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Sailing in English Harbour
Antigua Sailing Week
A sheltered natural harbour on Antigua's south coast and the heart of Caribbean yachting. Its Georgian naval base, Nelson's Dockyard, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and still a working marina, and the neighbouring Falmouth Harbour fills each spring with the fleet for Antigua Sailing Week.
Run by Antigua Sailing Week, with published dates and a real program.
Dates & details verified against: Official event site ↗
Why here
English Harbour is where Caribbean sailing has its spiritual home. This deep, hurricane-safe inlet on Antigua's south coast was the Royal Navy's Georgian dockyard, and the restored stone warehouses and sail lofts of Nelson's Dockyard now shelter superyachts and classic wooden boats instead of frigates. The steady 15 to 20 knot trade winds, warm water and a coastline of coves make it a natural racing ground, and every April the island stages Antigua Sailing Week, first run in 1968 and still the flagship regatta of the eastern Caribbean. The five days of racing out of English and Falmouth Harbours draw a huge fleet, from grand-prix maxis to bareboat cruisers crewed by visitors, and the shore scene at the Dockyard and the Antigua Yacht Club is as much a part of it as the windward legs. For anyone learning the ropes, the National Sailing Academy runs lessons from the same water, so you can go from a first dinghy session to crewing a keelboat in one of the world's great sailing settings.
Best months
The Caribbean sailing season runs roughly December to May, dry and steady, with the reliable easterly trades building through the winter and into spring. Antigua Sailing Week falls in late April, at the tail of the season when the breeze is at its most consistent, typically 15 to 20 knots. Water is warm all year, around 26 to 28 degrees. Racing and cruising both work out of the twin harbours of English and Falmouth on the protected south coast.
Getting there & around
English Harbour sits about 45 minutes by road from V. C. Bird International Airport near St. John's. The Dockyard, Falmouth Harbour and the Antigua Yacht Club cluster within walking or short-taxi distance of each other, and this is the base for charters, regatta registration and crew berths. During Sailing Week accommodation in the English Harbour and Falmouth area books out well ahead, so plan early.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
Antigua Sailing Week
OrganizerAntigua Sailing Week is the Caribbean's flagship regatta, first held in 1968 and owned by the Antigua Barbuda Hotels and Tourism Association, with racing run out of English and Falmouth Harbours on the island's south coast. The 58th edition runs 21 to 25 April 2027 on a point-to-point format, drawing hundreds of yachts from grand-prix maxis to bareboat cruisers crewed by visitors. Shore life centres on Nelson's Dockyard and the Antigua Yacht Club at Falmouth.
National Sailing Academy
SchoolThe National Sailing Academy is a charity on Dockyard Drive in English Harbour, founded in 2010 by Elizabeth Jordan to teach Antiguan children and differently-abled adults to sail. It is an RYA-recognised training centre and offers private and group lessons and dinghy rental to visitors alongside its free national-curriculum programme, putting learners on the water in the same harbours that host Antigua Sailing Week each April.