Major Events 2013 America's Cup US Sailing US College Sailing Events

 

Let The Games Begin!—Sailing News from the U.S. and Beyond

Close your eyes and imagine perfect sailing. Odds are spot-on that your mind's eye will drift closer to the equator than where most of us reside. Perhaps you're thinking Hawaii or the South Pacific, but if racing is your game, savvy sailors are thinking of the Caribbean, with its rich sailing heritage, copious regattas and ideal sailing conditions.

Take, for example, the 40th Anniversary BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival, which kicked on the Sir Francis Drake Channel, just off of Tortola's Nanny Cay Resort and Marina. Lucky sailors on some 50 boats enjoyed the Bitter End Cup Race, a 21-mile windward sprint to Virgin Gorda's world-famous Bitter End Yacht Club (BEYC), which serves as a warm-up to the rest of the week's festivities.

Sail-World USA Editor David Schmidt with broadbrimmed hat and P flag  Todd VanSickle

From my perch aboard the RC boat (manning flags, not winch handles, sadly), all four classes got off cleanly, sans the usual red flags and ugly words that plague too many starting line Sambas at North American regattas. Two catamarans comprised the first class, the sexiest being Necker Belle, a 105-foot carbon fiber cruising cat that's owned and operated by Virgin Limited Edition (e.g. Sir Richard Branson's company). The bareboats and cruisers negotiated the line in a (mostly) friendly manor, but the intensity levels punched up a few notches when the raceboats began circling.

For sailors participating in today's 'friendly' race, the idea was to have fun, tune up against the fleet, and to get their crews psyched for the far more competitive BVI Spring Regatta, which begins on Friday, April 1 and runs through Sunday, April 3. In the meantime, crews will be relaxing and playing—both at the BEYC's bar and on their dinghy fleet—during tomorrow lay day at the BEYC before easing their sheets and popping their kites for Thursday's Nanny Cay Cup, which sails a reciprocal course back to Tortola and the Mount Gay Welcome Party. Talk about hard living!

Meanwhile, back here on Tortola, its the start of the inaugural Gill BVI International Match Race Championships, a Grade-3 match-racing event that will be contested in IC 24s (modified J/24s with a Melges 24-like cockpit and other refinements). The winner gets an automatic invitation to the Chicago Match Racing Center's Grade 2 event this August, so expect the competition to be hot.

40th Anniversary BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival  Todd VanSickle

Check out Todd VanSickle's great image gallery of today's Bitter End Cup Race start in this issue, and stand by for more info, updates and vignettes from this event, as the action unfolds. And be sure to monitor the website for plenty of great sailing coverage from other corners of the globe http://www.sail-world.com

May the four winds blow you safely home.

Many thanks to those who have contributed to Sail-World.com to date, particularly those using our online submission and image loading facility which can be accessed by clicking here

Send your news and images directly to Sail-World by clicking here

To subscribe a friend to Sail-World's FREE newsletter click here

If you wish to come off our mailing list please click the unsubscribe button on this newsletter.

David Schmidt, Sail-World.com USA Editor

BVI Spring regatta Images www.Sail-world.com, BVI Spring Regatta 2011 - Carribean photographer Todd VanSickle has been on the water, doing it tough. Here is a selection of his latest images... [more] Share this story

SAP 505 World Championship 2011 toughest day yet Di Pearson, SAP 505 World Championship 2011. It will be between the reigning world champions, Wolfgang Hunger/Julien Kleiner from Germany, Mike Holt/Carl Smit from the USA and Sandy Higgins/Paul Marsh from Australia.... [more] Share this story

Team INTAC double victory at Rolex International Regatta Robert Jennings, Fresh after winning the St Maarten Heineken International Regatta, Team INTAC BVI sailing their high performance race boat 'M32' took top honors at the Rolex International Regatta in St Thomas. Team INTAC IC24 also won a Rolex in the highly competitive IC24 class.... [more] Share this story

Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship Jake Fish, Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship, August 29-September 1, 2011. Two-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), an accomplished match racer, 2008 Olympian and member of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, led the two-day women-only clinic with a focus on boat-handling and aggressive starts.... [more] Share this story

BVI Spring Regatta Match Racing springs into action BVI Spring Regatta, BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival inaugural Gill BVI International Match Racing Championship. Eight teams rifled through ten flights of one-on-one match races on evenly tuned IC 24s. One St. Thomas-based skipper who doesn't need an experience boost is William Bailey, age 18, who can be seen sporting a gleaming new Rolex and a huge smile.... [more] Share this story

Princesa Sofia Mapfre Trophy - High stakes in Palma Corinne Rolland-McKenzie, Princesa Sofia Mapfre trophy -This year will be the first European Sailing World Cup event and will bring fierce competition to Palma with many teams in contention for Olympic test event and Olympic Games selections.... [more] Share this story

ISAF Match Race Rankings March 30 ISAF, In the Open Match Race Rankings there has been plenty of movement in the top 25. Claire Leroy (FRA) narrowly leads Nicky Souter (AUS) by 11 points in the Women's Match Racing Rankings.... [more] Share this story

Global Ocean Race - Kiwi 40FC Peráspera sets off on qualifier Oliver Dewar, Global Ocean Race - In just under six months, the start gun for the double-handed, round the world Class40 Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR) will be fired in Palma, Mallorca, and pre-race preparations for the 18 teams are rapidly picking up pace.... [more] Share this story

Barcelona World Race finish draws closer Barcelona World Race, Barcelona World Race - As the time ticks steadily closer to the first finish of this race, the closing proximity to the final line, be it a few days or two weeks away, means that the release after 89 days of racing is weighing heavily on the minds of many of the skippers now nearing the home strait, be that in actual fact, or more metaphorically.... [more] Share this story

Les Voiles de St. Barth start approaches Sabina Mollart-Rogerson, Les Voiles de St. Barth will see over fifty exceptional crews with yachts of every size and class from across the Caribbean. All of these world-class sailors will come together on Monday, April 4th at Les Voiles de St. Barth's official registration and the opening ceremony, to mark the start of a week of exciting racing.... [more] Share this story

Velux 5 Oceans sprint four - Keel issues still hampering Gutek Velux 5 Oceans, Velux 5 Oceans - While fast reaching conditions blast the fleet north along the Brazilian coast, Zbigniew ‘Gutek' Gutkowski today reported that ocean sprint four will be a challenge as his boat Operon Racing continues to be hampered by keel issues suffered in the previous leg.... [more] Share this story

ISAF Sailing World Cup heads to Palma ISAF, ISAF Sailing World Cup event three of the seven event series starts on 3 April in Palma, Spain. Nick Thompson (GBR) has a commanding 12 point lead in the ISAF Sailing World Cup Laser Standings. Thompson has amassed 37 points out of a possible 40 after claiming gold at Sail Melbourne and finishing fourth at the Rolex Miami OCR.... [more] Share this story

ISAF Match Racing World Championship 2011 - Is it Richard's time? WMRT, World Match Racing Tour 2011. Mathieu Richard has refused to introduce wholesale changes ahead of this season's competition in a bid to go one better. Last year we had a great season - we were very close to the title and finished second which, was a great achievement. For 2011 we are changing little details to improve and be better this year but we haven't changed a lot.... [more] Share this story

It's over - Thomas Coville about to finish, but not with a record Sail-World Cruising, Thomas Coville set off on 29 January offshore of the Créac'h lighthouse on Ushant, a French Island in the English Channel to try, for the second time, to best the solo round world record of Francis Joyon, set in 2005 at 59+ days. In 2008, he had his first failed attempt. Since then he had worked on his boat Sodebo, making her faster, stronger. Finally in January, he thought he had a chance.... [more] Share this story

BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival day 1 - Destination perfect Judy Petz, BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival - Forty boats congregated on the Sir Francis Drake Channel this morning, just off of Tortola's Nanny Cay Resort, for the start of the Bitter End Cup. This 21-mile Corinthian-spirited race to Virgin Gorda's Bitter End Yacht Club (BEYC) marks the official kick-off for the 40th Anniversary BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival (March 28-April 3, 2011).... [more] Share this story

Rolex Farr 40 World Championship - Class update and a fantastic event Tink Chambers, Rolex Farr 40 World Championship 2011 - Sydney Australia and the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron really turned it on to make the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship 2011 a fantastic event that was hard fought right to the finish line of the last race.... [more] Share this story

Laser Rule changes – Major issues for World's largest sailing Class www.Sail-world.com, This year, 40 years after Canadian designer Bruce Kirby launched the most successful boat ever, the 200,000 Laser dinghy has been sold. You'd be forgiven for thinking that all would be rosy in the Laser World, but it's not.... [more] Share this story

Virbac-Paprec 3's World Record ratified by WSSR WSSR, The WSSR Council announces the ratification of a new World Record by Virbac-Paprec 3, 24 Hour Distance Record, during the Barcelona World Race on 21st and 22nd January 2011.... [more] Share this story

Stan and Amaral win the 2011 BODA Winter Series Somers Cooper, The Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA) sailors have a short break after just completing their Winter Series. In the Gold Fleet, National Champion Sam Stan from the RBYC dominated the fleet winning by an impressive 40 point margin over Rory Caslin. Antonio Bailey finished in third place, 15 points behind Caslin.... [more] Share this story

Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta for US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics Dana Paxton, Princess Sofia Trophy Regatta - The European season gets into full swing this week for the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics in Palma de Mallorca, Spain for the Princess Sofia Trophy, the third stop on the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Sailing World Cup 2010-2011 series. From April 4-9, over 600 teams from 59 countries will compete in 10 Olympic and one Paralympic sailing class (2.4mR).... [more] Share this story

BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival sailors ready for start Linda Phillips, 40th Annual BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival - Perfect sun and breezes as the sailors are amassing on the eve of the race start. The atmosphere is pregnant with anticipation as the starting guns commence firing tomorrow at 1000 hours, local time, for the start of the Sailing Festival's annual Bitter End Cup.... [more] Share this story

Boston's CBI recognized by US Sailing Jake Fish, As the oldest community sailing program in the country, Community Boating, Inc. (CBI) in Boston, Mass. has taught tens of thousands of people how to sail on the Charles River. Community Boating received the Captain Joe Prosser Award in January at US SAILING's 2011 National Sailing Program Symposium (NSPS) in Clearwater Beach, Fla.... [more] Share this story

BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival countdown to start Linda Phillips, 40th Anniversary BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival (March 28-April 3, 2011) final countdown has begun and the racing will commence next week... [more] Share this story

We are sending you this newsletter because you are already receiving an existing Sail-World newsletter or because we believe this will be of interest to you. If you like this newsletter, do nothing, we will send you regular news.
 
If you don't, its a single click to stop.

No, I don't need or want to read about US and World sailing news. Please don't send me another.