Tortola, British Virgin Islands (BVI), March 28, 2011—The sun and breeze are perfect and the sailors are amassing for the 40th Anniversary BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival (March 28-April 3, 2011). The atmosphere is pregnant with anticipation as the starting guns commence firing tomorrow at 1000 hours, local time, for the start of the Sailing Festival’s annual Bitter End Cup. This 21-mile upwind course starts off of Tortola’s Nanny Cay Resort—the event’s home base—and brings the fleet of 40 boats northwest through the Sir Francis Drake Channel to the finishing line off of the Bitter End Yacht Club (BEYC), situated on nearby Virgin Gorda. Once there, sailors can relax, socialize and sail the BEYC’s dinghy and beach-cat fleet on Wednesday’s lay day. During Thursday’s Nanny Cay Cup the fleet will ease their sheets and retrace their wake, sailing a glorious downhill run back to Nanny Cay and the start of the annual Mount Gay Welcome Party.