Virgin Islands Race Week Begins - St. Thomas
St. Thomas Yacht Club - USVI: The 35th running of the three-day International Rolex Regatta starts today. The event, with 90 boats competing, is the first part of Virgin Islands Race Week, which combines the International Rolex Regatta scores with those from next week's BVI Spring Regatta to determine winners in a series that unites two Caribbean nations. For the first time, the race will allow entrants under both IRC and CSA rules.
"It's a good IRC turnout," said John Munns (Ipswich, Suffolk, UK) about the 12 IRC boats split into two classes. Munns, who is the navigator and captain aboard Richard Matthews' Oystercatcher XXVI, further explained that in the past the only option was to sail under the CSA, or "Caribbean Rule." "Richard, with his previous Oystercatchers, has sailed here many times under CSA," he said, "but this boat was purpose-built for IRC. We have won several notable events in the UK in the year since the boat was launched, but we came here for more competition. We also have a CSA rating, but IRC is a better rating for us." Munns then laughed: "But technically we're not in a position to argue, because we just won (in CSA racing) at the Heineken Regatta."
Up against Oystercatcher XXVI will be someone who has proven himself many times over at this regatta: Clive Llewellyn (Paris, France), with his Judel/Vrolik 49 Mad IV. At the same time, OnDeck, a St. Thomas company that offers racing yacht charters, has entered one of its Farr 40s with a partially supplied crew. It will be skippered by St. Thomas's America's Cup veteran and Olympic Medalist Peter Holmberg, who is rounding out the crew with Sailing World editor Stuart Streuli and local talent Maurice Korg, Ben Beer, brother John Holmberg and Dean Coles.
Perrenial competitors Bill Alcott, owner of the Andrews 68 Equation and Jim Muldoon, owner of the custom 72 Donnybrook, also are sailing IRC and will face formidable competition from the likes of Norbert Plambeck's (Cuxhaven, Germany) Frers 80 Hexe, Sam Fleets (East Greenwich, R.I.) Swan 601Aquarius and Ron O'Hanley's (Ipswich, Mass.) Farr-designed Cookson 50 Privateer, which sports the only canting keel here at the regatta and may bode well for the brisk breezes forecast for the next few days. "It means that in high winds, we've got a lot of stability and we can be full-on with our sails," said the boats captain Ian Henderson (Newport, R.I.), explaining that others in those conditions would have to shorten sail.
Highlighting the CSA division in Spinnaker Racing 2 class will be the BVI's Guy Eldridge aboard his Beneteau First Luxury Girl. Having won this regatta in 2005 on a Melges 24, Eldridge is already turning in winning performances with this new boat. Crewing with him are two Olympians from the UK, Barry and Sue Parkin.
In Spinnaker Racing 1 will be Caccia Ala Volpe, the Vallicelli 44 owned by Carlo Falcone (Antigua). 
"We are best in the windward/leeward racing," said Falcone, adding that some boats with asymmetrical spinnakers fare better than his on reaching legs through the islands.
The regatta kicks off today with an all-classes distance race, along the south side of St. Thomas and finishing inside Charlotte Amalie Harbor, in the shadows of the cruise ships, creating a colorful spectacle for spectators. The fleet will then restart for a second race, reversing course back to the East End. Saturday will be the make-or-break day, with multiple around-the-buoys races taking place on the Ocean circle for two IRC classes, two Spinnaker Racing classes and a class each for Non-Spinnaker Racing and Beach Cats. On the Jersey Bay circle, plotted closer to shore, the IC24 one-design class will compete in back-to-back races, as many as can be fit in. To top things off, on Sunday, a middle-distance race in Pillsbury Sound will provide more incredible vistas and a challenging course for the racers, while the IC24s continue their non-stop windward-leeward competition.
Photo of St. Thomas BVI: Rolex | Daniel Forster
Photos of last years International Rolex Regatta by Dan Nerney
Submitted By YachtPals on 28 Mar
Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, International Rolex Regatta, caribbean, sailing, sailboats, sailboat, US virgin islands sailing, yachts, boating,
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Big Winds on Opening Day of the International Rolex Regatta
With the wind blowing 20-22 knots on opening day of the International Rolex Regatta, everyone had a war story to tell when they got back to shore. The three-day event kicked off with a race to town, in which 90 boats took off from the east end of St. Thomas, where the 35-year-old event is hosted by St. Thomas Yacht Club, for the bustling waterfront of Charlotte Amalie. After the downwind sprint, the fleet reversed course and sailed back home "on the nose."
"Our kite exploded early in the first race, which isn't too surprising," said local sailing hero Peter Holmberg, whose perfect start in IRC 2 included forcing others above the committee boat while his team peeled off cleanly at the gun. An Olympic medalist who was weaned on this regatta, Holmberg led a crew from OnDeck Racing, a racing yacht charter company, in his first appearance since returning from a 10-year hiatus to sail in the America's Cup. Having mentally prepared the crew for what could go wrong in the given conditions, Holmberg rallied for a second-place finish in race one and turned in a fourth in the second race for a fourth overall. "It's all working well," he said.
Winning IRC 2 was Richard Matthews' (Essex, UK) Humphreys 42 Oystercatcher XXVI, while Clive Llewellyn's (Paris, France) Judel/Vrolik 49 Mad IV finished second overall and Christopher Lloyd's Beneteau 44 Three Harkoms took third.
Meanwhile in IRC 1, Sam Fleet's (East Greenwich, R.I.) Swan 601 Aquarius kept damage to a minimum to win on the merit of a 3-1 scoreline. "We took delivery of the boat last November. It was the old Artemis, geared for Mediterranean sailing in eight knots. But now it's a go-fast boat since we added a bowsprit and an asymmetrical spinnaker for IRC racing." This is Fleet's first time competing at the Rolex Regatta, and he came because of the new IRC offering here. "So far I'm really happy," Fleet added. "The courses are beautiful and I love going around the islands."
Aquarius enjoyed tight racing with Ron O'Hanley's (Ipswich, Mass.) Farr-designed Cookson 50 Privateer, which enjoyed great starts and smooth sailing until just before the finish of the second race, when a jib car blew up. They had won the first race and were looking good to win again but suffered the severe scoring setback of a DNF (did not finish) worth six points, which pushed them to fourth place overall. The misfortune cleared the way for Bill Alcott's Andrews 68 Equation to secure second place overall, while Norbert Plambeck's (Cuxhaven, Germany) Frers 80 Hexe took third.
A mechanical failure didn't keep Puerto Rico's Olympic hopefuls Enrique Figueroa and Jorge Hernandez from blazing to victory in the Beach Cat class. The team sailed the 20-foot Tornado DRD/Suzuki/Red Bull, which was one of only ten among the 17-strong fleet to complete racing today. "When we started, it was pretty exciting and way windy, " said Figueroa, who has four world catamaran titles to his credit, "but then it got flatter and more stable closer to town, so we pushed harder and we went over." When the team righted, they had broken the snuffer, which houses the spinnaker between hoists, and therefore had to lash the spinnaker to the trampoline and launch it by hand. "It was better that this happened today than tomorrow when we're to do a bunch of windward-leeward races. There is no way we could've kept up that pace."
The promising newcomer to the Beach Cat class, John Casey (Orlando, Fla.), sailing Gringo Starr, got skunked 100 yards after the first start when a cruising trimaran cut him off and he flipped while avoiding what would have been a dire ramming situation. "We damaged the mast rotation system and ripped our jib. We actually finished the first race still using the jib but had to take it down before the second race. It was just no use, we couldn't go anywhere."
Results:
Place, Boat, Type, Skipper, Hometown, Finish Postions, Cumulative Score
IC24 One Design (One Design - 17 Boats)
1. Bmobile, IC 24, Fred Ruebeck / Colin Rathbun, Tortola, Virgin Gorda - 1, 2, ; 3
2. Orion, IC 24, Fraito Lugo, Ponce, PR, USA - 4, 1, ; 5
3. Magic Bus, IC 24, Phillip Shannon, St. Thomas, VI, USA - 2, 4, ; 6
Spinnaker Racing 1 (CSA - 15 Boats)
1. Devil Cubed, Melges 24, Chris Stanton, Christiansted, VI, USA - 1, 2, ; 3
2. Bad Girl, J 100, Robert W. Armstrong, St. Croix, VI, USA - 4, 1, ; 5
3. Carib, Melges 24, Fritz Bus, Philipsburg, Sint Maarten - 2, 6, ; 8
Spinnaker Racing 2 (CSA - 14 Boats)
1. Don Q Cristal, J 24, Jorge Santiago, Ponce, PR, USA - 2, 2, ; 4
2. Ex Mero Motu, J 80, Antonio Mari, San Juan, PR, USA - 1, 4, ; 5
3. Urayo, J 24, Gilberto E. Rivera, Guaynabo, PR, USA - 5, 1, ; 6
Non-spinnaker Racing 1 (CSA - 12 Boats)
1. Hotel California Too, Santa Cruz 70, Stephen Schmidt, St. Thomas, VI, USA - 1, 3, ; 4
2. Medalla Light, J 24, Juan Moline, Vega Baja, PR, USA - 2, 2, ; 4
3. Affinity, Swan 48, Jack Desmond, Marion, MA, USA - 6, 1, ; 7
Spinnaker Racing/Cruising (CSA - 8 Boats)
1. Lazy Dog, Beneteau First 40.7, Sergio Sagramoso, San Juan, PR - 3, 1, ; 4
2. El Ocaso, J 120, Richard Wesslund, Coconut Grove, FL, USA - 2, 2, ; 4
3. Pipe Dream, Sirena 38, Peter Haycraft, Road Town, Virgin Gorda - 1, 4, ; 5
IRC 1 (IRC - 5 Boats)
1. Aquarius, Swan 601CR, Sam Fleet, East Greenwich, RI, USA - 3, 1, ; 4
2. Equation, Andrews 68, Bill Alcott, St. Clair Shores, MI, USA - 2, 3, ; 5
3. Hexe, Frers 80, Norbert Plambeck, Cuxhaven, GER - 4, 2, ; 6
IRC 2 (IRC - 7 Boats)
1. Oystercatcher XXVI, Humphreys 42, Richard Matthews, Ipswich, UK - 1, 3, ; 4
2. Mad IV, Judel/Vrolik 49, Clive Llewellyn, Paris, FR - 4, 1, ; 5
3. Three Harkoms, Beneteau 44, Christopher Lloyd, Tortola, VG - 3, 2, ; 5
Beach Cats (Portsmouth - 17 Boats)
1. DRD/Suzuki/Red Bull, Tornado 20, Enrique Figeroa, San Juan, PR, USA - 1, 1, ; 2
2. Image Immobilier, Nacra F18, Olivier Bernaz, St. Martin - 2, 2, ; 4
3. Nacra St. Barth, F18 Nacra Infusion, Jeff (Jean-Francois) LeDee / Jordil Vincent, St. Barthelemy - 3, 3, ; 6
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