One final race on Day 3 BVI Spring Regatta determines winners

by BVI Spring Regatta on 3 Apr 2017 Competitors in the 46th edition of the BVI Spring Regatta were only too happy to call it quits after one final race on Sunday when extremely light air made for very shifty and challenging conditions. Little breeze translated to a very hot day so a swim and a cold beer was the perfect race substitute for most of the 86-strong fleet.

Final results in several classes came down to the wire in the last race: in CSA Racing 2, Chris Haycraft (BVI) racing on Pipedream took first in class by just half a point, beating Tony Mack (GBR) on Team McFly who has won the division for the past four years. In the IC 24 class, Frits Bus and Chuck Pessler racing on Island Water World Racing prevailed in a tie breaker with Aeropost.com skippered by Colin Rathbun.

Haycraft, Commodore of the Royal BVI Yacht Club said, 'The beauty of this Regatta is that you are racing against boats you don't know, so you don't know how they are going to perform which makes it all the more interesting. I love meeting all the new people who come to BVI Spring Regatta; it's just a great atmosphere. It's also been enjoyable to see more of our local ex-pats visiting the event village to see what it is all about.'

In racing results, Peter Corr took first in CSA Racing 1 on his new boat Blitz, a King 40. Corr has previously sailed the event and for the past few years chartered a King 40 to race before deciding to purchase one. He loves his new boat and has been having fun optimizing it this past week. He was thrilled with his class win. 'Today was super light air with the breeze shifting dramatically at the start and throughout racing,' Corr said. 'We saw two knots at one point then as much as eight - nine. The competition here this week has been really high level, you had to be on it and not let up for a minute. I love racing here, it's just magical!'

Pipedream is a 32-year old boat so Haycraft is only too happy that it is still holding together to be able to win races, especially today's race in which they took line honours in CSA Racing 2. 'Not bad for the slowest and probably the oldest boat in the fleet,' Haycraft joked. 'Today was about the wind clocking back to the left so it's where we wanted to go. We found clean air, the boat likes light air so it was our conditions.' His crew did mention that five of them had to go below to sit on the keel for a while to manage weight...which of course was like sitting in a sauna in today's heat. The things people do for a win...

It was a thrill to have the relatively new and very exciting CandC 30 class racing in a small but very competitive fleet. Don't Panic, owned and skippered by Julian Mann from San Francisco racing just his fourth regatta, took first in class. 'After last weekend in St Thomas, I feel like we came into Spring Regatta as the underdog,' Mann said. 'We knew we were in controlling and potentially winning positions in St Thomas in virtually every race, but it seemed like we were racing ourselves. This week we've really put a lot of time and effort into fixing that and there are certainly more things to work on, but our improvement shows in the results which we're really happy with.'

Avanti, the Hanse 43 skippered by Jeremi Jablonksi (USA) took first in Jib and Main, has raced BVI Spring Regatta at least four times, and Nanny Cay is the boat's winter home. This week they had crew from their home town yacht club, Cedar Point YC on Long Island. 'We sailed in a pretty large division with great sailors and super friendly competition,' Jablonski said. 'It's probably the friendliest regatta you can participate in! We're beginning to feel like we have some local knowledge now and so we've been improving our performance over the years.' Jablonski added that they were excited to have two new people on board and to be able to introduce them to yacht racing.

Racing their second BVI Spring Regatta, In Bareboat 1, Subversive-JogFund, skippered by Warwick Dunnett (USA) took first, finishing with eights point. 'An experienced San Francisco crew, stronger breeze and some good tactical decisions picking the favoured side of the course earlier in the series suited us and led to a very satisfying win,' Dunnett said. 'Thanks to all the organizers!'

Bob Beltrano has done BVI Spring Regatta eight times and still considers it his favourite regatta. He previously raced the event on his former Swan 53 Naia and this year for the first time chartered a boat winning CSA Bareboat 2 on the Sunsail 44i Pinel. 'Racing was fantastic, we had a lot of good starts and our local knowledge helped us,' Beltrano said. 'Today was about shifts so we were constantly looking up and down the course trying to stay out of currents upwind. We traded positions with Presley King on Bageal all week which made for exciting racing. I also enjoyed racing on a charter boat with insurance as my team likes to get into tight places, so this year they didn't have to worry about the paint!'

In CSA Bareboat 3, Team Horizon racing their first Spring Regatta on Jitterbug, a Bavaria 37, took first in class. Skippered by Frank Rowsell from Devon, UK, the team has enjoyed racing with different guests on board each day. 'The conditions yesterday with more wind suited us better so we made good on that,' Rowsell said. 'Today we concentrated on boat speed to keep moving and we were keeping up with all the larger boats in our fleet. Our plan was just to keep mistakes to a real minimum, which we seemed to manage to do!'

In the IC 24 class, Frits Bus and Chuck Pessler from Island Water World Racing noted the competition was incredibly close, especially between his team and Aeropost.com. 'Colin (Rathbun) is a very well-known match racer and we were battling the entire week; it was like our own match race,' Bus said, 'Our boat speeds were about the same, we were constantly changing leads and were right next to each other at all the finishes - it was nerve wracking! Today was a bit light but we still had fun playing the shifts.' A Melges 24 sailor from St Maarten, Bus said he always enjoys the competition at Spring Regatta.

Piglet, the Teegall 2300 owned and skippered by Joe St Martin from St Croix, took first in CSA Multihull division. The Offshore Trimaran division was won by local BVI team on Triple Jack, the Kelsall 47 skippered by Richard Wooldridge. In the Offshore Multihull Division, the Gunboat 62 owned by Jason Carroll (USA) took first.

After racing today, the BVI Spring Regatta Awards Ceremony took place in the regatta village at Nanny Cay where winners from all classes and special prizes were presented by VIP guests, including the BVI Premier Hon. Dr. Orlando Smith and Cameron McColl, Chairman of host marina, Nanny Cay.

Be sure to save the date for next year! 2018 BVI Spring Regatta: March 26 to April 1. Includes the new Full Moon Race, 64 islands, one brilliant night on March 27. Not to be missed.

Place, Yacht Name, Owner/Skipper, Hometown, Results, Total Points

CSA - Racing 1 (CSA - 10 Boats)

1. Blitz, Peter Corr , AUS - 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -2 ; 8
2. Summer Storm, Andrew Berdon , USA - 3 -3 -3 -3 -2 -4 -1 ; 19
3. El Ocaso, Chris Body , UK - 2 -4 -2 -2 -6 -6 -6 ; 28
4. Spike, Sam Talbot , BVI - 8 -2 -6 -7 -3 -5 -3 ; 34
5. Big(ger) Trouble, Tom Elsen and Paul Latour , USA - 9 -7 -5 -4 -4 -3 -8 ; 40

CSA - Racing 2 (CSA - 10 Boats)

1. Pipedream, Christopher Haycraft , BVI - 4 -5 -3 -1 -2 -4 -1 ; 20
2. Team McFly ~ Joanna, Tony Mack , UK - 1 -1 -1 -3 -3.5 -5 -6 ; 20.5
3. Touch2Play Racing, Rob Butler , CAN - 7 -3 -6 -2 -3.5 -1 -3 ; 25.5
4. LIPTON ~ Sonadio, Philippe Charret , FRA - 3 -2 -5 -6 -1 -11 -4 ; 32
5. Firewater, Henry Leonig , bvi - 9 -6 -2 -4 -7 -6 -2 ; 36

Offshore Multihulls (One Design - 7 Boats)

1. ELVIS, Jason Carroll , USA - 1 -1 -1 -2 ; 5
2. NALA, Jim Vos , USA - 4 -2 -2 -3 ; 11
3. Flow, Stephen Cucchiaro , USA - 2 -3 -4 -4 ; 13
4. Extreme H2O, Pat Benz , USA - 6 -4 -3 -1 ; 14
5. Arethusa, Phil Lotz , USA - 3 -5 -5 -6 ; 19

Offshore Trimaran (One Design - 1 Boats)

1. Triple Jack, Richard Wooldridge , IVB - 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 ; 5

CandC 30 (One Design - 4 Boats)

1. Don't Panic, Julian Mann , USA - 1 -1 -1 -3 -3 -3 -2 ; 14
2. Nemesis and the Hooligans, Trey Sheehan , USA - 2 -2 -2 -1 -4 -2 -3 ; 16
3. Themis, Walt Thirion , USA - 3 -4 -3 -2 -2 -1 -4 ; 19
4. Flying Jenny, Sandra Askew , USA - 4 -3 -5 -4 -1 -4 -1 ; 22

CSA - Bareboat 1 (CSA - 11 Boats)

1. Subvers!ve ~ JogFund, Warwick Dunnett , USA - 1 -1 -1 -3 -2 ; 8
2. BYRA ~ La Bella Vita, John Fourqurean , USA - 2 -7 -2 -1 -1 ; 13
3. Captain Willem ~ Dot N Fran, Willem Ellemeet , NED - 4 -2 -3 -4 -3 ; 16
4. Team Crude Yachties ~ Beer Chaser, Mike Hill , BVI - 3 -3 -4 -2 -6 ; 18
5. Do Not Resuscitate ~ Crazy Diamond of Cardiff, Rob Fernandez , USA - 5 -4 -7 -6 -4 ; 26

CSA - Bareboat 2 (CSA - 10 Boats)

1. Team NAIA ~ Pinel, Bob Beltrano , USA - 1 -1 -1 -1 -2 ; 6
2. Team Sunsail ~ Bageal, Presley King , BVI - 2 -2 -2 -2 -1 ; 9
3. Sail Experts ~ Dauntless Five, Petr Kochnev , RUS - 3 -3 -4 -4 -3 ; 17
4. Pelican Pat, Mike Keel , USA - 11 -4 -3 -5 -4 ; 27
5. Team Cape Fear ~ Crows' Nest, Bob Cowen , USA - 5 -5 -6 -6 -6 ; 28

CSA - Bareboat 3 (CSA - 7 Boats)

1. Team Horizon ~ Jitterbug, Frank Rowsell , GBR - 3 -2 -1 -1 -2 ; 9
2. Team Merlin ~ Sohcahtoa, Charlie Garrard , USA - 1 -1 -2 -8 -1 ; 13
3. Tortola Moon, Alberto Borin , ITA - 2 -4 -3 -2 -3 ; 14
4. Swainsailing ~ Cool Girl, Mike McCarty , BVI - 4 -3 -4 -6 -4 ; 21
5. Team Miami ~ Sir Galahad II, Brian McCarthy , USA - 6 -5 -6 -3 -5 ; 25

CSA - Jib and Main (CSA - 14 Boats)

1. Avanti, Jeremi Jablonski , USA - 3 -2 -1 -1 -2 ; 9
2. Girasoli, Keith LiGreci , IVB - 1 -3 -3 -3 -4 ; 14
3. Sam of Hamble, Peter Hopps and Serena Alexander , UK - 2 -1 -4 -6 -5 ; 18
4. Hot Stuff, Girls for Sail , GBR - 6 -6 -7 -4 -3 ; 26
5. Jasmine, John Evans , USA - 4 -5 -8 -5 -6 ; 28

CSA - Multihull (CSA - 5 Boats)

1. Piglet, Joseph San Martin , USA - 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 ; 5
2. Little Wing, Ron Boehm , USA - 2 -3 -2 -3 -2 ; 12
3. Wildfire, John Hayes , USA - 3 -2 -3 -2 -3 ; 13
4. Team Escapers ~ Libeccio, Frank Kastelein , NED - 5 -4 -5 -5 -4 ; 23
5. Rum Tum Tiger, Curtis McLees , USA - 4 -7 -4 -4 -7 ; 26

IC 24 (One Design - 5 Boats)

1. Island Water World Racing, Frits Bus and Chuck Pessler , USA - 2 -2 -1 -1 -1 -2 -1 -2 -5 -2 -1 -3 -4 ; 27
2. Aeropost.com, Colin Rathbun , BVI - 1 -3 -2 -2 -2 -1 -6 -1 -2 -1 -2 -2 -2 ; 27
3. One Love, William McConnell , USA - 3 -1 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -4 -3 -3 -1 ; 36
4. Boat Drinks, JP Montegut , USA - 4 -4 -4 -4 -4 -4 -2 -4 -1 -3 -4 -4 -3 ; 45
5. Roosta, Pat Nolan , BVI - 5 -5 -5 -5 -6 -5 -4 -5 -4 -6 -6 -6 -6 ; 68

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2017 BVI Spring Regatta - Final Cumulative Results

Sail Number Yacht Name Owner/Skipper Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Race 7 Race 8 Race 9 Race 10 Race 11 Race 12 Race 13 Total 1. BVI Spring Regatta - Sol Course Racing CSA Division CSA - Racing 1 1.   USA 52915 Blitz Peter Corr 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 8.0 2.   USA 61915 Summer Storm Andrew Berdon 3 3 3 3 2 4 1 19.0 3.   USA 52902 El Ocaso Chris Body 2 4 2 2 6 6 6 28.0 4.   USA 60613 Spike Sam Talbot 8 2 6 7 3 5 3 34.0 5.   USA 134 Big(ger) Trouble Tom  Elsen & Paul Latour 9 7 5 4 4 3 8 40.0 6.   ANU 911882 TAZ Bernard Evan-Wong 6 10 4 10 5 2 4 41.0 7.   GBR 2215L Quokka 8 Philippe Falle 5 5 8 6 7 7 7 45.0 8.   ANT 104 Liquid Pamala Baldwin 7 6 7 5 9 8 9 51.0 9.   GBR 4778R Team The Willing Sinners ~ EH01 Andy Middleton 4 8 11/OCS 8 10 10 10 61.0 10.   USA 46269 Runaway Doug Baker 10 11 9 9 8 9 5 61.0   CSA - Racing 2 1.   IVB 14 Pipedream Christopher Haycraft 4 5 3 1 2 4 1 20.0 2.   GBR 4147L Team McFly ~ Joanna Tony Mack 1 1 1 3 3.5 5 6 20.5 3.   CAN 56 Touch2Play Racing Rob Butler 7 3 6 2 3.5 1 3 25.5 4.   FRA 28918 LIPTON ~ Sonadio Philippe Charret 3 2 5 6 1 11/DSQ 4 32.0 5.   IVB 109 Firewater Henry Leonig 9 6 2 4 7 6 2 36.0 6.   GBR 8405R Team Larry ~ Olympia's Tigress Andrew McIrvine 2 4 8 7 5 7 5 38.0 7.   GBR 7382R Pasco's Jaguar Will Sadler 6 7 4 5 8 2 7 39.0 8.   GBR 7408R Arthur Chris Jackson - Sailing Logic 5 8 7 8 6 3 8 45.0 9.   GBR 9051T ORTAC darren shipard 8 9 9 9 9 8 9 61.0 10.   USA 443 Vuja de Remco Van Dortmondt 10 10 10 10 10 9 10 69.0     One Design Division Offshore Multihulls 1.   USA 6204 ELVIS Jason Carroll 1 1 1 2 5.0 2.   USA 6603 NALA Jim Vos 4 2 2 3 11.0 3.   USA 61002 Flow Stephen Cucchiaro 2 3 4 4 13.0 4.   USA 6607 Extreme H2O Pat Benz 6 4 3 1 14.0 5.   USA 61006 Arethusa Phil Lotz 3 5 5 6 19.0 6.   USA 12 The DOMinator Kent Haeger 5 6 6 5 22.0 7.   USA 6008 Moementum Lucky Mike 7 7 8/DNF 8/DNS 30.0   Offshore Trimaran 1.   M 330 Triple Jack Richard Wooldridge 1 1 1 1 1 5.0   C&C 30 1.   USA 30026 Don't Panic Julian Mann 1 1 1 3 3 3 2 14.0 2.   USA 30018 Nemesis and the Hooligans Trey Sheehan 2 2 2 1 4 2 3 16.0 3.   USA 30015 Themis Walt Thirion 3 4 3 2 2 1 4 19.0 4.   USA 30014 Flying Jenny Sandra Askew 4 3 5/OCS 4 1 4 1 22.0     2. BVI Spring Regatta - Norman Course Racing CSA Division CSA - Bareboat 1 1.   Subvers!ve ~ JogFund Warwick Dunnett 1 1 1 3 2 8.0 2.   BYRA ~ La Bella Vita John Fourqurean 2 7 2 1 1 13.0 3.   Captain Willem ~ Dot N Fran Willem Ellemeet 4 2 3 4 3 16.0 4.   Team Crude Yachties ~ Beer Chaser Mike Hill 3 3 4 2 6 18.0 5.   Do Not Resuscitate ~ Crazy Diamond of Cardiff Rob Fernandez 5 4 7 6 4 26.0 6.   Gris Gris Johannes Mehlhorn 6 5 6 7 5 29.0 7.   Team Enchanted ~ SS Hull 920 Charles Obersheimer 8 10 5 5 8 36.0 8.   Trekr ~ Return of the Macks Dave Sossamon 7 6 8 9 10 40.0 9.   Steady as We Go II Kees van der Vlugt 9 9 9 8 7 42.0 10.   Dakota Lullaby II Rob Versteegh 10 8 10 12/DNS 9 49.0 11.   Team Paranda ~ Ivoire Jeroen Joman 12/RET 12/RET 12/RET 12/RET 12/DNS 60.0   CSA - Bareboat 2 1.   Team NAIA ~ Pinel Bob Beltrano 1 1 1 1 2 6.0 2.   Team Sunsail ~ Bageal Presley King 2 2 2 2 1 9.0 3.   Sail Experts ~ Dauntless Five Petr Kochnev 3 3 4 4 3 17.0 4.   Pelican Pat Mike Keel 11/DSQ 4 3 5 4 27.0 5.   Team Cape Fear ~ Crows' Nest Bob Cowen 5 5 6 6 6 28.0 6.   Harmony Jim Proctor 9 10 5 3 7 34.0 7.   Island Time Too Ben Sampson 4 7 10 8 5 34.0 8.   Joanna Victoria Mike Graham 6 6 9 7 9 37.0 9.   Legacy II Dan Gourash 8 9 7 10 8 42.0 10.   Team Viking ~ Dascyllus Arne Feyling 7 8 8 9 11/RET 43.0   CSA - Bareboat 3 1.   Team Horizon ~ Jitterbug Frank Rowsell 3 2 1 1 2 9.0 2.   Team Merlin ~ Sohcahtoa Charlie Garrard 1 1 2 8/DSQ 1 13.0 3.   Tortola Moon Alberto Borin 2 4 3 2 3 14.0 4.   Swainsailing ~ Cool Girl Mike McCarty 4 3 4 6 4 21.0 5.   Team Miami ~ Sir Galahad II Brian McCarthy 6 5 6 3 5 25.0 6.   De Prooi ~ SS Hull 303 Michel Vreedeveld 5 6 5 4 6 26.0 7.   ThamesYC ~ Sweet Wind Robert Amrein 7 7 7 5 8/RET 34.0   CSA - Jib and Main 1.   USA 52906 Avanti Jeremi Jablonski 3 2 1 1 2 9.0 2.   IVB 123 Girasoli Keith LiGreci 1 3 3 3 4 14.0 3.   GBR 8396 Sam of Hamble Peter Hopps & Serena Alexander 2 1 4 6 5 18.0 4.   GBR 8520R Hot Stuff Girls for Sail 6 6 7 4 3 26.0 5.   USA 19 Jasmine John Evans 4 5 8 5 6 28.0 6.   USA 7016 Hotel California Too Stephen Schmidt 7 4 5 8 7 31.0 7.   GBR 48L Spirit Alan Edwards 15/DNS 15/DNS 2 2 1 35.0 8.   255 Godspeed Goerg Parz 9 8 6 9 8 40.0 9.   8675309 Cheeky Monkey Craig Hassey 5 9 11 10 9 44.0 10.   PUR 1215 Rose Guillermo Mulet 8 7 9 11 11 46.0 11.   30 Wicked Winch David Lake 10 10 12 7 10 49.0 12.   Tern Robin Tattersall 13 15/DNS 14 15/DNS 57.0 13.   USA 60503 Recess Bruce Gates 11 11 10 12 15/DNS 59.0 14.   Reverie Don Pietrykowski 12 12 13 13 12 62.0   CSA - Multihull 1.   USA 3 Piglet Joseph San Martin 1 1 1 1 1 5.0 2.   USA R18 Little Wing Ron Boehm 2 3 2 3 2 12.0 3.   Wildfire John Hayes 3 2 3 2 3 13.0 4.   Team Escapers ~ Libeccio Frank Kastelein 5 4 5 5 4 23.0 5.   Rum Tum Tiger Curtis McLees 4 7/DNS 4 4 7/RET 26.0     3. BVI Spring Regatta - One Design Course Racing One Design Division IC 24 1.   ISV 40 Island Water World Racing Frits Bus & Chuck Pessler 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 5 2 1 3/SCP 4 27.0 2.   IVB 35 Aeropost.com Colin Rathbun 1 3 2 2 2 1 6/DSQ 1 2 1 2 2 2 27.0 3.   ISV 21 One Love William McConnell 3 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 1 36.0 4.   ISV 1 Boat Drinks JP Montegut 4 4 4 4 4 4 2 4 1 3 4 4 3 45.0 5.   IVB 42 Roosta Pat Nolan 5 5 5 5 6/RET 5 4 5 4 6/DNC 6/DNC 6/DNC 6/DNC 68.0