British Virgin Islands Spring Regatta
Held annually on the first weekend of April, the BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival is celebrating its 37th anniversary. It is now a seven-day event with two events back-to-back attracting an average of 150 yachts per year with eighty percent of the competitors from overseas. This year’s BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival is the biggest one yet, drawing about 160 boats, racing on three separate race courses and in fifteen different classes. The main event, the BVI Spring Regatta began yesterday.
-- Day One BVI Spring Regatta --
Despite Broaches, Breakdowns, and Bruises, Smiles and Enthusiasm Were the Order of the Day
Broaches, breakdowns and a few bruises among crew were the order of the day, with winds gusting to 33 knots across the Sir Francis Drake Channel. But Jeff Gouzer, from France, mainsheet trimmer aboard the Kerr 11.3 Minnie the Moocher, put the scene into perspective; “There’s lots of times we have these kinds of winds back home, but we don’t have the warm water and sun to go with it like we do here. It was really a beautiful race day.”
Sailors from Trinidad are used to sailing in light winds. That didn’t stop Peter Peake, who owns Peake Marine, and his crew from trumping the other three hot boats in the Spinnaker Racing A class. Peake sailed home with a second place class win from this regatta last year and is hungry for a win.
Carlo Falcone’s Vallicelli 44, Caccia Alla Volpe, is an old heavy boat. That, and a hot experienced crew, is likely why it did so well in the Spinnaker B class. “I’m not sure the weight of the boat helped, it was pretty windy out there,” said crewmember, Karl James. James, an Olympic Laser sailor, confessed his eyes are not on Beijing but big boats instead these days, regularly sailing on the 128’ Sojana.
Less than half the class completed all four races in Spinnaker Racing C. That meant it was really a race between two of the five boats, with Global Yacht Racing taking the lead.
In Spinnaker Racing D, St. Croix’s Carlos Skov says his boat, the J/100 Bad Girl, did “real bad. We changed to Dacron sails before the first race and missed that start. Then on the second race, even with the Dacron, our head foil separated, so we just bailed out and went in. You could call it a real gear busting day.”
Their class is called Spinnaker Racing E, but of the eight boats that dared put up a spinnaker today in the heavy breezes, St. Thomas’ Chris Thompson on his J/27, J-Walker took the lead. St. Thomas’ Paul Davis was pretty pleased with his boat’s showing, finishing third. Davis, celebrating his third season skippering his J/27, Magnificent 7, a vessel fellow islander, John Foster, drove to a boatload of victories, says, “We’ve come a long way as a team. Today, we accomplished our goal. That is, we finished every race. Sure, we had some breakdowns like everyone else. But, we finished ahead of most of the boats that beat us on time.”
Rick Wesslund’s J/120, El Ocaso, scored four bullets to lead Spinnaker Racing F. Unfortunately, his biggest competitor barely made it out of the gate. Antigua’s Jamie Dobb’s, Lost Horizons II, back racing in the Caribbean after a year’s hiatus, lost the a furling swivel and had to call it a day before even getting to the start line. “Repairs are underway and we’re looking forward to getting back out sailing tomorrow,” says foredeck, Nicola Pears. Dobb’s has been dubbed the ‘most winning Caribbean skipper’ for his many years of both class and C.O.R.T. (Caribbean Ocean Racing Triangle Series) wins, so today’s setback isn’t likely to put a big dent in his 2008 season’s performance.
In the Beach Cat class, only two brave soles even attempted to race. St. Croix’s Chris Schreiber, on his Hobie 16, AutoWorld Express, says, “Paul (Stoeken, Islandsol.net) and I want to be out racing this weekend. Let’s just say we’re being conservative and staying in today.”
Pat Nolan, owner/operator of Sistership, sailed her Beneteau 445 in the Jib and Main class. “We had originally planned to take the J33 Boormerang but with the conditions the way they were and the wind so high, and our crew a little bit on the rusty side, we decided it would be a real gear breaker for us. So we decided to take Sea Biscuit, a Beneteau 445, which is very well suited for these conditions.” When asked what was it like out there Pat replied, “One thing that we all talked about today was how well Sea Biscuit did in these BVI conditions compared to when we have raced her in both Antigua and St. Maartin. We all decided together that we love these BVI conditions. We had St. Maartin/Antigua winds but we had beautiful BVI seas in our channel and it made the for the best combination of racing conditions Sea Biscuit has ever had. I had more fun on the boat today than ever because the conditions were perfect.” Leading the Jib and Main class after just one race today is Mary Jane, the Beneteau 50 sailed by David C. Heuter.
Winning yesterday’s race In Performance Cruising A was Bad Wine, a Beneteau 40.7. Also sailing in Performance Cruising is Pi Squared, a First 47.7 that is being skippered by Fin McGurren and sailed by a crew of four women, including one who has never sailed before. According to Penny Pariso, first mate, even short-handed, they plan to set a spinnaker and/or their Code 0 if the winds lighten a little. “It was not too bad out there even though we didn’t have much weight on the rail. We hadn’t been down to that part of the island before (West End and Little Thatch) and the girls were like, ‘I like that house and oh, I like that house.” When asked how Fin was dealing with all the women, Pariso replied, “He’s doing okay. He often refers to dealing with us like trying to herd cats. One of us wanders off to the shop and one to the loo. I think he’s having fun.” When that same question was posed to Fin, jokingly he replied, “Ask me on Sunday afternoon.”
In fourth place in Performance Cruising B is one of the most enthusiastic crews out there, the Bitter End Team on Cosmic Warlord, an Express 37. Skippered by Geoff Werner, the oldest member of the crew is 29 and the youngest 18. This crew can’t wait to go back out there and do it again tomorrow. “We’re really excited to be back in the racing. The team is really pumped. We broke a couple things but it was some ‘knarley’ racing.” He went on to say, “We were pretty powered up upwind but screaming downwind. Gile Starley stepped in to hold out the sail for us; he was our human pole. He was a powerhouse.” Bowman Sebastian Perry added, “It was wicked”. (For those of us that are over 30, that means he loved it.)
Winning yesterday’s race in Performance Cruising B, Augustine is currently in first place.
Neil Harvey, sailing with Bert Keenan on Arcadia Southern Comfort is currently in second place in the Bareboat B division. In his Australian brogue, Neil told me this morning that the wind was strong enough to “blow the dogs off the chains”. This afternoon he said, “It was forecast to be a bit breezy and a bit breezy it was. It’s what we come here for. It was nice to see such a big fleet of Bareboat A and Bareboat B. It was a perfect day for our course that took us down around Thatch. We had a very close race with Chess; we both had a great race. I didn’t see a third boat in our class when we finished.” When asked if the had fun, Harvey answered, “That we did; even though the average age on the boat is approaching 70. Four, out of the eight crew, did the 1978 Fastnet race together on Acadia.”
- Photos of the British Virgin Islands Spring Regatta by Yacht Shots BVI
- Video: British Virgin Islands Spring Regatta Promo Video
Submitted By YachtPals on 05 Apr
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BVI Spring Regatta - Day 2
With winds from 22 to 25 knots, it was a little less breezy as the 128-boat fleet set sail for the second day of competition at the BVI Spring Regatta.
In Spinnaker Racing A, Storm continues to dominate the scoreboard. But the crew on the current second place boat, UK’s Richard Matthew’s Humpheys 42, Oystercatcher XXVI, is having fun anyway. “It’s been a beautiful day,” says John Munns, navigator and skipper.
Dave West, a Great Lakes sailor who transplants to the BVI six months of the year, saw the Trinidad-based Melges 32, Crash Test Dummies, last year, and decided he had to have one. Dubbing his Melges 32 Jurakan, after the Taino God of wind, West admitted the blustery gusts didn’t bother him, his crew or his boat any. “The boat’s light. Sure, we crashed a few times, but we didn’t break anything.” Jurakan, in fourth place after six races this weekend, hasn’t yet answered West’s prayers for a win. The Trinis on Bmobile Enzyme are still in first place in Spinnaker Racing B.
In Spinnaker Racing C, Jean-Philippe Gallois, sail trimmer aboard Clive Llewellyn’s Grand Soleil 50, Mad IV, enjoys the strong winds. “This boat, Mad IV, does best in 18 to 25 knots of wind. In the south of France, where we sail during the summer, you can get 10 knots one minute and 30 knots the next.” Mad VI is in second place, with 10 points, only two points behind Global Yacht Racing.
Yesterday, in Spinnaker Racing C, Three Harkoms had an incident on the race course in which one crew member was seriously injured. Kevin Rowlette of Husky Salvage & Towing, who was standing by on one of his salvage vessels, overheard the call to the race committee and proceeded immediately to the scene. First response was provided by two of Three Harkoms’ crew members. VISAR (Virgin Islands Search and Rescue) was called out while Kevin towed Three Harkoms into Road Town. VISAR crew met the boats in route, transferring personnel onto Three Harkoms. Once in Road Town, the casualty was transferred by ambulance to Peebles Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. Overnight, there was some improvement in his condition and late today, he was airlifted to Florida.
St. Croix’s Devil 3, sailing in Spinnaker Racing D, may get the prize for the most determined. St. Croix’s Stanton Brothers – Chris, Peter, Scott – and their crew aboard the Melges 24, Devil 3, did not let strong winds and heavy seas keep them from sailing in the BVI Spring Regatta. “We set off from St. Croix Thursday morning and had to turn back because it wasn’t safe,” says Chris, who skippers. “So, we headed out again at 6 a.m. yesterday, cleared customs in Road Town, picked up a crew member at Nanny Cay and headed right out to the course. The race committee was nice enough to fill us in on the course and we raced the last race.” By the time Devil 3 made it to the Shell Race Course on Friday, they had missed three out of four races. Today, although on the final race of the day, their jib exploded and they couldn’t finish the final upwind leg, their results look much healthier. In second place with 23 points, it will be tough to catch Silver who only has nine.
John Foster and his St. Thomas crew aboard the Kirby 25, The Good The Bad and The Ugly took a risk for boat speed in the second race of the day and ended up in the drink. “We had a huge broach, it was classic,” says Foster’s son, Johnny, about the action in Spinnaker Racing E. “It was just as if we were kite-boarding, sailing the 40 to 50 feet downwind to catch up to our spinnaker.” The problem, Foster explains, “is that we put up our biggest sail, but it was too big. Let’s just say our plan turned out to be all wet.” Foster and crew are currently in fourth place.
Up until yesterday, when one looked at the list of competitors in Spinnaker Racing F, they might have been surprised to not to see a familiar BVI raceboat on the list, Peter Haycraft’s Pipe Dream. Son, Chris Haycraft, explains: “Paul Miller, who does the scoring, always uses Pipedream as the test boat in each of the regattas he scores. As a result, we get asked all the time – ‘are you going to Grenada?’, ‘are you going to St. Maarten?’, ‘are you going to Cowes!’. The answer is no, but I thought I’d call us World Tour this year as a joke for Paul.” Going into Sunday’s racing, Pipe Dream is tied for third place with Kick ‘Em Jenny.
Looks like St. Croix’s Chris Schreiber, campaigning his Hobie 16, AutoWorld Express, is the last man standing in the Beach Cat class. “We played around the IC24 class, but frankly, by the third race, we got tired of sailing against ourselves.” Strong winds kept many beach cats from sailing the the BVI SPRING regatta and fellow competitor, St. Thomas’ Paul Stoeken, sailing Hobie 16 lIslandsol.net, lost a jib car minutes after leaving the beach for the first race and didn’t have a replacement. Schreiber’s had a great time racing this season with his teenage son, Chris, as crew.
Alec Anderson, skipper of IC24 Intac, currently in second place, is a sixteen year old who has been sailing since the age of seven. His crew is made up of two mates, Rian Bareuther and Eric Spencer, the owner of the boat, Mark Plaxton, and his coach, Chris Watters. Alec was born on Tortola and has lived here all of his life, but it was not until this year that Alec drove Intac in any international regattas. “This is the best we have ever done. We are ahead of some really big names.“ When asked why he thinks he is doing so much better this regatta, Alec replied, “Just consistency. We have had regattas when we had a few firsts but a bad or a crappy race and your out. We’re doing our best to keep in clear air and out of any jumbles.” Alec went on to say, “During the last race, I almost started to hyperventilate. At the finish, we were with B-Mobile and Robbie Hirst was right behind us. We caught a wave and won that race by about a half a boat length. My heart was out of my chest.”
Bad Wine is leader after two days in Performance Cruising A. Sailing the BVI Spring Regatta for the third time, Patrick Krol and crew are from the Netherlands. For seven years, the group sailed another Caribbean regatta but wanted something a little smaller and now have decided that the BVI is the best sailing anyplace. Patrick went on to say. “Half my crew races all the time and the other half only race twice a year. Given that half the crew are tourists, we’re doing pretty well. They’re not experienced but they listen pretty well.” He added, “Stay Calm is our biggest competition. They are a Swan 72 and are really doing good. They’re chasing us at the moment, only one point behind. Tomorrow is definitely a deciding day for us. And we should do better tomorrow if we can control ourselves tonight. Last night we had a little too much fun at the Governor’s party.”
Tony Sayer, owner/skipper of Augustine from Antigua, is currently winning Performance Cruising B. Following the Rolex Regatta last weekend, Tony says he only had five crew who could stay for BVI Spring Regatta. Thinking that he did not have enough hands to fly a spinnaker, he originally registered for the Jib and Main class. It wasn’t long after that he picked up five more crew members and switch classes. When asked how he accomplished this feat, Tony replied, “We have a bow lady that helps us. She is very pretty and she likes to hang out.” He went on to say, “The courses are nice here, sailing in the Sir Frances Drake Channel is fantastic, it’s not too rough. It’s great racing and very exciting. I’m, really enjoying this regatta, the racing and all the boats being in Nanny Cay. It’s nice that the parties are right here, you don’t have to drive anywhere and then you can walk down the dock and crash on the boat.”
Gabi Romberg, from Team Germany, sponsored by the BVI Tourist Board and The Moorings, has been coming to the BVI Spring Regatta since 2000 because, she says, “It’s great fun.” The BVI Tourist Board invites German journalists, either print, sailing magazine or TV, to come to the regatta and then to go back home and write about their experiences here. This helps promote the BVI in the German market. When asked how Team Germany is doing, Gabi replied, “Today was a great day. We were the third one over the finish line.
Currently in fifth place, Team Germany, has Wolf Dietz at the helm, who skippered a winning boat in the Rolex regatta.
In Bareboat B, long time BVI resident, Thorpe Leeson, is skippering Magic Merkin, a Gibsea 43. Sitting on a stool, very uncharacteristically in t-shirt, rather than his usual long sleeved, button down, collared white shirt, Thorpe explains, “I have a strangulation phobia but I’m a team player.” Asked about the racing, Thorpe explained, “We’re very proud to be sixth out of twenty. It’s a tough class; we’re racing against Antigua Sailing Week winners and Heineken winners. There’s Chess and Acadia Southern Comfort. They bag it, they’ve got nice sails where as we’re just aspiring to third or fourth.” Teammate Charlie Haines added, “What amazes me, in the Bareboat class, where I would have thought there would be a lot of disasters out there, the level of seamanship is outstanding. There’s been good breeze out there and I haven’t seen anyone hit anyone, I haven’t seen any ripped gear, nothing. I’m quite impressed.” Thorpe then chimed in, “It’s where it’s at.”
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