Forerunner Award
Team Antigua Island Girls may be described as a team of first ladies—Christal is the first woman to represent Antigua and Barbuda at the Olympics, doing so at the age of 14; Kevinia is the country’s first female black belt; and Samara is the first Antiguan woman to become a Royal Yachting Association (RYA) certified yacht captain. Together they are the first black team—male or female—to row any ocean, completing the 3,000 nautical miles Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, from La Gomera to Nelson’s Dockyard, Antigua, on January 28, 2019, in 47 days, 8 hours, and 25 minutes.
They rowed into the history books again, on July 23, 2023, when they rowed 2,800 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean, from Monterey Bay, California to Kauai, Hawaii, in 41 days, 7 hours and 5 minutes in the World’s Toughest Row—Pacific.
Christal, Kevinia and Samara were amongst 12 or so would-be rowers to respond to a call for women at the end of the 2017/2018 Atlantic Challenge, which to that point had seen two male teams from Antigua and Barbuda. Although Samara was a seafarer, none of them had any rowing experience (Kevinia didn’t even know how to swim). What they did have was steely commitment, and as the grueling task saw the numbers whittle away, the women that would eventually become Team Antigua Island Girls not only stayed the course, but formed a bond that would elevate to sisterhood.
In nine short months, they went from motley crew to team, and from rank rookies to competent rowers. Along the way, they galvanized a nation around a single issue—the return of Black women from a voluntary crossing of the Atlantic that followed the route of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade brought the nation to a halt, with the government declaring January 28, 2019 a half day.
Four years later, the team went back on the row again, in the inaugural Pacific Challenge, to continue to defy odds and to take up space in an area not generally the preserve of Black women.
As individuals, each woman has varied interests. Kevinia’s profession and passion are intertwined. She’s a tough-as-nails fitness trainer who spends her free time hiking and in the pursuit of athletic adventures. Christal is a free diver, swimming instructor, author and adventurer. Samara, meanwhile, is at home on the sea, working as a boat captain at Jumby Bay. She enjoys solo sails and most things about life on the sea—just not the sea creatures.
As a unit, Team Antigua Island Girls stand for daring and determination—defying the odds to go where no black women (or men) have gone before. Their ocean-rowing exploits stand as testament to the fact that courage and commitment can take ordinary people to extraordinary heights.
Three women, two oceans, representing a proud nation. Christal Clashing, Kevinia Francis and Samara Emmanuel—Team Antigua Island Girls.
Kevinia
When you’re the eighth of nine children amidst an ever-increasing number of surrogate siblings, you learn a few things. Things like finding and asserting your voice and your independence. You learn industriousness and unrelenting worth ethic through the family business, and, from your mother, a trailblazing icon who defied gender roles, you learn fierceness and how to nurture an indomitable spirit.
By profession, Kevinia Francis is a certified health-and-fitness trainer, a black belt martial arts instructor, and a sports performance coach. She is also a manager in the family business and the race finish officer with Atlantic Campaigns (organizing body of the World’s Toughest Row – Pacific and Atlantic.
By nature, she is a competitor and an all-round sportswoman, excelling in basketball, cycling (three-time cyclist of the year), martial arts, track-and-field, and rowing. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences and a Masters in Physical Therapy. She is the mother of a daughter and captain of Team Antigua Island Girls.
Christal
Christal Clashing is an aquatic adventurer and burgeoning storyteller from Antigua and Barbuda. Christal is no stranger to the water but the rowing challenges certainly tested her mettle.
As a teenager in 2004, she became Antigua’s first female swimmer to compete at the Olympics. Since then she has worked as a Scuba dive master, stand-up paddle guide and as a swim instructor in both Antigua and Costa Rica.
As a storyteller, Christal began writing adventure and travel articles in Costa Rica then transitioned into writing tech and culture articles for Antiguan audiences. Inspired by her Atlantic crossing, she has since re-imagined Afro-Antiguan folklore into an original story called Yemoja’s Anansi, which was published as a print and ebook and was turned into an experimental short film, which was most recently shown at the COMMFFEST Global Film and Arts Festival in Toronto, Canada.
Samara
A teenaged mom responded to a help wanted and because she needed a pay cheque; what she found in addition to that was her passion. That job was her introduction to seafaring. Today, Samara Emmanuel holds the distinction of being the first Antiguan woman to become an RYA certified yacht captain (power and sail).
She has more than 17 years’ experience, and holds qualifications as a day skipper, coastal skipper, yachtmaster and boatmaster amongst others. She is employed as a captain in the Ferry Department at Jumby Bay Resort and she is a freelance skipper. Her profession is her passion, and she enjoys racing and delivering boats.
Samara relishes being alone on the sea for the tranquility and clarity of mind such adventures provide. The mother of two sons has made countless solo deliveries around the Caribbean, and has done a Trans-Atlantic crossing from Antigua to Portsmouth, England by sailboat.