2010 BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival Looks Like Another Sizzler

�Keep it up � l appreciate the precise sailing & course instructions superb race/ scoring staff and the venue is the best I have encountered in my 49 years of competitive sailing,� so says competitive sailor ‘Harken Harv’ (Neil Harvey). With comments like that, the BVI Spring Regatta has to work hard to raise the bar every year but the organizing committee and the event host, Nanny Cay Marina and Resort, have a few new gems in store for 2010. New for 2010, the Royal British Virgin Islands Yacht Club is inviting other yacht clubs from around the world to send teams to compete in the inaugural International Yacht Club Challenge. The IYCC will be part of the BVI Spring Regatta April 2 � April 4. To sweeten the pot, Sunsail Yacht Charters is providing up to a 10% discount for all those booking for the IYCC, a free charter to the winning team and a perpetual trophy. Added to the mix this year on the water is a new class for Windsurfers. These board sailors will be racing from the LIME One-Design Course and sailing around islands and rocks to compete for the title of BVI National Windsurfing Champion. With the format of one board-three sails, amateur and professional competitors may compete in either the Formula or Open class. As this year BVI Spring Regatta falls over Easter weekend, there will be a sunrise service on the beach early Sunday morning. A little later that day, after the Easter bunny has come and gone, children are invited to hunt for goodies he may have left behind. In an interview with the infamous E. Bunny, he said that he is also planning a second Easter egg hunt for the adults after racing concludes. And just before the awards, the Moka Jumbies will be returning to ward off any free-floating evil spirits and delight both children and adults alike. Especially enticing will be the Island Oasis Blender Bar serving frosty drinks of tropical fruits mixed with Mount Gay Rum and batches of Margaritas. This may truly be a taste of paradise served in paradise as Island Oasis has signed up as BVI Spring Regatta’s newest sponsor. With BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival only eight short weeks away, plans for on and off the water fun are all falling into place and 2010 is shaping up to be another banner year. Held annually on the first weekend of April, the BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival will be celebrating its 39th anniversary. Now with both BVI Spring Regatta and the Sailing Festival being in the top four Caribbean sailing events, the week encompasses seven-days with two events back-to-back attracting an average of 150 yachts per year with eighty percent of the competitors from overseas. The BVI Spring Regatta is presented by Nanny Cay Resort and Marina; the BVI Tourist Board is a Platinum sponsor; Gold sponsors are Bitter End Yacht Club, LIME, First Caribbean International Bank, Heineken, The Moorings, Mount Gay, and SOL. Contributing sponsors are Island Oasis, Sea Hawk Nautical Coatings, Maui Jim Sunglasses, Meridian Construction, BVI Yacht Charters and Virgin Textiles. Visitors can fly to the British Virgin Islands through San Juan, Puerto Rico with American Airlines, Cape Air and LIAT. Flights are also available through Antigua and Barbados on Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and BWIA. Ferry service is also available from St. Thomas.