BAD GIRL is Bad, CAYENITTA is Grande!
(Roadtown, Tortola, BVI)- Once again, it was a picture perfect day in the British Virgin Islands for the last day of racing of the BVI Spring Regatta, with sun and wind all day long. There were a number of battles out on the race course which were fought to the very end providing plenty of action on the SOL, Norman and LIME One Design Race areas.BAD GIRL, St. Croix's Rob Armstrong's J/100, won Racing Class C. BAD GIRL sparred with the BVI's Dave West's Melges 32, Jurakan, all weekend in Racing C. "In the first race today," says BAD GIRL trimmer, Carlos Skov, we definitely let Jurakan back in the game. Just one point separated us. The second race, we put our heads down, sailed well and ended up beating the two Melges in the last five minutes. It was like that all weekend. The level of competition has really come up and we think its because we all push each other."
In Racing D Class, the J/80 OTRA KOSA sailed by Kike Gonzalez and buddies from Puerto Rico took 3rd. The well-sailed classic J/27 MAGNIFICENT 7, kept in great shape by Paul Davis from USVI finished 4th. The brand spanking new J/95 SHAMROCK VIII sailed all over the Caribbean this winter by Tom Mullen finished a respectable 5th for a shoal-draft, centerboard cruiser! A steady presence on the Caribbean circuit has been Rick Wesslund's crew sailing his J/120 EL OCASO. Having put thousands of miles on their boat, they're insistence on having fun is infectious. They were rewarded for their efforts again by taking second overall in Racing E- Racer/Cruiser.
The competition in Racing F- Racer/Cruiser was tough! The J/105 UMAKUA sailed by Julio Reguero from Puerto Rico finished 3rd- Julio was winning class until they got DSQ'd in race 6. The other J/105 ABRACADABRA, raced by another crew from Puerto Rico and Carlos Camachio finished 4th. The J/40 NEPENTHE sailed by Bob Read from Barrington, RI managed a 6th for a pure cruising boat. And, the girls sailing the J/33 BOOMERANG- Pat Nolan- had a wonderful last day and managed to get a respectable 7th. As noted above, it just seems that Tony Sanpere is on a roll-- perhaps far longer than anyone can imagine! Tony's J/36 CAYENITTA GRANDE simply took all the marbles in BVI Performance Cruising Class-- winning by a significant margin with three firsts! And, it also looked like a J/Cruising class! Third was the J/46 MISS MAJIC sailed Jim Baus and lying 5th in the J/160 AVATAR was Alan Fouger.
As usual, the most intense, nail-biting finish came from the IC/24 course. It came down to the final
rounding of the leeward mark in the last of 21 races to determine the winner in the IC/24 class. "I saw the door open and I took it," says Puerto Rico's Fraito Lugo, about the maneuver that put the necessary three boats in-between his ORION and closest competitor, TEAM LIME, to win the class by one point. TEAM LIME, sailed by the BVI's Colin Rathbun, had a three-point advantage going into the last race. "We had a horrible rounding and then a big shift," says Rathbun, who finished second by one point. "But, it was exciting and a lot of fun." INTAC, raced by the BVI's Mark Plaxton, finished third in the nine-boat class.Seventeen-year-old BVI sailor, DonTae' Hodge, is no stranger to sailing IC-J/24s. He's crewed aboard the modified J/24-design since he was a pre-teen and last year took first as a skipper in the Premier's Cup and third in the Nation's Cup, two events raced out of Tortola. What was different about sailing this weekend is that Hodge met his crew for the first time this morning on the dock before the races started. "I started communicating more as the day went on and I got my confidence and we all worked in sync together," says Hodge, who raced aboard Latitude 18.
This year, members of the press were invited to sail in the IC/24 fleet. Two journalists, San Francisco's Paige Brooks from SAILING ANARCHY and Efrain Rivera from the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, were among Hodge's crew. "This is the first time I've seen the boat," says Brooks. "I don't like the J/24, but I love the open cockpit in the IC/24." Rivera added, "It's my first time sailing an IC/24. DonTae' is an excellent driver, so it was fun. It's real hands on. You're in the whirlwind of everything. It's a great idea to put the press on these boats." See Paige Brooks account below in J/Community.
Not at the top of the heap in Racer Cruiser Class but first at the weather mark in the second race on the last day, Pat Nolan's J/33, BOOMERANG, and her all women crew, were leading by a full minute. "It was great," says Nolan, who operates Sistership Sailing School in the BVI. Her crew are all former students. "The competition in our class is very keen and we're largely inexperienced," says Katie Sharp, from northern Virginia. "Don't get me wrong; we like sailing with the fellas, but, it's also nice to kick the boy's butts too."
Of note, the BVI Spring Regatta is the last race in the CORT (Caribbean Ocean Racing Triangle) Series. Winners of the series are as follows: Spinnaker A- 1st- BAD GIRL- Robert Armstrong's J/100; Spinnaker B- 2nd- MAGNIFICENT 7- Paul Davis' J/27; Performance Cruising: 1st- CAYENNITA GRANDE- Tony Sanpere's J/36; IC-J/24- 1ST- LIME- Colin Rathbun. For more BVI Spring Regatta sailing info. Photo credits: Yachtshots BVI