The 45 mile sail from Guadeloupe to Antigua turned out to be our best yet this season. A curious dolphin accompanied us for a while as we left Deshaies bay, which always makes for a great start to the day. We set 2 reefs in our mainsail as a precaution, and this proved to be a wise decision by the time we reached the north tip of the island as we were met by some strong gusts and confused seas. Within an hour though the wind had moderated sufficiently for us to shake out the second reef, and also swung helpfully onto the beam and we were soon flying along in a boisterous sea over the long ocean swells. We engaged the Hydrovane to take over the steering and were both free to sit back and enjoy the ride. If only every passage was like this! Midway between the islands we felt an encouraging tug on the trailing fishing line and proceeded to haul in a very impressive looking barracuda. Unfortunately, these fish are reef feeders and can carry a disease called ciguatera (which leads to severe food poisoning) and you are advised not to eat them if they are over about 2lbs in weight. This one was definitely on the portly side and probably well in excess of that and so it was thrown back into the sea. Nothing further was tempted by our sparkly pink and blue lure, so beans on toast for supper again, and by mid-afternoon we were safely anchored in Falmouth harbour on the south coast of Antigua; what joy to have space all around us, and a depth of 4 metres and enough room to lay as much chain as we liked. This is a large harbour, and home to 3 marinas, mostly catering for the superyacht fraternity, but it's also very welcoming to any size of boat.

We planned on making Antigua our base for a while, as it is the last island we shall visit before leaving on our transatlantic voyage. Much of our time here was spent on making ready for that forthcoming passage, but how fortuitous that we were here for the best of the season's yacht racing too.

First up was the Antigua Classics regatta celebrating its 30th year; a beautiful display of those graceful yachts of yesteryear, both large and small, traditional wooden classic boats and locally built workboats (including the boat we'd seen being hand built in Carriacou), together with what are termed the 'Spirit of Tradition' yachts which are modern boats built in the style of a Classic. The smallest boat in the fleet was just over 30 feet, and the largest 228 feet. The racing rules are slightly relaxed in this competition, mostly due to the nature of the vessels and their lack of manoeuvrability in a tight space; thus the rule concerning 'overtaking vessel must keep clear' is largely disregarded. If you see something big coming up behind you it's recommended you get out of its path as it's probably running at around 18 knots and has difficulty in making any sort of rapid course change, even with the 50 crew on board. What makes this event special is that it is inclusive of so many different types of craft, and with it their crews, from the paid professionals down to local kids from the sailing academy, and older cruisers like us. The location in Nelson's Dockyard, once the base for Admiral Nelson's fleet in the 18th century, created the perfect ambience. This Unesco world heritage site provided a spectacular backdrop for the event and allowed everyone access to view the boats at close range, and to meet the owners and crews.

Nigel and Caroline from Nessa V arrived just in time for the start of the regatta; we'd already identified a good viewing spot from which to watch the races, and so each day picnics were packed and off we climbed for our daily exercise to the top of Middle Ground. Others were envious of our shaded rock and viewpoint as they stood melting in the tropical heat. The event was a true spectacle with over 50 boats out on the water, and we were privileged to observe some very competitive racing.

Each evening the crews gathered in Nelson's Dockyard with plenty of food, rum and beer available, and an eclectic variety of musical entertainment. We even partook of a Royal Navy Tot presided over by Mr Alec Rose, and met my ex employer there too (small world). A standard Navy Tot ration was an eighth of a pint which is no meagre measure, and was the daily allowance for all on board a naval ship in the 'good old days'. According to the museum here, most accidents on board were attributed to drunkenness. Not surprising! This public invitation Tot from the Royal Naval Tot Club of Antigua and Barbuda only offered a standard double measure as there were more than 300 people participating, rather than the handful of Official Tot Club members who meet here regularly (and knock back the full eighth), but this was still a stiff drink to down in one after first cleansing the palate with water, then raising a toast to "a bloody war and a sickly season, to a bloody war and a quick promotion and The Queen, God Bless Her", it being a Thursday - there is a different toast for each day of the week. At least it was quality Mount Gay rum, our favourite.

The last day of racing was particularly exciting with a very close finish for the big boys. We celebrated with a quick beer and headed back to our respective dinghies and arranged to re-convene for the end of regatta party later that evening. On arrival at the dinghy dock we noticed one of the tubes of our dinghy was looking extremely deflated - not a good thing when you've a half mile ride back to the boat. We limped back slowly, then hoisted the dinghy on deck to check it out. As soon as we re-inflated the tube it became apparent that there was a large leak in one of the taped joints on the stern. Not sure whether it's the tropical heat that had dried out the joint or someone had hit it going into the somewhat crowded dinghy dock. Either way it didn't look good.

We decided to deal with the repair in the light of day so Nigel and Caroline provided a water taxi service to the party and the dinghy waited for morning. We took the cool bag with beer in it and watched the goings on, beginning with a display of marching and music by the local police band. It appeared as though the police might arrest Caroline when she almost got embroiled in their marching performance on her way to the ladies; they were in the mid-display when suddenly they upped the tempo and the whole police band broke into a trot, following her round the block. She returned eventually, suitably composed, to see the prize giving ceremony. A local band played out the party until late, and a local boat 'Mariella' came away with the overall winners' trophy and most of the other silverware which seemed very fitting, even though the largest boat in the competition, Adix (pictured) took line honours for each race.

Before 8am next morning we'd cleaned the dinghy 'wound' and filled it with flexible epoxy, courtesy of Nigel, and clamped it as best we could, given the area was curved every which way. It was then a waiting game for 24 hours before re-inflating to check the repair. The pump was primed, and steadily the tube became more rigid - so far so good, it seemed to work; sea trials by Ian proved positive and so the dinghy was declared seaworthy once more, phew! So special thanks to Nigel for the epoxy. We're still trying to find some of the same here, but so far it's evading us.

As Nessa V left the following morning (heading back to Grenada) we waved our farewells from the cockpit and returned to our jobs list. Sad to see our friends leave but we'd enjoyed their good company and had some fun, and no doubt our paths will cross again sometime in the future as seems to be the way in this cruising life.

Back to 'work' and we continued ticking things off the many lists, though a welcome distraction, so as not to make 'Jack dull', came in the form of Antigua Sailing Week, starting just 4 days after 'Classics, and now celebrating its 50th year. This regatta is generally more serious, with many boats having professional crew on some very sleek looking boats, and teams arriving from all over the world to compete. Again it is a very inclusive event, with additional categories for cruisers and those with non-professional crew, and even the local charter fleets have their own class, with many entries from the Caribbean islands. Sailing is actually part of the national curriculum in Antigua through the National Sailing Academy, and so every child learns to sail here, a benefit of such an abundance of large yachts, and these prestigious events, which bring with them the infrastructure to provide employment, and ambition for the local youngsters.

Antigua Sailing Week is a much bigger field than Classics with over 150 boats taking part. We interspersed work with play and we enjoyed some of the fabulous entertainment laid on, including the opening party night where Sir Peter Harrison was presented with the winner's trophy for the Round the Island race. His boat 'Sojana', a 115 ft Farr yacht, had set the record for this race in 2014, and this year he was back aiming to set a new record. This years' time was just 1 second slower than the record, so nearly but not quite. When you consider Sir Peter had his 80th birthday on this day it wasn't a bad effort, although he does have a very large crew to call upon. We all sang happy birthday to him, and there was even a huge cake.

A big party followed with music by a local reggae group - 'Spirited Band' - featuring Sir Curtly Ambrose on bass guitar and Sir Ritchie Richardson on lead. Both are legendary West Indies cricketers; they seemed to be enjoying their retirement and the music was excellent; the crowd were dancing all night, me included, and their rhythms even got Ian jigging a little. This all for free too. It's a product of all of these events that most, if not all of the after race parties are free and open to everyone, and with food stalls (the Wadadli Grill) set up in the street outside the Dockyard grilling everything from burgers to lobster at affordable prices; it made for a wonderful party atmosphere. And yes there are rather a large proportion of Knights of the Realm in this part of the world it would seem.

Again this regatta offers lots of silverware (and bottles of rum) for the winners, and although many of the professionals won their class it was wonderful to see a small boat from Puerto Rico, "Lazy Dog" (just 32 ft), lift the coveted Lord Nelson Trophy, the overall winners' prize and the reason why all of these esteemed sailors are here. Much jubilation followed with another party lasting into the wee small hours.

Antigua has been a real pleasure, we've met old friends, made new friends and the whole experience of regattas has been absolutely delightful. But now it really is time for us to make our final preparations for leaving the Caribbean.

The sail from Antigua to The Azores is likely to be much tougher than our previous east-west crossing from the Cape Verdes to Barbados. Apart from being a longer journey (roughly 2500 miles) we will not have the luxury of the steady trade winds blowing from behind us, nor the ocean current propelling us in the right direction. Despite this we are both looking forward to the challenge and to being out in the open ocean once more, with Morven pointing her bow back towards Europe again.