Peter Holmberg to Defend his Title in Nonsuch Bay RS Elite Challenge at Antigua Sailing Week
The organisers of Antigua Sailing Week are delighted to announce that
the Nonsuch Bay RS Elite Challenge will be returning to this year's Lay Day
events on Pigeon Beach on Wednesday, April 29.
The Challenge is a one-day invitational one-design racing event featuring
24-foot RS Elite sailboats and offering top-quality racing for eight highly
qualified skippers and their teams. Racing will take place in close
proximity to Pigeon Beach inside Falmouth Harbour to provide maximum
spectating opportunities from the beach as well as from the water. For
those watching from the beach, Nonsuch Bay Resort will have the grill fired
up in its hospitality tent with delicacies from Resort Chef Michael
Husbands available for purchase.
Olympic medallist and America's Cup winner Peter Holmberg was last year's
Challenge winner and he will be returning to Antigua again this year to
defend his title. "The Antigua Sailing Week organisers invited me to
participate in the Nonsuch Bay RS Elite Challenge last year and I'm really
pleased I accepted the invitation. They provided well organised racing
close to Pigeon Beach which allowed us to really showcase our sport of
sailing. Although we took the racing seriously, we had a lot of fun and it
was a great way to spend Lay Day. I'll definitely be back to defend my
title this year," said Holmberg.
Peter Holmberg will be back to defend his title in the 2015
Nonsuch Bay RS Elite Challenge at AntiguaSailing Week
Other teams signed up to participate in the Challenge this year include *Team
Phaedo^3* which has been breaking records around the Caribbean in its MOD
70 since its arrival in Antigua in February this year. There will be two
all-women's teams including *Performance Yacht Charter* with skipper Lucy
Reynolds, and a *KH+P yachtcharter team* with Nicole Lameter at the helm. T*he
Kick 'Em Jenny team f*rom St. Maarten will be participating this year as
will a team from *At Last . . .* with skipper Pietro Corbucci. Rounding out
the eight-team line up will be two teams that won a place to enter the
Challenge at the Final of the Nonsuch Bay RS Elite Summer Series held last
December. Those teams will be led by Marc Fitzgerald of *Sojana* and Martin
Beck who owns an RS Elite and is keenly promoting growth of the RS Elite
class in Antigua.
Beach activities will get underway from 12:00 noon and racing will start
promptly at 1:00 pm. There will be two qualifying series of four teams each
with a maximum of three races each of approximately 15 to 20 minutes in
length. The top two boats from each series will go to the final series
which will also consist of a final three races.
The event came to life as a result of ideas thrown around by Mark Whinney,
Marketing Director of *Nonsuch Bay Resort.* Mark loves the event and says:
"Residents and guests at Nonsuch Bay Resort were getting so much enjoyment
out of the RS Elites that we wanted to create a special event to provide
greater exposure to both the RS Elite one-design fleet and of course to
Nonsuch Bay Resort itself. We all agreed that there was no better time to
do that than during Antigua Sailing Week. Racing in the Elites has become
so popular that Nonsuch Bay has expanded its fleet over the past year and
sailors have begun seeking out invitations to participate in the RS Elite
Challenge on Lay Day every year."
There will be live commentary from the beach throughout the event so
spectators can easily follow the on-the-water action. A prize giving will
take place at about 5:00 pm with trophies being awarded to the top three
finishers with a prize for the overall winner of a week's bed and breakfast
accommodation at Nonsuch Bay Resort for two people, including use of all
sailing equipment and facilities.
Simultaneously along the beach from mid-day DJs Easy P and Professor Irish
will heat things up with beach games from DJ Sporty including cricket,
football, a hot bikini competition, lime and spoon race, tug-o-war and
more. Shuttles to the beach will run from Antigua Yacht Club all day and
into the night.
