The Beneteau First 40.7 Popombi goes into day 2 at the BVI Spring Regatta in second place in CSA Performance Cruising, just two points behind the exceptionally well-sailed Panacea X, a Salona 45. Owned and helmed by Christian Cabral, Popombi is a boat new to Cabral. This is the fourth time he’s competed at BVI Spring Regatta and the first time on Popombi.
“We love coming here because it’s fun, it’s good racing, great scenery and good companionship; it’s just a fun regatta,” Cabral smiles.
Cabral previously owned a Beneteau First 44 called Lady M which he made podium with at BVI Spring Regatta, but an unfortunate accident two years ago was the demise of that boat. He replaced Lady M with Popombi which he’s enjoying although he had some concern that a keel issue on Popombi may have prevented them from racing this weekend – they were fortunate to be able to have the keel fixed on the lay day and Cabral’s having fun putting his new boat through its paces.
“Popombi’s a great boat, I like it and we hope to make the podium with her this year,” Cabral says. “We need to sail faster though. We had good speed yesterday and good manoeuvres so will be looking to work on even better speed today.”
Cabral is sailing with a diverse crew from all corners – he placed an ad on the Yacht Scoring crew section and ended up with two guys from Finland and Canada, and a woman from New York who is working the bow. The rest of the crew are sailing friends from the Dominican Republic.
“It’s pretty cool to have these people sailing with us, although we may have to toss a few off today if we get light breeze,” Cabral laughs.
Sebastian Bros is a crew from the DR who is racing BVI Spring Regatta for the first time. He’s also figured out how to pronounce the boat’s eclectic name.
“Have you heard an old motor that goes “pa boom, pa boom?” Bros laughs. “See, now you have it!”
Bros has enjoyed sailing with a lot of new crew on board in addition to his sailing buddies from home.
“We’re all friends and sailors from the DR who know each other – we’re like a small family,” Bros says. “It can be a bit of a challenge sailing with a new crew but we’re having fun and we’re doing a good job as a team. We had a lot of fun going around the islands earlier in Round Tortola and got a fourth which we were happy with.”
