ANTIGUANICE YACHTING INSIDER NEWSLETTER

Photo by Alexis Andrews.

PRESS RELEASE

The Mill Reef Yacht Club (MRYC) completed its first ‘Invitational’ regatta since its formation in October 2012.  It was a “Commodore’s Choice” event with Commodores selecting a team from each invited Club.

Participating Yacht Clubs included:

• Antigua Yacht Club, with Geoffrey Pidduck, Janie Easton and Robbie Ferron
• Jolly Harbour Yacht Club, with Hans and Kathy Lammers and Bernie Evan-Wong
• Ida Lewis Yacht Club, with Jamie Hilton, Chris Greenman and Matt Brooks
• Mill Reef Yacht Club, with Poul Hoj-Jensen, Ralph Isham and Patrick Watson
• Essex Yacht Club, with Sam Jones, Fuller Cowles and Wendy Harris

All teams sailed the MRYC’s vintage O’Day Rhodes 19’s, rotating boats each race.  Racing took place March 8-9th in Nonsuch Bay, Antigua.  Despite light wind projected, Nonsuch Bay produced wonderful, fluky, thermal winds of 6 to 10 knots both days with a typical direction from the south and west, which made the racing even more challenging.  There were seven races over two days.  The course was windward-leeward with a gate at the bottom of the course.  At the end of the day, it was the sailors who made the correct course selections and played the wind shifts to their advantage. The top finishers were all within 4 points of each other.

The results were:

• Mill Reef Yacht Club, 1st with 11 points.
• Ida Lewis Yacht Club, 2nd with 14 points, with an extra 1st place finish to break the tie and capture 2nd place.
• Jolly Harbour Yacht Club, 3rd with 14 points.
• Antigua Yacht Club, 4th with 15 points.
• Essex Yacht Club, 5th, place.

Photo compliments of Matthew Cohen.

The Mill Reef Club was founded in 1947 and has a long history with Antigua and its development. It is a private club of about 700 members, open from November to June.  MRYC was formed to give Mill Reef Club the ability to host sailing events and become more active in the Antigua yachting community.

The Club’s sailing fleet consists of six Rhodes 19’s, several Sunfish and eight Optimists.  Informal regattas and kids sailing events are held throughout the season for Club members.  An invitational regatta is hosted annually with other yacht clubs.

For further information, contact MRYC Commodore Fuller Cowles at fuller@mayeroncowles.com, or Hamish Watson at hwatson@millreefclub.ag.

Click here to view complete results.