BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival Day 1
by Michelle Slade / BVISR 2 Apr 14:57 AEDT
March 31-April 6 2025
Epic racing for the Nanny Cay Cup in the Round Tortola Race - BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival © Alex Turnbull / Tidal Pulse Media
Today was a fast one for those racing in the Round Tortola Race for the Nanny Cay Cup event as breeze in the low 20s, hitting the high 20s during several big squalls that blasted through the course, kept sailors on their toes and weight on the rails.
Lots of race-weary but satisfied faces shared their stories later in the day at the prize-giving where the overall trophy, the Nanny Cay Cup, was awarded jointly to the top monohull and top multihull, Warthog and Airgasm.
Racing Class
Finishing first in class with a corrected time of 3:59:33 was the Reichel Pugh 37 Warthog owned by Jim Vos and skippered by Jules Mitchell (Antigua) racing in the BVI this week for the first time at BVI Spring Regatta. Altivo, the Grand Soleil 44 helmed by Jorge Rodriquez (Dominican Republic) took second with a corrected time of 4:04:21, and in third was the Swan 58 WaveWalker helmed by Woody Cullen (USA) with a corrected time of 4:06:30.
"We were able to pull off a win today and we're really happy; we had no expectations going out there and were pleasantly surprised by the trade winds with lots of nice breeze," Mitchell said. "The competition was pretty stiff but when Warthog leaves the dock we leave the intention to win races! We took the shifts as they were coming and focused on risk management. The most fun part of the day was the downwind - it was super cool. We're really excited to start racing on Friday in Spring Regatta and for the next few days we're going do some wing foiling and kiteboarding and enjoy the island!"
Performance Multihull
The competition is fierce among the local performance multihull fleet and today was no exception as Barney Crook, owner/skipper of the Corsair 31-1D Airgasm beat his buddy Chris Haycraft racing on his Corsair F31 Ting A Ling II by just nine seconds finishing with a corrected time of 3:20:03. In third was the fabulous new Gunboat 72 Layla, finishing in a corrected time of 3:39:31.
"It was easier to beat Chris now that my rating is better," Crook smiled. "We got the 31 and we were giving him 3 minutes an hour and now we're giving him a lot less - boat for boat, we're racing pretty evenly. It was a good race, it was fun, there was a little of everything, it was up and down, there were a few big squalls that came through - one big one on the way up to Beef (Island) was probably a solid 30 knots. We sailed hard, fast, and tried not to make mistakes. The boat is in good shape, the only damage today was that we blew the mainsheet halfway down the north side but we managed to recover from that."
Cruising / Performance Cruising
When the mouse is away the cat will play and Ben Daniel, captain of the 'pay to play' race charter Panacea X, a Salona 45, stepping in this week for owner Katy Campbell (Canada), did a great job helming Panacea to win with a corrected time of 4:04:34.
"We had a great first race and the competition was really good, we were on the line with clear air off the start and that's all you really need!" Daniel said. "We knew which side of the fleet we wanted to play coming into the race, we managed to stay on that side and lead the pack in the direction we wanted to go. The Beneteau 40 sailed really well, they were pretty fast on the upwind but did jib and main only on the downwind so we were obviously faster but it was really hard to tell if we were fast enough compared to them and we owed them time. We've done the entire Caribbean race circuit with Emily of Cowes so we're very accustomed to racing against them and they're always good competition. We're sailing with twelve which really helped today because we needed the weight on the rail."
Bareboat
It's nothing short of amazing that 94-year-old Robin Tattersall is still racing BVI Spring Regatta and still winning! Every year he wins and his prize is a charter for the next BVI Spring Regatta; this year he's cashing in again and proving just why he and his crew are worth it. Racing on the Sunsail Bavaria 37 Jitterbug, Tattersall and his crew took first in 4:43:47 corrected time. Spring Regatta regular, Charlie Gerrard (USA) and his crew on the Sunsail 42 Mi Piba took second in 4:48:03, and Nitushi, a Sunsail 42, finished third with a corrected time of 5:00:17. Tattersall, laughing, said that for him, today's highlight was surviving.
"I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it, I thought to myself last night, what a stupid thing to do, I have all sorts of structural problems but then I thought, "what a way to go!" Racing was fine, there was quite a lot of breeze, my knowledge of the track, the tides and winds helped the crew but mainly staying on the boat and not falling over was enough! I've always loved this race and used to have so much excitement on Diva, my 1930 30 square meter; I once lost the rig on her in a big blow during this race."
Cruising Multihull
Georges Coutu (Dominican Republic) helming his Leopard 50 La Novia took first with a corrected time of 4:14:16, beating Little Wing, the Perry Antrim 52 owned and helmed by Ron Boehm (USA) with a corrected time of 4:23:05.
"We had a beautiful day today, sunny and very windy so it was perfect," Coutu said. "We had a good race; we got a little damage on the boat but we were able to fix it and catch up with Little Wing on the last upwind leg. Little Wing was very fast today and they finished 20 minutes before us; normally we finish together. It looks good for the next four days of competition, we are looking forward to it."
Miles Sutherland Pilch, General Manager Nanny Cay, commented, "It's fantastic to see this place come alive with the Regatta every year and to kick it off with a brilliant Nanny Cay Cup today, the winds couldn't have been better; it was pretty rough and ready for some of them and salty by the time they got back. Everyone seemed happy, there weren't too many gear failures, it was a great day."
A 10am start on Wednesday for Day 2 of the 52nd BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival will set the fleet on a short 11 nautical mile to Marina Cay, where another fabulous beach party, hosted by Scrub Island Resort & Marina, will welcome competitors.
For more information go to: bvispringregatta.org.