After winning Best BVI Boat and and the Spinnaker Racing 3 Class during this year’s 42nd BVI Spring Regatta at Nanny Cay, it would only seem logical that INTAC skipper Mark Plaxton would be enjoying a champagne celebration with his crew.
Instead, he was sitting with his wife and young daughter eating a plate of curry from one of the local vendors at the regatta village.
“It is an awesome feeling and I am very fortunate to have such a great team,” Mr. Plaxton said. “It is a team sport and I really feel like we had the best team out there, all the way down to our most junior sailor on the boat — Jason Puttley.”
Calling tactics on INTAC was Canadian Olympic and Volvo Ocean Racer Richard Clarke.
“What a great regatta, the team did a good job of setting up the boat for the conditions and that gave us the edge in boat speed that we needed,” Mr. Clarke said. “I have to say this is a great race track and I would say that the race committee did a good job nearly all of the time, personally I think it is fantastic to be able to use beautiful islands as windward marks, the BVI is a beautiful place.”
United States Virgin Islands Olympic silver medalist Peter Holmberg usually sails with INTAC, but he was not aboard during this year’s BVISR because Mr. Plaxton is in “transition” between here and Canada. He wants to crew there that can sail with him while in Canada.
“I am honoured to have had the opportunity to sail with Peter Holmberg and everything he has taught me,” Mr. Plaxton said.
Although, he plans to continue to sail with Mr. Holmberg in the future, especially in other Caribbean events.
Mr. Plaxton enjoyed the regatta and the various conditions during the three-day event.
“It was awesome conditions,” he said. “We got a bit of everything.”
The sailor was referring to both the weather and the race courses. On Friday, the day started with 15 knots of wind with races around the islands in the Sir Francis Drake Channel. According to Mr. Plaxton, some of the sailors in his class were distraught with the course for various reasons. But when the sailors found out that the “mark boat went off to save some lives” their attitudes changed, Mr. Plaxton said.
“When everybody found that out, they excused them,” he said. “To BVI form, on Saturday it was brilliant race courses. Everything was square.”
During the last day of the regatta, the winds reached 30-knots with racing around the islands and windward/leeward courses.
“We were doing about 20-knots downwind with a rooster tail off the back,” Mr. Plaxton said about the last day of racing. “And that is what these boats are made for.”
In Spinnaker Racing 1, Sergio Sagramoso’s Lazy Dog, of Puerto Rico, finished the regatta with a bullet and a third place to win the class. Debbie and Dave Clasen’s Tartan 10, Windemon, had a strong regatta to win the Spinnaker Racing 2 Class.
“I have to say a big thank you to Nanny Cay Marina,” said Mr. Clasen. “When we arrived we had a few problems with our boat and the marina staff sorted them out efficiently and with great enthusiasm. This allowed us to put in two days of solid practice, which helped us tweak the boat and allowed us to nail boat handling, especially starts, and this really improved our performance.”
The VI’s Kevin Rowlette skippered Rushin’ Rowlette to a third-place finish in Spinnaker 1 and 2. The VI boat beat St. Croix Yacht Club’s Bad Girl, skippered by Robert Armstrong by one point on the final day.
In Performance Cruiser 1, Hamnett Hill’s Canadian Marten 49, Defiance, scored two more wins on the final day to win the class by a large margin. Lucy and Christian Reynolds’ Northern Child were second in the class. Marcus Chollerton Brown raced EH01 to a third place finish. But he had to wear a dress at the award ceremony after losing a bet to Ms. Reynolds.
In Performance Cruiser 2, Harold Keating’s Shamrock VII won the class by a large margin, while Stanford Joines’ Paladin was second and Diamonds Are Forever crewed by Girls For Sail took third in the class.
Chuck Pessler’s Team Island Water World Racing from St. Thomas dominated IC24 Class ending the regatta with a perfect string of bullets. Tommy Kozyn’s Grey Goose was runner up in the class, while Doug McLean’s White Album came in third.
In the Jib and Main 1 Class, Frank Mavronicolas’ Swan 57 Boonatsa revelled in the big breeze to win both races on the last day to move up into third place. Boonatsa’s crew was joined by members of Pipe Dream, including skipper Chris Haycraft. Pipe Dream retired because it suffered damage after being involved in a collision during the previous day with El Ocaso. Stephen Schmidt’s Hotel California Too finished second in class, but the class winner by four points was Robert Beltrano’s Swan 53 Nai’a.
John Charlton of the VI skippered Red Stripe Reba to victory in the Jib and Main 2 Class by 10 points.
“We have come second in class for the last two years, so it is great to win this year, the crew have been fantastic and this victory is all down to great teamwork, especially in the lively conditions,” said the boat’s owner Claude Bonanni.
Last year’s class winner, VI’s Keith LiGreci’s Girasoli sailed the wrong course on the first day, had to settle for second place. Jim Hoelter’s Nymph sailed consistently all week to take third in the class.
Three teams from Holland took the podium for Bareboat 1. Rene Van Dop’s team Aquaholics sealed the class with two bullets on the final day. Nautical Ventures, skippered by Matthijs Mulder, finished in the top three throughout all regatta to claim second and Mark Saurens’ Dutch Sailing Events was third.
In Bareboat 2, Peter Nielson’s Merlin (Kief) won two races of the regatta to win the class by two points. Radboud Crul’s all Dutch team on Dundee finished in second, while John Pinheiro’s American team The Whalers from New Bedford Yacht Club took third.
Merlin (Kief) from the Boston Yacht Club took home a week-long charter in the VI in partnership with Sunsail and for winning the annual International Yacht Club Challenge.
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