The 2000 Antigua Race Week is in the record books and Falmouth and English Harbors are rapidly emptying. Most of the boats are headed to the East Coast or Europe for the summer. A few are sailing down island to spend the summer in Trinidad, Venezuela or the ABCs.

Beowulf is in the British Virgins. We had a lovely (if slow) spinnaker run yesterday. We’re headed now to the Bitter End, where we’ll hook up with the Neri’s to plan weather strategy for the passage up to Bermuda – and just generally hang out for a few days and have some fun.

Antigua Race Week and Classic Week were definitely not what we expected. To begin with, both sailors and locals were laid back – very nice. The breezes during Classic Week were, well, classic. Race Week was good for the first two days, but thereafter uncharacteristically light.

We’ve already talked about the thrill of watching the classics sailing. The modern yachts are generally faster, but not nearly as much fun to keep pace with. On the other hand, as a yacht designer I found some of the newer boats fascinating to watch going through the water. The differences, especially upwind, were startling. Then being able to come back to the anchorage and study the hulls from our dinghy was informative, to say the least.

We’ve been working on a new main/mizzen design, for use when our current sails are ready to be retired. One afternoon, after the races were over, the IMS Maxi Sayonara went out with exactly the type of sail we’d been noodling!

The racing, was, of course, hot and heavy. But protest seemed to be rare, we only saw one dismasted boat, and we didn’t hear about any major collisions. Maybe we’ll go next year.

The shore activities are legendary, and I mst say that we enjoyed checking out the bars and shaking our tail feathers. Of course, staying up until 2200, when the music typically started, took some doing.

The week climaxed on Saturday with a combination prize-giving and the local “Dock Yard Days” holiday. It seemed like a bigger deal for the locals than the racers – very much like a county fair with dancers, drum corps, various bands, balloon makers and face painters, and everyone dressed in their best clothes (at least the locals were dressed up!).

Several friends have asked us, if we had to do one of the eventsagain, which we’d choose. For us there’s no question: Nothing can compare with watching Tendara and Mariette thundering along on a reach. We’d do Classic Week again without hesitation. But if you’re more into fun in the sun, with some racing thrown in, then try Race Week 2001.