Lack of Wind Fails To Dampen Spirit at Antigua Barbuda Challenge

[caption id="attachment_66936" align="alignnone" width="800"] The Honorable Asot A. Michael, center, with Mindy and Jim Ryan, who won a raffle to attend Antigua Sailing Week in 2018. Emma Betuel photo[/caption]

By Emma Betuel

While less than 5-mph winds put a damper on the Antigua and Barbuda Hamptons Challenge — a sailing regatta scheduled for Saturday off the coast of Long Beach — the awards party went off as planned at Havens Beach that evening.

The regatta was cancelled after 21 boats attempted to set sail in near dead calm condition. Crews that would have raced for the opportunity to compete in Antigua Sailing Week instead entered a raffle to determine the winner of an all-expenses paid trip to English Harbour.

[caption id="attachment_66937" align="alignright" width="530"] Winds were dead calm in Noyac Bay on Saturday as event organizers were forced to cancel the Antigua Barbuda Hamptons Challenge sailing regatta. Emma Betuel photo[/caption]

Amid the sounds of a band that played a steel-drum rendition of “The House of the Rising Sun” (apparently at request), the crowd awaited the arrival of the Honorable Asot A. Michael, the Antiguan Minister of Tourism, Economic Development, Investment and Energy. At about 8 p.m. the minister announced that Jim Ryan of Mattituck had been randomly chosen in a raffle to receive the grand prize.

Ryan, who won the inaugural Antigua and Barbuda Hamptons Challenge back in 2013, and his wife, Mindy, will represent New York at the largest sailing race in the Caribbean next April. He will have the chance to compete against a rival Antiguan crew who took the title the last time Ryan raced at Antigua Sailing Week.

“I’ve now been there three times,” Ryan said after receiving the cup from Michael. “I even know the people I’m racing against now. There’s a guy that will be in our division who I know, he won last time and we came in second.”

In a somewhat unlikely pairing, the East End sailing community and the government of Antigua and Barbuda came together with hopes that a rising tide would lift all boats and raise funds for the local i-tri girl’s triathlon organization, which held its own main event last week in Sag Harbor. Proceeds from the Havens Beach party were contributed to i-tri, and Antiguan government officials hope that a “marriage between Sag Harbor and English Harbour” will bring stimulus to the Antiguan economy.

“It’s important to have a synergy between the Hamptons and English Harbour,” Michael said. “We have a lot in common. We have to promote tourism and promote investment. Sailing week does a lot for our economy, especially for residents in Antigua. We have not done an actual study, but it is likely millions of dollars.”

Roughly 1,775 miles separate Sag Harbor and English Harbor, but the minister is adamant that rich nautical histories (English Admiral Horatio Nelson would wait out hurricane season in Antigua in the 18th century) and strong economic interests in tourism make the two communities a natural match.