Peter Harrison's Farr 115 Sojana won in 2011, 2018 and 2019, while Larry Ellison's Farr designed Maxi Sayonara was victorious in 1997, 1998 and 2000. In addition, an earlier El Ocaso, a J/120, won the trophy back in 2012.
This year competitors at Antigua Sailing Week were challenged by a wider than usual range of conditions, from light, shifty and tactically challenging race days down to some really windy squally days on which sharp boat handling paid dividends. Entries came from 17 different countries, with the 24 different race winners including crews from as far afield as Finland and Australia.
Over the course of the regatta 65 per cent of the fleet scored at least one podium finish, while Roy Disney's turbocharged Volvo 70 Pyewacket, in CSA Racing Class 1, was the only boat to take both line honours and victory on corrected time in every race. Adrian Lee's HH66 Lee Overlay Partners III won the Performance Multihull category.
CSA Racing Class 2 was closely fought to the very end. Don Terwilliger's Beneteau First 47.7 Dauntless initially had the upper hand, and it wasn't until the end of race six that last year's winner, Woody and Carolyn Cullen's Swan 58 WaveWalker, equalled her points score. In the second half of the series Dauntless notched up four third places in a row and only won one further race, while WaveWalker posted four seconds and one first place, eventually taking victory by only two points.
Ryan Hope Ross' J/105 More Zessin' similarly established a clear early lead in CSA Racing Class 4, including a run of three consecutive wins in the first four races. However, the ability to improve during a regatta is often a key to success and Carlo Falcone's 44ft one off IOR design Caccia Alla Volpe, who was sailing with extended family, had a stellar second half of the regatta. After winning the last five races, Falcone won his class with a margin of seven points and also scooped trophies for both the Best CSA Caribbean Racing Yacht and Best Antiguan Racing Yacht.
Geoffrey Pierini's Splice took a clear overall victory in the RS Elite class, counting only nine wins and only one second place. By contrast, the CSA Bareboat class was also closely fought this year, with almost one design racing between the top four boats which are all identical designs. Swiss sailor Jakob Oetiker's KH+P Revival won the first three races, and took podium finishes in all but one of the others, taking overall victory with a margin of only three points.
CSA Club Class A had only one race per day, yet saw four different winners, with Sebastian Gylling's Finnish Swan 51 Eira the only boat to win two races. He finished the series on 14 points, taking victory just one point ahead of Geoffrey Evelyn's Jeanneau Sun Magic 44 Dandelion. Four different boats also took race wins in CSA Club Class B, but two boats - both local - finished the series tied on 11 points: Sandy Mair's First 35 Cricket and Carrack and Tyden Jones' J/30 Absolute Properties (Blue Peter), with the count back resolved in Mair's favour.
Absolute Properties (Blue Peter) sailed with a young crew all week, the oldest of which is 18, while 16-year-old Carrack Jones was awarded the Youth Trophy. The Best Racing Charter Yacht trophy went to El Ocaso, while the Royal Southern YC Challenge cup went to David Crum's Quintessence.
Katy Campbell's Salona 45 Panacea X won two trophies, including the CSA Travellers Trophy in recognition of her having competed in six regattas across three Caribbean regions this season. She was also presented with the Best Women's Crew trophy.
Class winners were also presented with Locman watches courtesy of sponsor Marina & Resort Limited, while the trophies were crafted from recycled cans by local artist Chris Gamage, with up to 100 cans used for each one.
ASW event and marketing manager, Rana-Jamila Lewis, also thanked the "...more than 100 volunteers who helped make this a fantastic edition of Antigua Sailing Week."
Shoreside action at Antigua Sailing Week matches the quality of the racing, including daily prize-givings and DJ/live music at Antigua Yacht Club Marina, with a cool, friendly and supportive vibe. The final prize-givings, sponsored by the Antigua Charter Yacht Show, moved to the stunning location of Nelson's Dockyard, a UNESCO world heritage site, with live music and DJ until late in the evening.
Details of next year's event will be announced shortly.
Full results available here.
For more information about Antigua Sailing Week visit the official website: sailingweek.com.