Antigua is renowned throughout the world for its regattas and other on water events.  There is plenty to chose from and added to the calendar for 2009 is the RORC Caribbean 600 Mile Race which will compete with the Fastnet, Sydney/Hobart, South China Sea Race and the Bermuda Race as one of the world's great ocean races. 

Superyacht Cup Antigua 27th - 30th January 2010

RORC Caribbean 600 Mile Race 22nd February 2010

23rd Antigua Classic Regatta 15th - 20th April 2010

43rd Antigua Sailing Week 24th April - 1st May 2010

44th Antigua & Barbuda Fishing Tournament 28th May - 1st June 2010

Seafood and Fishing Festival 25th September 2010

49th Antigua Charter Yacht Show 6th - 11th December 2010

Nelson's Pursuit Race 31st December 2010 

23rd Antigua Classic Regatta 15th - 20th April. 
Held in April, a couple of weeks before Antigua Sailing Week Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta has quite an interesting history. According to the website - 'Back in the 60's Classic yachts, which were gathered in English Harbor Antigua, had begun chartering and the captains and crews challenged each other to a race down to Guadeloupe and back to celebrate the end of the charter season. From this informal race, Antigua Race Week was formalized in 1967, and in those days all of the yachts were classics. As the years grew on, the classic yachts were slowly outnumbered but the faster sleeker modern racing yachts and 20 years later the Classic Class had diminished to a few boats and was abandoned in 1987. However this same year seven classic yachts turned out and were placed in Cruising Class 3 with the bare boats.

The class was so unmatched that it was outright dangerous, so Captain Uli Pruesse hosted a meeting onboard Aschanti of Saba with several classic skippers and in 1988 the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta was born, with 7 boats.' Fifty five yachts entered in 2006 and a similar number are expected for 2007. www.antiguaclassics.com

43rd Antigua Sailing Week 25th April to 1st May.
The 43rd Antigua Sailing Week sees a substantially revised programme to take into account the changing nature of yacht racing. For the first time there will be an ocean race around the island of Redonda.  Rather than divide the Round the Island Race into two sectors, it will now be one race.  All starts and finishes for the Racing Division will be off English Harbour/Falmouth.  Other alterations are proposed to improve the racing opportunities and to bring some of the courses more directly into the prevailing winds.

Antigua Sailing Week is probably still the Caribbean's premier regatta and the one which attracts the most international interest with yachts arriving from all parts of the world together with a substantial charter fleet. See www.sailingweek.com

44th Antigua & Barbuda Sport Fishing Tournament 28th May to 1st June.
The Antigua & Barbuda Sport Fishing Tournament is considered to be amongst the five premier tournaments in the Caribbean. Around 40 boats take part each year and the rules are quite rigid. There are penalties for landing undersized fish. Also, if a boat is not fighting a fish at the 1630 (4.30) cut off time it has to return to port, however, if it has hooked a fish the boat may remain out until midnight.

Fishing is not the only way to win prizes. A Cook Off competition from the day's catch is a popular event held on Pigeon Beach and competition is almost as fierce as on the water. For more information: www.antiguanice.com/fish/tournament.htm

Antigua Charter Yacht Show 7th - 11th December.

Probably the most important event in Antigua's yachting calendar, the Charter Yacht Show is held in December each year.  Started by the Nicholson family as an encouragement to charter yachts to use Antigua as a cruising destination, the show has grown to around 100 yachts annually.  Not only has the number of yachts grown but also their size and length has increased substantially.  In the beginning, forty feet was a big boat, today, big boats are over 150 feet. Yachts and brokers from all over the world congregate in Antigua to plan and book the next season’s yachting charters.  As a yachting spectacular it is well worth a visit.  Rarely are so many millions of dollars worth of yachts gathered together in one place and, to take advantage of this gathering of superyachts, one of the rounds of the Superyacht Cup is held in the waters off Antigua immediately following the Charter Yacht Show. www.antiguayachtshow.com

Super Yacht Cup Antigua 27th - 30th January.
The first Superyacht Cup Antigua will be staged the week after the Yacht Charter Show which is held in Nelson's Dockyard and Falmouth Harbour. The promoters state 'The Superyacht Cup Antigua is an ideal opportunity for owners to enjoy a fun and informal regatta before Christmas'.

The Superyacht Cup Antigua will follow the same format as the Superyacht Cup held in Palma using pursuit race format over the 3 sailing days. The sailing will be complimented by social functions ashore each evening and a Prize-Giving dinner to mark the end of the event.  www.thesuperyachtcup.com

 RORC Caribbean 600 Mile Race 22nd February 2009.
The 600 mile race starts on 22nd February 2010 at English Harbour, Antigua and takes the fleet north to a mark off Barbuda, past the islands of Nevis, Saba and St Barths to circle St Martin before heading down to Guadeloupe as the most southerly point, then back  to the mark off Barbuda, returning to the finish at  Antigua. A total of 605 nautical miles.  The race will be run under RORC’s IRC rating rule.

For more information, please contact: RORC: Tel.  + 44 (0)20 7493 2248   info@rorc.org   caribbean600.rorc.org or www.rorc.org