“We looked behind us and didn’t see anyone at all, we were pretty far ahead of the fleet,” said David Liddell, co-owner of WOW, the Stealth 14GT catamaran and the first boat to cross the finish in Tuesday’s Round Tortola Race.
According to organisers, it was a challenging day for the all the classes who started the race, with a breeze that clocked the compass amidst squalls and at times, no breeze whatsoever. Race officials shortened the course mid-afternoon which allowed several boats including WOW to finish within the allotted time.
“The first leg up to Buck Island was great, we quickly made the layline and the breeze was slightly cracked off, which was good for us as a multihull,” Mr. Lidell said. “We had an awesome reach down to Great Camanoe then started seeing squalls. We had some good sailing in the squalls, but at the back of the squalls there was no wind. After spending half an hour going nowhere, we at least were being pushed down by the tide, making one and a half knots. From there it was squall after squall, we stopped again, it rained so hard at one point we were all under the cabin and no-one was on the helm. I don’t know how many sail changes we made, from screecher to spinnaker to jib and all over again. At one point we had the screecher stuck at the top of the mast and Helen (Ruud) had to go up the mast to release it. Toward the end, we got very lucky to catch breeze and a nice spinnaker run all the way to the finish off Steele Point.”
“Floppy and wallowing” were today’s buzz words aboard the Swan 51 Godspeed as the crew stuck out the frustrating conditions to finish the Round Tortola Race, but unfortunately not within the allotted time. They hooked into a groove after winning their start and led the CSA Cruising Division for much of the distance up and around Beef Island, before the breeze evaporated after Scrub Island.
Godspeed, owned by Chris Haycraft, is a new boat for him after he lost Pipe Dream to Hurricane Irma. Today was somewhat of a celebration aboard Godspeed as it was the first time since Irma that his crew had been on the water.
“It’s our first sail this season and the BVI Spring Regatta usually represents the end of the sailing season,” said Richard Wooldridge, crew onboard Godspeed and co-owner of Triple Jack, which holds the Round Tortola record of 2 hours 42 minutes. “We were all having serious withdrawal symptoms, so while we’ve done a lot of wallowing about today, it’s great to have this time on the water together. Our crew are reviving the island by being out here and sharing our common concern for our little island.”
The Absolut Full Moon Race fleet started with the Round Tortola Race boats who were also thwarted by today’s conditions, with several of the fleet choosing to withdraw after a frustrating day.
“We are really happy that we started the inaugural Absolut Full Moon Race and got the race off this morning,” said Judy Petz, BVISR Director. “While the weather has been challenging today, the boats still sailing will get to enjoy the beautiful islands of the BVI in the moonlight.”
The BVI Spring Regatta continues today at Nanny Cay.
For more information, go to www.bvispringregatta.org