AYC HELD ITS ANNUAL HIGHTIDE SERIES OVER THE HOLIDAYS Thursday 5th January 2012
Antigua Yacht Club's Hightide Series of races took place on the 22nd, 26th and 29th of December in traditionally strong Christmas winds.
Sandy Mair, acting Fleet Captain of Antigua Yacht Club issued the notice of race and sailing instructions which included some creative ideas and rules for scoring with significant modifications to the regular Racing Rules of Sailing. That didn't seem to dampen the spirits of the sailors who turned out in good numbers for the first race on December 22nd, notwithstanding the high winds and rough conditions. Some boats coming from Jolly Harbour were unable to make it in time for the race but they came out in numbers for the two races that were held in much calmer conditions on the 26th. The final race was held on the 29th and there was again a good turnout! There were a few exciting moments in the final race when a squall came through and a few boats sailing upwind were knocked pretty flat. The boats that were carrying spinnakers downwind had momentary thoughts of dousing the spinnakers, but were relieved when the squall moved towards the north.
Notwithstanding the variable conditions, the regatta was uneventful in terms of breakages and damages and sailors had a fun time on the water.
Unfortunately, there was a bit of confusion over the sailing instructions and scoring rules and in the end each boat's worst race score had to be discarded from its series score which altered the results from what many thought they should have been and there were a few upset competitors when the final results were tabulated. Something to be learned from when writing Sailing Instructions for next year!
The winner of Class B was Vincent White's Seal, a boat and crew that have been performing very of late and promise to offer up stiff competition in the future.
The winners of Class A were Tanner Jones' Blue Peter in 3rd place, Steve Carson's Hightide (the boat for which the series was named when Jol Byerley owned it years ago) in 2nd place, and James Dobbs' Lost Horizon in 1st place.
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