On Sunday evening, under a setting sun on the beautiful beach at Nanny Cay, the 45th BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival drew to a close with the ritual awards ceremony and fabulous fireworks. The entire fleet was treated to a delightful racing day, with a light easterly of 8 to 12 knots throughout the morning, becoming a little lighter towards the end of racing.
Heidi and Steve Benjamin, owners of SPOOKIE, always a big presence at Spring Regatta, clearly love BVI sailing and undoubtedly will be back for more. Said Steve, “With respect to the Premier, the Governor, and the entire BVI government, we are so happy to be here in your sailing waters, some of the best sailing waters in the entire world. We thank Nanny Cay and the sponsors; we know Nanny Cay is building a new marina which will be really good for us so that we have more than half a foot under the keel! Thanks also to my crew who say I’m not sailing so well with my new wheel, so they want to put the tiller back on. It’s so wonderful to see all the competition here; it’s the friendliest and the best sailing that we do, here in the BVI.”

A fleet of 11 VX One boats competed in the BVI Spring Regatta and Jeff Eiber’s This Side Down from USA win class and the first VX One Caribbean Cup © Todd VanSickle/BVI Spring Regatta
Corr’s Light Racing – Hot Ticket, a King 40 skippered by Peter Corr (USA), took second in CSA-Racing 2 with 15 points, and in third was the J122 El Ocaso, skippered by Richard Wesslund (USA), with 25 points.
In CSA-Multihull 1, the Formula 40 Soma, skippered by Nils Erickson (ISV) took 6 bullets over 6 races for first in class, 7 points ahead of sparring partner Triple Jack, the Kelsal 47 from Tortola co-owned by Richard Wooldridge. Third place went to Ten Directions, the Outremer 51 skippered by Glenn Davis (USA), finishing with 20 points. Erickson’s raced Spring Regatta some 9-10 times and said the upgrades he’s made to his boat in the past 18 months contributed to his team’s success.