ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK

Report from the Sag Harbor Express

By Gavin Menu; photos by Ed Gifford

Sag Harbor Yacht Yard owner Lou Grignon at the wheel during Antigua Sailing Week.

Lou and Mike Grignon got to enjoy the fruits of their sailing victory in last August’s Antigua & Barbuda Hamptons Challenge Regatta last week with an all-expenses  paid trip with their families to the twin-island paradise in the Caribbean Sea.

The Grignon brothers made the best of light wins and sailed their 27-foot, Tartan Marine-made Pride 270 to victory last August in the second annual Hamptons Regatta. The grand prize was a trip for seven aboard American Airlines, with seven nights lodging at a four-star hotel and a charter boat to compete in the 47th Annual Antigua Sailing Week, which took place from April 26 through May 2.

The sailing, the sun and the welcome they received, Lou Grignon said, were all top of the line.

“I got the opportunity to spend 10 days among the people of Antigua and their racing circuit and it was the most spectacular vacation of my life,” said Grignon, the owner of the Sag Harbor Yacht Yard who brought along his wife, Patty, and his daughters, Elizabeth and Camille.

“Thanks to John Maginley for the race he put on in Sag Harbor and for the professional way it was run,” Grignon said, referring to Antigua & Barbuda’s Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation. “Thanks to Minister Maginley for his hard work and his professionalism and to the people of Antigua for welcoming us to their community.”

Sailing onboard Voilactus, a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 44, the Grignons raced for five days and “got better and better every day,” according to Lou Grignon, whose crew included his brother, his family and his nephews, Daniel and Ryan, along with an additional couple of crew members who were experienced sailors.
“It was a nice boat, big enough to handle the seas and the breeze,” Grignon said on Tuesday, adding that he would be back to compete this summer in the third annual Hamptons Regatta, which has one very important rule that a new winner has to be crowned every year.

“Yeah, but we’ll still be back,” Grignon said with a laugh.