The 47th BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival hosted by Nanny Cay will be the first major international event held since Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the Virgin Islands last September.
The regatta kicks off with a four-day warm-up, followed by the main three-day regatta from March 26 to April 1.
The venue will be Nanny Cay — home and host for the event for the past 15 years — is set to welcome about 60 yachts to the new Regatta Village located in the Outer Marina, which was completed in December 2016. This marina was relatively unscathed by the region’s worst natural disaster on record and will be a perfect base for the teams to gather and enjoy the regatta, according to a BVISR press release.
This year’s sailors will hail from Puerto Rico, Antigua, the VI and other Caribbean islands who were also affected by the 2017 hurricanes. North American sailors, as well as those from the United Kingdom and Europe will be joining the festivities.
“We have been coming to the BVI for over 20 years and this will be our fifth Spring Regatta,” said owner of Avanti, Jeremi Jablonski, of the United State. “We were one of the first boats to arrive back at Nanny Cay last November and to witness the devastation after Irma. We were also the first to sign up for this year’s event as we love the BVI and we are competing to show our support to our local friends.”
Susan Glenny’s The Sirens/Olympia’s Tigress, of the UK, will host The Sirens Women’s Yacht Racing team at this year’s BVISR. The Sirens is an established all women’s crew that races in the UK and the Caribbean to provide an opportunity for women to experience competitive racing.
“I’m really looking forward to the awesome team we have coming out,” said Ms. Glenny.
BVISR Director Eddie Brockbank will be competing aboard his Corsair Sprint 750 trimaran.
“Lucky 7 is certainly living up to her name as the trimaran survived both hurricane Irma and Maria,” said Mr. Brockbank, whose first BVISR was in 1988. This will be Mr. Brockbank’s first time racing Lucky 7 in in the regatta..
For more information about the regatta, go to www.bvispringregatta.org/