Sunsail Colonna -- Anybody been there?

[lasailing]

Sunsail Colonna http://www.sunsail.com/clubs/destinations/colonna is a resort on Antigua specializing in small boat sailing. They are supposed to have 20 lasers plus assorted cats and windsurfers.

Has anybody been there or does anyone have any other suggestions for a resort with good small boat sailing (specifically laser)?

I am not looking for racing clinic.

Resort has to be reasonable accessible from north america.

 

[markmod1]

Hi Lasailing, I went to Sunsail Colonna last May for the week. The week I went was unfortunately/ fortunately (delete as appropriate) there was 280 (non sailing) plumbers supplies reps from a plastic pipe company called Polypipe. The positives were that all boats were available to sail every day... the negative was there was only about six of us other people not from Polypipe who had booked for a sailing holiday, this meant that the racing each day was very limited indeed and the 'Sailing comradeship' often talked about at sunsail holidays wasn't there at all really. I made friends with a couple of guys there for the sailing from the States, and believe that many guest visit from North America/ The States.

About the resort- Antigua is simply fantastic, for holiday as well as for sailing....great wind, sometimes strong, but always warm, and warm clean water and superb beaches (I seem to remember the one at colonna maybe man made) It makes trying new thing, tuning your boat feel and roll tacking etc so much more enjoyable falling into water as warm as a bat when you get it wrong....

Sunsail Club Colonna was excellent and the food on half board was always very good indeed, they supply a charge card for buying drinks/ food etc works well as you settle the bill at the end of the holiday, and this seemed a very reasonable cost.

The Lasers, when I went, were actually at the end of there working lives (I capsized and was surprised to see a mast foot repair looking like a huge blob of fibreglass plodged on the hull bottom!! LOL and one day I had to straighten my tiller ext, but i believe the Lasers have been recently all renewed?

The Sunsail team consists of a number of local lads and girls to as well as the UK staff. They are very good laser sailors indeed, infact they have a race amongst themselves everyday at lunchtime and are excellent downwind with the waves etc, its worth asking them for tips, demonstration and instruction.

I sailed cats, Xenons, etc all good and actually never left the resort during my holiday, I sailed all day and ate/ drank all night!!! although they do a trip to Shirley heights for a BBQ that many said they enjoyed.

All in all I can recommend it totally, I would go again, soon if I could. It's been real cold in the UK today...snow and minus 2 Celsius- Drysuit weather...sure takes the breath away when I capsized on the reservoir today...wish i was at Colonna instead.

 

[TheBoathouse]

We went to Sunsail Colonna about 5-6 years ago with our then 19 year old son, his 19 year old buddy and our 15 year old daughter. The place was really laid back and mostly filled with British tourists (topless soccer moms by the pool made it interesting). Sailing was fun and easy, just stroll down to the beach point at whatever boat you wanted to take out and the boat boys and girls would rig it hand it to you and off you went. You could come back in change up boats and go off again. The water temp was great and the wind steady. Food was a little iffy but that was 5 years ago so it sounds like it has been upgraded. The club is somewhat isolated from the rest of Antiqua but taxis are plentiful and worth a trip around the island for some exploration. Only downside was the $1,500 bar bill from the two boys that discovered the drinking age was 18....

 

[Wavedancer]

Sunsail Colonna http://www.sunsail.com/clubs/destinations/colonna is a resort on Antigua specializing in small boat sailing. They are supposed to have 20 lasers plus assorted cats and windsurfers.

Has anybody been there or does anyone have any other suggestions for a resort with good small boat sailing (specifically laser)?

I am not looking for racing clinic.

Resort has to be reasonable accessible from north america.

OK; Sorry for the late response, but I can add a bit of info to what has already been posted.

The good news: Twenty brand new Lasers as of early 2008. Including Radials and some 4.9's. Not totally good is that the outhaul system is old school. Also some new Hobies (Pacific, I believe; a step up from the Hobie 15s that are also available for acrobatics). And many brand new windsurfers with great sail selection.

The resort will soon close to undergo renovation; approximately from May to some time in the fall. The restaurant will be enclosed and the rooms freshened up, I was told.
Some other sailor guests assumed (!) that a major price increase would result after the place reopens. Will have to see....

For some (idiotic) reason US guests are required nowadays to be on a full meal plan ('all-inclusive', but not the drinks), rather than the half-meal plan. The Brits can still use the half-meal plan. Although the food at Colonna isn't bad (but see below), my wife and I love to go out from time to time and eat in another restaurant to get away from the buffets.

I spent slightly over a week in Sunsail Colonna in Feb 2008; the sailing was great (if not better ). About 20-25 mph in the morning for the early morning Laser races (8:30 AM). Later in the day, the wind would lessen a bit to ~15 mph. Nice waves to practice technique (I need a lot of that ). BTW, excellent safety patrol; you will be picked up if you get tired or in trouble.

The beach staff is still very helpful and swapping boats (Laser/Hobie/29er and a bunch of British boats suitable for two or three people) is just so nice. Hop off and hop onto something else.

Not so good: I got intestinal trouble after a few days and had to lay off sailing for about 3 days. Another 5-10 guests had similar symptoms. We assumed it was something we had eaten. The General Manager told me that the place had been checked out and no evidence of noro virus was found. But I hadn't been away from the resort at all; so it was 'something' I picked up there.

Another resort where one can sail Lasers is the Bitter End Yacht Club in Virgin Gorda. Much more expensive, according to their website. And more difficult to get to.
Getting to Antigua typically requires a change of planes in Miami or Puerto Rico. But there are other ways of getting there as well.

Another possibility is the Laser Training Center in Cabarete in the Dominican Republic; lots of wind and big waves. I have read good things about this place; it's my understanding one can just go sailing if you don't want to 'train'. The winds are typically lighter in the morning, I was told. The Center has a great website if you want to explore this possibility further.
Tillerman has written extensively about sailing in Cabarete in his blog (google "Proper Course"). Fun to read anyway.

 

[lasailing]

Thanks for the info. I found Bitter End on the web and but it is expensive and harder to get to. I have read about Cabarate on Propercourse and SA but I thought Colonna might be a better choice for my limited skill level and offer more options for my non-laser sailing spouse.