Posts by Michelle Slade
BVI Spring Regatta Finishes on a Light, But High, Note
Competitors racing in the 51st edition of the BVI Spring Regatta experienced a week of mixed conditions which put the best to the test; light for Spring Regatta and typical windy trades for the Sailing Festival, so those who competed in the full week can attest to just how exhilarating the breeze can be in the beautiful BVI.
Read MoreTaking the Family Home Around the Racecourse!
Ronald Prins (NED) is the owner of Stardust, a 2023 Windelo54 catamaran, which he and his family – his wife Elsine and kids Julian (10) and Robin (8) – picked up newly built from the Windelo shipyard in the south of France in the summer of 2023. This week they’ve been in the BVI shifting…
Read MoreBVI Spring Regatta: 51 Years Later the Kids are Still Racing
Doug Stewart and Susan Harney hold the distinction of being the offspring of Albie Stewart and Peter Haycraft, co-organizers of the first BVI Spring Regatta some 51 years ago. This week the two childhood friends are racing in Jib and Main class on Libertas, a Beneteau 40 owned by Walter Keenan and currently in first…
Read MoreDad and Daughter Rock the Melges 24
Frits Bus and his crew, including his daughter Berit, are racing the Melges 24 Team Island Water World, sitting in second place in class after day one of racing BVI Spring Regatta. Bus has been competing at the regatta since 1982 and for many years he would sail the 24-foot boat the 100 miles, give…
Read MorePay to Play Perfect Option for Sailors Looking for Sailing Fun
Germaine Williams was supposed to go sailing one day when he was about 12 years old but it was too windy, so he didn’t go on that particular day. It was some ten years later when he was in his early 20s that a challenge to achieve something he’d always wanted to do came along.…
Read MoreSharing BVI Culture with a Maritime Twist
Dr. Katherine Smith, historian and BVI Director of Culture, was instrumental in helping orchestrate a beautiful art exhibit for the opening night of the BVI Spring Regatta reflecting the maritime traditions of the BVI. Sophie Stanton, a local art promoter, helped organize a stunning parade of painted sails each showing the evolution of local maritime…
Read MorePassing the Passion: Desmond Family Carry On Tradition of Caribbean Sailing
After college Jon Desmond spent four years in his early 20s sailing the Caribbean on his dad Jack’s Swan 48 Affinity and that’s how he got to know all the islands around the BVI. “We raced Affinity around the Caribbean on the circuit – St Maarten, Antigua, St Thomas, BVI, and the boat went back…
Read MoreMaking BVI Whoopie on Whoop Whoop
Racing this week in the Sport Multihull division are six boats, all local and crewed by locals who know the BVI waters like nobody else. They have been sailing with and against each other for years. To say this fleet is highly competitive, well…you figure that out. Henry Leonnig, Gerard Kraakman, and Hugh Pritchard Jones…
Read MoreGame on for Start of BVI Spring Regatta! High level competition anticipated across ten classes.
Competition is a relative term but there are a ton of high-level sailors racing BVI Spring Regatta which begins on Friday for a three-day series of exhilarating racing in the stunning waters around the BVI.
Read MoreA Caribbean Change of Pace for Enright
Charlie Enright finished up with his third consecutive challenge for The Ocean Race last July and has since been winding down that project while taking some time to find the next thing. The “next thing” this week just happens to be in the British Virgin Islands on the Gunboat 68 Convexity2 owned by Don Wilson, and he’s enjoying the change of pace.
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