Sailors competing in the 51st BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival experienced a week of mixed conditions, which organisers said put them to the test.
The regatta featured sailors of all calibres, from first-timers to Olympians competing in several fleets.
Some of the top sailors included Peter Holmberg, Alec Anderson, Luke Patience, Stu Bithell, Terry McLaughlin, Charlie Enright, Cameron Appleton, Paul Larsen and Ryan Breymaier.
Sam Talbot, aboard Spike, a J111, won his class, while Michael and Helen Wilson racing their Cape 31 Shotgunn in the Virgin Islands for the first time prevailed against the highly competitive Flying Jenny, another Cape 31.
“This was our first time winning our class and our first year ever beating El Ocaso, so we’re pretty excited,” said Mr. Talbot. “Our boat speed did it — we were fast. The boat likes light winds and our tactician had everybody moving together on the boat for weight distribution, rolling the boat and really accelerating out of manoeuvres with smooth movements and good tactics. The competition this week was great. El Ocaso is usually our main competition, but these weren’t really their conditions, and the Melges 24 Island Water World sailed by Frits Bus was fast, and he had us sweat every single race.”
Todd Slyngstad, aboard his HH66 Nemo, took first overall in Performance Multihull, finishing with 6.5 points, ahead of Allegra, the custom catamaran owned by Adrian Keller. While the fleet did not race Sunday due to light conditions, Mr. Slyngstad won some races.
“Overall, it was a great week,” he said. “In these conditions Nemo does really well. It didn’t hurt my feelings if the wind stayed under 10 knots, because it played into our hand. It was super fun competition – we had never raced against Allegra or Convexity2, so it was really fun to see those boats in action: great crews, very social, a lot of fun guys. We did get some nice wind earlier in the week: nice enough to break something.”
With five bullets over six races, Shotgunn was the clear winner in CSA 2.
“Thank you, BVI Spring Regatta. It’s been a really good regatta; we definitely want to come back here again,” said Shotgunn owner and skipper Michael Wilson. “The race committee did a brilliant job of getting as many races in as they did and the variation of sailing with Round Tortola and Scrub Island earlier in the week is a nice change from the usual kind of racing that we do. Flying Jenny clearly has some good speed against us. They’re an incredible group of people who don’t give up. This week was good to learn how to mode the boat and sail it in light air, and that’s due to the incredible team of people who we have this privilege to sail with.”
Lady M, the Beneteau First 40.7 owned and skippered by Joan Rodriquez, took first in Performance Cruising A for the second consecutive year, finishing just two points ahead of Puerto Rico-based Paroma, the Salona 44 owned and skippered by Luis Balzac.
Canadians Steve Denure and Terry McLaughlin, silver medallist in the Flying Dutchman Class at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics, took first in Bareboat 2 on the Sunsail 41 Sul Vento with five bullets over five races.
“It’s been good fun. We’ve been sailing with friends,” said Mr. McLaughlin. “I knew it was a charter boat, and we ended up making our charter boat go as fast as anyone else with older sails and a bottom I’m not quite used to. There were some great sailors out there this week.”
Awards were presented to Chris Haycraft, Regatta Chairman and the owner/skipper of Ting A Ling II, a Corsair F 31, who took four bullets over five races to win first in class in Sport Multihull and the Best BVI Boat award.
Every year the BVISR presents the Guy Eldridge Spirit of Enthusiasm Award to an individual or individuals who shine in the spirit of the sport and who have stepped out and gone beyond. This year the award was presented to Bad Decisions, the J30 from St Croix skippered by Fuzzy Stoddard.
For full results, go to https://bvispringregatta.org/