The “Kids” J/36 Win Cruising Class!(Roadtown, Tortola, BVI)- Sailing amongst the stunning tropical islands that feature fabulous parties can be tough work, particularly when it starts out blowing “dogs off chains” with rain flying at you like horizontal bullets. As they say, “this ain’t what I bargained for dear!” While flak jackets may have been more appropriate attire for a few precious hours on the first day of racing, the rest of the week was nearly postcard perfect sailing conditions. That’s how it all went down for this year’s BVI Spring Regatta!
Day one for the event could be described as “epic” in the sense that Neptune’s wrath was unmerciful after some knuckleheaded sailors forgot their morning “offerings” to the mighty weather Gods! The result? Well, rain squalls ripped through the Sir Francis Drake Channel at the start of racing, enhancing the warm trade winds with 20-25+ kts winds for most of the day. A short sea state, at times rising to ten feet(!) when the fleet was racing out of the channel added gusto to the wet and wild conditions. Across the three combat zones, concentration, anticipation and ultimately boat handling were the keys to success in the big conditions. It wasn’t until later in the afternoon that the breeze subsided to a relatively calm 18 knots, but by then, several yachts had been forced to retire with boat damage. Oh well, no one said sailing in paradise was easy-street!
The action was fast and furious, especially in CSA Racing 2, where Tony Mack’s J/122 TEAM McFLY (the charted EL OCASO) hammered home a 2-3-1. Their fantastic performance was a harbinger of things to come for their colleagues in CSA Racing 2 class. That evening in the Regatta Village at Nanny Cay, the McFLY crew enjoyed the music by the “Shooting Star Steel Pan Band” and “Hudson and the Hoo Doo Cats!!”
The second day of the BVI Spring Regatta was blessed with perfect sailing conditions and wonderful azure blue water, pumped up by 15 knots of warm tradewinds that blew through the Sir Francis Drake Channel. The British Virgin Islands offer stunning scenery and Mother Nature has created one of the best racing areas anywhere in the world. In sharp contrast to the previous day’s survival conditions, tactics and strategy were far more important. Reading the wind and the current correctly were the keys to a good performance on the penultimate day of the BVI Spring Regatta.
BVI
Spring Regatta Chairman, Bob Phillips explains the rational behind
today’s three courses: “On Norman Course, the Bareboat, Jib & Main
and Multihull Classes had a downwind start towards The Cut, the narrow
gap between Tortola and St. John. I would have been heading directly
down the rhumb line – straight shot. My take was that the current was
flowing towards the destination, and the back eddy off Towers Point was
definitely worth avoiding. The One Design Course is two miles off Nanny
Cay. The issue that we have is that we want them to sail in clear air
and tactically they need two miles of width. Offshore the boats get away
from the land effect, but we have enough room in the Channel so that
the One Design Course doesn’t overlap the others. Today, the CSA Racing
Classes beat all the way up to Beef Island Bluff, playing the Tortola
shoreline, including the harbour and headlines all the way up, which was
a lot of fun. After that they reached around Salt and were downwind all
the way to the finish.”In CSA Racing 2, Tony Mack’s J/122, TEAM McFLY/ EL OCASO were on a roll and scored two firsts and a second to take a commanding lead in the class. After a nearly disastrous first day’s performance in the rough going that included a 5-DNS-4, Rupert & Jan Thouron’s J/122 DUNDER had an excellent day winning the first race and scoring two second places to move up to third in class!
In CSA Racing 3 class, Jordan Mindich’s J/105 SOLSTICE seemed to be stuck on 6th place no matter where they went and what they wanted to do! In fact, after loving the first two heavy weather races, as soon as the breeze lightened up into the mid-teens their record reflected the sailing conditions- 3-2-6-6-6-4!
After a long day on the water and another three races, the sailors were able enjoy a feast for the eyes (the Bastanaak Swimwear Show) and later, a feast for the soul- music from well-known Tortolan band- “Quito and the Edge”- a group renowned for some soulful reggae melodies along with hard-hitting dance grooves.
For the last day, sparkling blue water and constant warm breeze provided another day of gob smacking sailing in the BVIs! The Sir Francis Drake Channel was a wonderful sight with a myriad of spinnakers flying across the race area. In the first race of the day, about half of the fleet went around Salt Island, a stunning backdrop and an almost perfect top mark from the easterly trade winds. The One Design Fleets enjoyed a cracking skirmish just off Nanny Cay; the gentle breeze was funneling down to the course.
It was a perfect day for Tony Mack’s J/122 TEAM McFLY/ EL OCASO. After trading 1-3 scorelines with their J/122 classmate DUNDER (Rupert & Jan Thouron), the McFLY Team could relish the celebration of winning by far the toughest fleet in the regatta. Meanwhile, their friends on DUNDER also could not have been happier, nearly pulling off a second after winning the last race!
“We have had such a lovely time; the weather has been just glorious and when we had a chance to look around, the scenery here is just amazing. We were playing Cold Play’s ‘Paradise’ on the way in and it was a very appropriate song. No matter what class of racing you are in, there is really competitive sailing. We may have won here in the last race, but in just about every race, there were always several boats in with the chance of glory. We had to sail really well; we didn’t walk away with this by any means. This has been a great start to our season; concentrating three races in a day, we have spent more time on the water than we could have possibly done at home,” said Tony Mack of the J/122 TEAM McFLY/ EL OCASO’s win.
In CSA Racing 3 the scoreline for Mindich’s J/105 SOLSTICE must’ve read like a broken record, adding yet two more 6th places to the three they had already accumulated. Remarkably, they didn’t finish 6th, they got a top 5 finish! In fact, just behind them in 6th was the J/33 BOOMERANG sailed by Pat Nolan from the BVI.
The “kids” sailing the J/36 PALADIN with the help of “adult supervision” (owner Stanford Joines from St Croix YC in the USVI) managed to pull off a first after having to take a DNS for two races on the first day. Thereafter, they ran the table with all bullets to take the class win in CSA Performance Cruising 2 class. For more BVI Spring Regatta sailing information.
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