(Nanny Cay, Tortola, BVI)- The 45th edition of this iconic Caribbean
racing event took place from March 30th to April 3rd at the Nanny Cay
Marina in Tortola, BVI. A large and very diverse fleet of 108 boats came
from all corners of the Seven Seas: the US, Great Britain, Australia,
the Netherlands, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Antigua, Canada,
Ireland, Argentina, Germany and, of course, local sailors from the
British Virgin Islands.
The
regatta was blessed with good sailing conditions all three days, with
the lightest day being the final day with a light easterly of just 8 to
12 kts. Even then, the regatta’s PRO managed to fire off seven races
for the enthusiastic sailors. Plus, the famous "swimsuit fashion show"
was a popular as ever.In CSA Racing Two class, the mighty J/122 EL OCASO, skippered by Rick Wesslund from Miami, Florida, could only muster a few good top five finishes during the series to take the bronze. As a past winner of the event, it must have been a surprise to see the remarkably competitive teams they were up against in their class. Their colleagues on the J/111 SPIKE, sailed by local hero Sam Talbot from BVI, managed to score some good performances and finished 6th in class.
The
big winner in CSA Racing Three class was the Puerto Rico team on the
J/105 DARK STAR, skippered by Jonathan Lipuscek. They fired off five
bullets and a tie for first over the seven races sailed! Their other
classmates, the J/105 SOLSTICE (Bryan Coon) and the J/30 J-DOE (Cynthia
Ross & Eduardo Luaces), had a rough go of it, settling in for a 6th
and 7th, respectively.A notable performance took place in the IC-24s, past J/24 World Champion Jens Hookanson from St Croix YC raced STINGER to nine 1sts in 12 races to win by the enormous margin of 10 pts in a no-throw-out series. Sailing photos by Ingrid Abery.com and Todd Van Sickle For more BVI Spring Regatta sailing information
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