Ian Henderson goes megayacht racing in Antigua for PrivatAir magazine.
It’s been said that if something floats or
flies, you should rent it. Advice which is disregarded by many a
multimillionaire, to the relief of high-end boat and plane makers all over the
world.
Sales of G6 jets and Wally yachts seem to
have survived economic crises – and once you’ve bought them of course you need
somewhere to take them. The Med in summer and the Caribbean in the northern hemisphere’s
winter months beckon; both have ports and places to see and be seen, from film
festivals to sailing regattas. Both have a spiritual centre; for the
Mediterranean it’s always been Cannes (although newcomers like Montenegro are
coming up fast) and for the Caribbean it’s arguably Antigua.
As an island, Antigua has it all; 365
beautiful beaches; an international airport with a decent runway; excellent
stealth-wealth hideaway hotels; a relatively stable economy (with few
extradition treaties); and some of the world’s most thrilling sailing
competitions. Here the most beautiful yachts ever created meet for the Classic
Week, followed soon after by carbon-fibre racing giants through to local
dayboats for the Antigua Sailing Week. For the really determined there are even
tougher events too, like the new RORC 600 offshore endurance race in February
which begins and ends in Antigua’s English Harbour.
But it’s the two Antigua Weeks that, like
most visitors, drew me to the island around Easter this year. I’ve done a bit
of racing in the past, on modern offshore yachts and a restored 1946 keelboat
but I’d never done Antigua; and three children most of whom have never shown
much interest in boats mean that nowadays sailing usually takes second place to
school hockey matches and the like. So as well as being determined to get out
racing during our stay, I found what looked like the perfect place to get the
whole family on the water - a new addition to Antigua’s hotels called Nonsuch
Bay.
Run by the Fraser brothers – both of whom
grew up on the island and have forgotten more about Caribbean sailing than I’ll
ever know – the resort is at the head of a wide bay open to the steady trade
winds blowing across the Atlantic but protected by a string of sandy islands and
an almost unbroken coral reef. That is a recipe for perfect sailing; solid
breezes and flat, warm, postcard-perfect turquoise waters. There’s a little
dock, skilled instructors and plenty of boats to choose from – little learner
dinghies through racing keelboats and catamarans to kitesurf boards. The bay is
backed by architect-designed Caribbean-style villas, houses and apartments
among indigenous gardens filled with hummingbirds. Above the dock is a modest
restaurant (with an infinity pool in the middle) which overlooks the bay and
offers some of the best cooking we found in Antigua. (The lobster chowder is
just perfect.)
To my delight the children couldn’t wait to
get out on the water – not only had they spotted a couple of friends from home
on the plane (so much more fun than sailing with Dad) but we’d also had a
couple of relaxing days at the outstanding Carlisle Bay to get into the slower
pace of island life. Carlisle Bay is a wonderful place – the rooms are as perfect
as you’d expect from one of owner Gordon Campbell Gray’s hotels and my wife
would have happily traded anything to do with boats for a more of the spa,
tennis and idyllic beach. But going to Antigua and not sailing is like going to
Gstaad and not skiing.
So Nonsuch Bay was just right; the kids
quickly found a gang to hang with and we picnicked on beaches, swam with
turtles and explored the mangrove-lined inlets and hidden reefs in speedboats
and kayaks. The Bay is a popular anchorage for visiting yachts – Eric Clapton
is a regular, we spotted Velsheda (possibly the most beautiful sailing yacht
ever made) resting after her exertions in Classic Week and, tucked away round
the corner, Silvio Berlusconi’s amusingly-named Morning Glory. (Local lore has
it that a nearby hilltop mansion is destined to be the Italian premier’s
retirement home – some smaller villas built on the property around it have already
been waggishly dubbed the bunga-bungalows.)
For those who have chosen to ignore that
earlier advice about plane and yacht ownership, the Fraser brothers are about
to start building what may be the ideal hideaway in the Caribbean – a short
drive (or ten minutes by helicopter) from VC Bird airfield a deep-water dock
specially designed for megayachts is emerging from a diligent planning process.
As well as hurricane-proof moorings it will offer state of the art shore
support and, for those who find even a 120-foot vessel too confining, a choice
of villas built above the pretty mangrove-lined creek.
It was with some difficulty that I managed
to persuade the family to leave Nonsuch and head across the island to English
Harbour, the centre of the action, in time for the start of Sailing Week. We
moved into the gem of a boutique hotel that is the Inn at English Harbour – a
place we’d stayed many years before and which has been sympathetically updated
by owners Enzo and Susanna to retain its colonial charm. Set around small
private courtyards, the rooms are generous and filled with artworks collected
by Susanna on her travels with voile-draped four poster beds. Outside shady
decks with teak deck-chairs lead out across springy grass to the swimming pool
and palm-lined beach where drinks and towels arrive unbidden at your driftwood
and cotton hammock. Up above is the original stone-built bar and restaurant,
where from the terrace you can see the masts of hundreds of yachts gathered in
English Harbour – the only port from Lord Nelson’s time still being used as it
was first intended.
It was here that I was introduced to Hugo
Stenbeck, Swedish-American sailing champion and part of the family that owns
the hugely wealthy Kinnevik firm founded by his grandfather. As well as competing
in the America’s Cup and pretty much everything else, Hugo still races the same
class of yacht as our old Camper and Nicholson International Six - although
with considerably more success.
Thrillingly, Hugo offered me a place during
Race Week on his new racer Genuine Risk so the following morning, I was heading
down to Falmouth Harbour in a minivan with Hugo, his girlfriend and a couple of
world-class sailors to join the 22-strong crew aboard one of the fastest racing
sailboats anywhere. Trying hard to look casual, I followed them out of the
minivan and along the dock – we were a little late but even so Hugo told the
driver to drop us outside the gate to avoid any impression of looking like
rockstars. (Although the mirror shades, pretty girls and actually being sailing
royalty made that slightly superfluous.)
Genuine Risk was widely tipped as the boat
to win Class 1, with its advanced canting-keel design and all-star crew (who
between them had competed in pretty much every major sailing event including
the Olympics and the America’s Cup). The first race was close, but after that
the boat quickly drew clear of the fleet during the week as wind strengths
gradually built to almost gale force, with the carbon fibre hull shrieking and
planing above the waves as far back as the mast. Following us were a fleet of
Wally Yachts’ elegant new Gunboat class catamarans, a host of yachts of all
shapes and sizes, spectator boats … and, madly, an ancient open fishing boat
anchored right on the start line with three old boys registering defiance of
the mayhem around them by casting for tuna in between knocking back bottles of
local Wadadli beer.
Antigua’s like that; billionaires and
beginners sail the same waters, rockstars and roaming sea-gypsies moor up
alongside each other. The island has kept its relaxed Caribbean charm without
becoming simply a playground for the owners of planes and yachts. That may
change of course, as hotels like Carlisle Bay, the Inn and Nonsuch Bay and
events like Antigua Sailing Week attract more international visitors. I for one
hope it doesn’t happen too fast – and I fully intend to keep a close eye on
things. Starting with next year’s Race Week.
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