BUMPER
TURNOUT FOR INAUGURAL BVI SAILING FESTIVAL
Tortola,
British Virgin Islands, April 1, 2003 - The pizza
and beer fueled wind dance by over 200 sailors
in Nanny Cay's Peg Legs bar paid off last night
as a steady ESE 12-14-knot breeze launched the
first day of the inaugural BVI Sailing Festival,
part one of the BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing
Festival presented by Nanny Cay Marina.
Thirty-eight
boats hit the start line at 10:05 this morning
with all three classes - racing, multihull and
bareboat - starting together. Despite some enthusiastic
barging and yelling on the crowded start line
there were no incidents and no protests.
The
majority of the fleet hugged the coast as they
beat up the south side of Tortola and then, via
ŒThe Dogs', continued their way from Beef
Island Bluff to Prickly Pear Island and Colquhoun
Reef, the entrance to Virgin Gorda's North Sound.
A short beat from the channel markers found the
finish line off Bitter End Yacht Club and Bill
Alcott's Andrews 68 Equation was first over the
line with a time of 2 hours, 13 minutes and 33
seconds.
"It's
what the islands are about, get them started and
get them racing. Perfect weather and they started
on time. No-one was over, perfect," said
Peter Reggio, principal race officer for the BVI
Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival.
Attendance
at this new three-day precursor to the BVI Spring
Regatta surpassed expectations. "We really
had no idea how many boats would show up,"
said Bob Phillips, race committee chairman. "We
knew the Sailing Festival was a good concept and
thought that ten to fifteen boats would be a nice
number, so of course we're extremely pleased with
this turn out. It's a great start to a great week
of sailing in the British Virgin Islands."
The
biggest contributor to this larger than expected
turnout was the 20-boat racing fleet. There were
fifteen bareboats and three boats in the multihull
fleet.
When
the results were tallied Equation had won the
race beating Cosmic Warlord, an Express 37 chartered
from the Bitter End Yacht Club, by one minute
and 35 seconds. Swan 48 Affinity was third, one
minute and 37 seconds behind Cosmic. Equation
sailed with six tacks to Beef Island bluff followed
by a further six to the cut through Colquhoun
reef 'making sure they stayed in deep water'.
"I'm so glad to be here," said Alcott
at the prize giving. "When you live in Michigan
where it's dull and cold six months of the year,
it's good to be here."
"But
that bit," he said pointing out towards the
channel through Colquhoun Reef, "had me sweating,"
he said. Unfortunately for him, and perhaps the
rest of the fleet, they will be racing back out
through the cut in the pursuit race back to race
headquarters for the BVI Spring Regatta on Thursday.
San
Francisco sailor Mike Schlens has returned to
the BVI Spring Regatta for the second time. He
last visited in 2001 when he won the highly competitive
racing II class in his own Express 37 Blade Runner;
he knocked Antigua's Lost Horizon II into the
very rare position of second.
Dot
Com, a Moorings 463 and first over the line in
the bareboat division, was also victorious on
corrected time with Black Hole second and the
BVI Tourist Board entry Team Europe third. Both
these boats are rated higher than Dot Com and
in theory should have beaten them over the line.
Endangered
Species topped the multihull division with Cover
Shot second and Manana third.
Tomorrow
will see a day of fun a frivolity as the BVI Sailing
Festival Lay Day kicks off at the Bitter End Yacht
Club.
"The
Coconut Man Triathlon will be the highlight of
this action packed day." Says Gord-O Overing,
Bitter End's activities director. ³The event
will start at Mo Ryan's Pub, where athletes can
hydrate before the event begins. Teams will be
made up of two members, one male and one female.
The participants will sprint to the watersports
beach, jump on to a Hobie Wave, Le Mans-style,
and sail around Prickly Pear Island. Teams will
hand-off their Hobies and grab a double kayak."
continues Gord-O."A brisk paddle up to the
north end of the property will follow. Competitors
will beach the kayaks, and then traverse the challenging
500-foot Biras Hill via the now-legendary Guy's
Trail. The race finishes back at the Pub where
hydration of another sort will no doubt take place.
It should be a blast!"
Other
planned activities include snorkeling trips, one-design
dinghy (Laser) and keelboat (Rhodes 19) racing,
as well as simply "power lounging by the
pool" sipping a cocktail.
Thursday
will see the pursuit race back to Nanny Cay for
the Nanny Cap Cup and the 32nd BVI Spring Regatta
starts Friday morning.
Official
web site: http://www.bvispringregatta.org
