Ten boats enjoyed two days of stiff sailing off Falmouth in Antigua in the annual Budget Marine High Tide
Series. The boats were divided into three classes, and it was almost as if the smaller the class the tighter
the competition.
In the largest class being the ‘Cruiser racers’, the win went to the very old but enduring Huey Too
helmed by Bernie Evans Wong. The not much younger Contention 33 called Encore with Jerry Bardoe at
the helm reveled in the stiff upwind legs and scored a second place. Third place went to Tommy
Pattersons 40.7 First Love (helmed by Paul Hoj Jensen) who had numerous ding dong battles with fourth
place Freya (helmed by Karl James)
Two sports boats made up class A and a close look at the results will show some very close time
differences as these two top young Antiguan sailors fiercely competed in the Melges 24 (Rhone) and the
1720 called Spirit (Jules Mitchell)
The final class C was a one design class consisting of three identical RS Elites. This class was won by
15 year old Optimist star Emily Guilard. The two remaining boats were Zan (Lorna Saunders) and
Oozlumbird (Robbie Ferron) who, after retirements were equal on points but Zan broke the tie to take
second.
This was the first time the High Tide series was run as a single weekend event and consolidating the
fixtures seem to have been successful. The event once again highlighted the quality of Antiguan youth
coaching given the quality of sailing of entries with youth crew. It also highlighted the fact that great
racing can be had on old boats with the winner of the largest class (a Cal 40) being over 55 years old
followed by a Contention 33 that is at least 44 years old. Budget Marine is a Caribbean chandlery chain that has three outlets on Antigua and is about to
celebrate 30 years of activity in Antigua.
By Robbie Ferron, Budget Marine Founder
19th December 2022
