Luck of the Irish For SHAMROCK
(Tortola, British Virgin Islands)- What defines a magnificent regatta? Ask anyone who sailed in the 40th Anniversary BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival (March 28-April 3, 2011), and you’ll hear the same thing: red-hot racing, professionally run courses, a family friendly regatta village, and—of course—killer parties--- exactly what sailors on 122 different competing yachts experienced at Nanny Cay—the regatta’s base this past weekend.
Forty boats congregated on the Sir Francis Drake Channel on the first morning, just off of Tortola’s Nanny Cay Resort, for the start of the Bitter End Cup. This 21-mile Corinthian-spirited race to Virgin Gorda’s Bitter End Yacht Club (BEYC) marks the official kick-off for the regatta. Lucky sailors in four classes enjoyed 10-15 knots, flat seas, and clean starts as the fleet of cats, cruisers, bareboats and serious race-boats pointed towards their fairy-tale destination. Once there, sailors enjoyed the club’s well-populated dinghy and beach-cat fleet and unwind before Thursday’s reverse-course Nanny Cay Cup.
A
glance at the final standings underscores exactly how competitive this
event has become. In the tightly contested Racing C, Rick Wesslund's
J/120 EL OCASO from Miami, FL was in one of the weekend’s more
entertaining dogfights, getting the short-end of the stick to finish 2nd
overall even after posting mostly 2nds and 1sts! In Racing A, Jordan
Mindich's J/125 AUNT JESSIE sailed mostly mid-fleet and finished fifth--
they may have been suffering a bit sailing against mostly 60 to 80
footers! In Racing D, the J/27 MAG 7 sailed by Bill Davis from Puerto
Rico finished second and just behind in fourth was Julio Requero's J/105
UMAKUA from Puerto Rico. In Racing E class, the J/33 SISTERSHIP
SAILING SCHOOL sailed by a few fair maidens ended up fourth overall and
beat some other gals sailing LUXURY GIRL and GIRLS-FOR-SAIL!
Apparently, it was quite a cat fight in this class, all in good nature
of course. In the Performance Cruising Class, Tony Sanpere's crew on
the J/36 CAYENITTA GRANDE nearly pulled off another win in class, but
after counting two fourths, had to settle for third overall. Just off
the pace and always having fun was Bob Read's J/40 NEPENTHE. Finally,
in their first big regatta victory on the Caribbean Circuit, Tom
Mullen's J/95 SHAMROCK strutted to victory in Racing Jib & Main
class, lucky leprechauns they were getting a 1-2-1-1-3 record to simply
crush their competition.The icing on the cake for this year's 40th anniversary edition of the BVI Spring Regatta was, of course, the "Moka Jumbies" before the awards presentation and the decadent fireworks show that capped off the night. Ask anyone lucky enough to have been there—it was out of this world! For more BVI Spring Regatta sailing information.