director. ‘When celebrating a milestone anniversary, birthday or special occasion, you pull out all the stops. New racecourses, our sponsors are excited and looking to up their game and support, and of course the shoreside will be busting with more activities, parties and closing the show. There will be fireworks for sure.’
Fly in and race Some teams prefer to race their own hulls. Yacht transport companies offer robust delivery schedules between Europe, the USA and the Caribbean. Rallies like the ARC, in which more than 300 yachts sail from Europe to St Lucia in November and the RORC Transatlantic, which departs from Las Palmas in early January en route to Grenada, are fun ways to BYOB (bring your own boat). Add to this the Antigua to Bermuda Race, which resumes in May 2023 and adds excitement for yachts leaving the Caribbean for New England in the USA and Europe in late spring. Flying in and jumping on a race-
ready chartered yacht for an event is becoming even more popular. It has proven a perfect fit for Bernie Girod, who chartered the Lombard 46 Pata Negra from UK-based LV Yachting for both the 2019 and 2022 Les Voiles de S. Barth Richard Mille and intends to do the same next year. ‘I live in California so for me it’s
much easier to charter a boat. It avoids the wear and tear on my boat and it greatly simplifies the logistics,’
80 SEAHORSE
says Girod. Demand is especially hot for
grand prix-style race charter yachts. ‘Teams are becoming aware of the
high calibre of yachts now available to charter in the Caribbean,’ says Lucy Jackson, director of LV Yachting. ‘We specialise in performance racing yachts, and we are seeing high levels of interest. There was still a lot of uncertainty at the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022 and there was hesitancy in booking, but we are getting lots of inquiries and booking already for 2023. I think it will be a massive season for chartering.’ The company’s nearly dozen race
charters include Way of Life (Reichel Pugh 86), Hypr (Volvo 70), Defiance (Swan 68), Lorina (Swan 601), Yagiza (First 53), Pata Negra (Marc Lombard 46), El Ocaso (J122) and Adrenaline (Cape 31). Open Ocean Management,
which is based in St Petersburg, FL and Newport, RI, USA will offer grand prix yachts in the 50 to 70-foot range for events from the US to St Barths in 2023 according to Jesse Fielding who co-founded the company with Nick Dovbniak. ‘The majority of our racing platforms are based in the mid-Atlantic USA; therefore, we have reasonable transport to the Caribbean.’ ‘There are opportunities to further
grow this class’, says Korteweg. Race charter boats fit nicely in the racing fleets at most Caribbean regattas and offer an opportunity for teams and individuals with lots of racing
Above: the après-race parties are another good reason to compete in Antigua Sailing Week. After several years when the regattas downplayed their onshore parties, the good times are expected to be back in full swing in 2023
experience to participate without having to own a boat. Of course there are the large highly competitive bareboat fleets at the St Maarten Heineken Regatta, BVI Spring Regatta and Antigua Sailing Week as well. However there is a good group out there that wants to charter something faster and sexier to race. The USA market is where the growth will be, as they are becoming more aware of the concept of race charters. Most race charters offer a complete package and make this a more convenient way for sailors to plan their regatta.’
How to enter Teams are encouraged to express interest or register for 2023 as early as possible to enable organisers to best plan. The CSA provides a five- year calendar of dates formajor regattas and a calendar for all Caribbean regattas year-round under its “Events” button (caribbean-
sailing.com/calendars/international- regatta-5-year-calendar/). The CSA site also provides a link tomany race charter companies (caribbean-
sailing.com/yachtcharter/) Book charters early too. Here too is information about applying and paying for CSA Handicap measurements (caribbean-
sailing.com/apply-for- measurement/). Covid restrictions have been lifted onmost islands as of mid-2022. However, event organisers on each island are the best source for up-to-date information.
www.caribbean-sailing.com
❑
PAUL WYETH
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