Antigua Barbuda Race Returns With Big Prize

[caption id="attachment_66673" align="alignnone" width="3870"] Lou Grignon, competing at Antigua Sailing Week in 2015, will return to defend his win in the Antigua Barbuda Hamptons Challenge in Sag Harbor this weekend.[/caption]

The Antigua Barbuda Hamptons Challenge Regatta will return to Sag Harbor on Saturday, July 22, with one of the biggest sailing prizes in the Northeast to the winning crew: an all-expenses paid trip to compete in Antigua Sailing Week in 2018, which is regularly named one of the top five regattas in the world.

The event, which takes place in and around Noyac Bay, is presented by the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority. There will be a cocktail awards celebration following the race at Haven's Beach in Sag Harbor from 5 to 8 p.m. to benefit i-tri, an organization based on the East End that helps build confidence and self-esteem among teenage girls. Tickets for the post-event party are $45 in advance and $50 at the door.

“We’re so excited to be partnering again with the ministry of tourism for Antiqua and Barbuda,” said Theresa Roden, the founder of i-tri, which was also the beneficiary of two previous Antigua and Barbuda Hamptons Challenge Regattas in 2013 and 2014.

Roden said the Honorable Asot A. Michael, the minister of Tourism, Economic Development, Investment and Energy for Antigua and Barbuda, will attend Saturday’s event along with other dignitaries from the twin Caribbean islands. Also in attendance will be Jim Ryan, a sailor from the North Fork who won the 2013 event, and Lou Grignon, owner of the Sag Harbor Yacht Yard who won in 2014. Both are returning in attempt to claim the big prize again this year.

To register for the regatta or to buy tickets for the party visit AntiguaBarbudaHamptonsChallenge.com.