March 29, 2015

Green is the New Black

Regatta Director

Posted in

PRESS RELEASE: 25 March 2015 

Green Is The New Black?

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The 2015 BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival is all dressed up and ready to strut her stuff. We have submitted our application to Sailors for the Sea’s Clean Regattas program, the world’s only certification system for water based events.

 The BVI Spring Regatta was first awarded a Silver certificate in 2009. In 2010, the BVI Spring Regatta was the first Caribbean regatta to be awarded Gold Level Certification and has maintained it’s Gold level every year since then. Our pinnacle was in 2013 when the BVI Spring Regatta became the first Carbon Neutral regatta on the planet.

Workers at Green VI in progress making the 2015 Awards

All of this “greenness” requires a community effort. We are honored to have our event hosted by Nanny Cay Resort and Marina. Nanny Cay is very environmentally conscious and the resort is run with sustainability in mind. Each year we provide our participants with skipper’s bag that are full of information and goodies from our sponsors. This year SOL is providing us with zippered Cool Bags, made for the first time for the event by Cool Bags from California. These will be functional as well as beautiful. We will be giving biodegradable trash bags to each entrant. The bio bags will include a list of green initiatives supported by Nanny Cay and the Regatta along with a list of green cleaning products and will be hand-delivered to each participating boat by our Rotaracter/Green Ranger team.

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Sailors at this year’s BVI Spring Regatta & Spring Regatta are encouraged to participate in the Green Boat Award surveyand those doing so will receive a FREE annie macphail™ spinnaker pouch, compliments of the BVI Spring Regatta Committee and qualify to win the first place prize: an annie macphail™ recycled sail cloth tote bag (value: $110.).
Once again, the BVI Spring Regatta has contracted with GreenVI to produce our awards in their gallery using glass that has been collected and recycled from past regatta beverage containers!  GreenVI is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to demonstrating the principles and benefits of sustainable living in the beautiful BVI.  Not only are they producing the awards using their reheating chamber that is fuelled by used vegetable oil collected from area restaurants, but they are packaging the awards in repurposed Heineken boxes and recycled padding.
Last year, the BVI Spring Regatta awarded the first annual Green Boat award. This award was designed and made by Nutmeg Designs, the BVIs only sustainable goods shop. This year we are expanding the award and will be judged by Mark Davis, president of Sailors for the Sea along with local representatives from GreenVI, Nutmeg Designs and the Department of Waste Management on Tortola.

 Skippers bag

“Even with our success in the past, supporting an eco-conscious lifestyle, the BVI Spring Regatta is hoping to achieve even more.  We are currently seeking community partners that understand the need for protecting our Caribbean sailing playground.  We are hoping to find a partner willing to match funds collected from the visitors at the Regatta Village to offset our carbon footprint and by offering the funds to GreenVI to further it’s vision of a “green, clean, healthy and prosperous BVI.” says Judy Petz, Director, BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival.

 So join the 2015 BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival from March 30th-April 5th and help us enjoy life and celebrate the beauty of sailing as part of a sustainable lifestyle.  Yes, green is the new black as we protect the resources that make the BVI such a perfect place to live and play.