Club Swan 42 Arethusa wins Swan Caribbean Challenge
by Kate Holmes 5 May 2011 07:49 BST
The Club Swan 42 Arethusa wins the Swan Caribbean Challenge © Fantasy Sailing Antigua
The crew of Club Swan 42 Arethusa came away from the 2011 Antigua Sailing Week as the champions of the Swan Caribbean Challenge following their impressive win in Class 3. The Club Swan 42 was entered by Phillip Lotz, of the USA and also gained the title of Best American Yacht. Arethusa won the class by a fair margin; the Club Swan 42 registered three race wins across the five days of racing and not once faltered out of the top three.
Other strong performances came from Jonty Layfield’s immaculate Swan 44, which scored its fifth win at Antigua Sailing Week to take the Class 5 title.
At Saturday evening’s Prize giving ceremonies at Nelson’s Dockyard, a host of awards and prizes were presented to a number of worthy skippers and crews. Along with trophies for first, second and third in the separate classes, prizes were also given in special categories based on class points.
Among those winners was Swan 77 La Forza Del Destino who was the second placed yacht over 15 years old in Class 2. The same award in Class 5 went to Sleeper closely followed by Swan 51 Northern Child. Sleeper also took the silver award for Best British Yacht whilst Northern Child took silver for Best Crewed Charter Yacht.
Antigua Sailing Week marked an exciting end to the 2011 Swan Challenge Series which also included the Heineken St. Maarten Regatta and the International Rolex Regatta. Incorporating a range of prestigious regattas across an international racing circuit, the Swan Challenge series covers six regional categories, with the highest ranking Swan in each of the assigned events being awarded one of the Asprey Silver Swan Challenge trophies.
The 2011 Challenge has been won by Arethusa after posting strong results in Antigua and at the International Rolex Regatta. She was presented with the prestigious Asprey Swan Caribbean Challenge trophy at Antigua Sailing Week’s prize giving. Coming in joint second place were La Forza Del Destino and Swan 48 CR Affinity.