ROUND ISLAND STARTS
BUT NOT ALL FINISH
Tortola,
British Virgin Islands, April 6, 2003 The
forecast, early morning breeze, and spotters on
the top of Tortola, said it looked good but the
reality was different on the last day of racing
for the BVI Spring Regatta. A decision to send
both the fleets round the islands ended in cancellations
for most of the classes but four classes managed
to finish spinnaker and non-spinnaker beach
cats, racing A and racing B. The IC/24s were not
sent round the islands and squeezed in one more
race.
"Wind
was evaporating on the south side and we had spotters
on the hill telling us there was wind on the north
side," said Bob Phillips, regatta chairman.
"We knew that we would be abandoning racing
on the south side soon after the 10 o¹clock
start and so decided to give it a shot. We had
boats standing by to give tows to the smaller
boats and in fact I was reading 12 knots between
Guana and Camanoe islands just before we abandoned."
There
was wind throughout the first part of course but
it was hard to find, light and holey. As Sotto
Voce, Equation and Chippewa sailed west along
the north side Tortola towards Sandy Cay, and
a mark off Great Harbour, a variety of sail combinations
were seen; this mark eventually became the finish
line after the race committee shortened the course.
Arien
vanVende's Sotto Voce finished the course in three
hours, fourteen minutes and 33 seconds and racked
up its sixth win out of eight races and class
prize. Bill Alcott's Equation was second over
the line and second on corrected. Clay Deutsch¹s
Chippewa valiantly completed the course crossing
the line an hour and fifteen minutes after Equation
giving her an elapsed time of four hours and 45
minutes.
In
racing B, Farr 40 Riot was first over the line
after four hours and 43 minutes on the water but
final victory went to Carlo Falcone's Caccia Alla
Volpe, her third win of the regatta. Frank Savage¹s
Lolita was third while Flirt and Noa 3 did not
start. Lolita won the class overall with 16 points
to Caccia¹s 17 and Riot¹s 18.
The
fleet of non-spinnaker beach cats took over five
hours to finish and only one of the four starters
DNF'd. LoLo Too won with HF Mortgage second and
USS Enterpoop third. Enrique Figueroa topped the
spinnaker beach cats with a more civilized elapsed
time of three hours and 26 minutes. Pease and
Jay Glaser were second on Team Tropical Shipping
and Bug Bite was third. Despite Enrique's win
today, Terry Jackson's Century 21 topped the class
overall.
On
the IC/24 course close to the south shore of Tortola,
Taylor Canfield's Boat Drinks sailed a good race
in shifty conditions to take line honors while
Crowley Shipping suffered the worst result of
the regatta, an eighth place. However, having
notched up a string of first places over the three-day
regatta, Robby Hirst's Crowley Shipping had done
more than enough to secure first overall.
Because
of the lack of racing today, yesterday's standings
from Cape Air CORT became final. So after three
regattas and 22 races Lost Horizon II, the Olson
30 from Antigua, took overall in Racing class
from the J/27, Magnificent 7. In the Melges 24
fleet St Maarten's 2 Contact Carib took an overall
win. Cold Beer, John Schultheiss' Tartan 10, won
a close-fought battle with the Sirena 38, Pipe
Dream in the Racer/Cruiser Class.
Sotto
Voce continues to lead the racing class in the
Caribbean Big Boat Series with Antigua Sailing
Week to go.
For
full details on the BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing
Festival including the provisional results and
photos, visit the official web site: www.bvispringregatta.org.
The
BVI Spring Regatta is jointly owned by the Royal
BVI Yacht Club and the BVI Chamber of Commerce
and Hotel Association. The 2003 BVI Spring Regatta
is presented by Nanny Cay Marina and also sponsored
by Heineken, Road Town Wholesale (1975) Ltd, Bitter
End Yacht Club, the BVI Tourist Board, Cable &
Wireless BVI, Village Cay Marina, Maui Jim, Tortola
Yacht Services, Prospect Reef Resort, Caribbean
Star, Cape Air, Zephyrhills Water and Island Marine
Outfitters.
