The 44Cup, a global racing tour with owner-drivers and professional crews, descended on the BVI for some warm water and hot racing in the winter months. The Nanny Cay Cup, the series finale of the 44Cup took place in December, and the 2025 season opener concluded at Nanny Cay on Sunday, February 16. The Royal BVI Yacht Club hosted the event with Nanny Cay and rolled out its team of race management volunteers – many race-hardened veterans from many years of running the BVI Spring Regatta, and some enthusiastic newcomers.
The team, led by the RBVIYC’s manager, Tamsin Rand, pulled together a roster of twenty-odd people to assist the 44Cup’s principal race officer Maria Torrijo over the five days racing action which included practice days. The committee boat, a Lagoon 42 provided by Horizon Yacht Charters, was manned by six, two mark boats had three or four crew each. Disconcertingly for some perhaps, Hound Dog, one of Husky Salvage’s fleet (or pack) in its ubiquitous orange livery was one of the mark boats; Aristocrat Daysails provided the other.
RC44 Class Association Manager Bertrand Favre commented: “It has been a delight to work with the staff and volunteers from the Royal BVI Yacht Club at the two 44Cup events we have held this winter out of Nanny Cay. We work with many of the top yacht clubs in the world but we have been impressed by the Royal BVI Yacht Club’s experience, skill and professionalism. We wish them the very best with their endeavours and look forward to working with them in the future.”
This RBVIYC race team draws off 50 years of running the BVI Spring Regatta and multiple club races.
“We had three or four on both of the mark boat. And on the committee boat, we were six,” explained Tamsin. “One of the mark boats runs the two windward marks and the other mark boat runs the leeward gate, start line and finish line. The difference with the Spring Regatta is we need more people.
“This event has been five days on the water. The Spring Regatta for the major fleet racing side is actually is three days, but not only are there two race courses but each one is running multiple fleets and recording finish times. Therefore we need to man two committee boats and two sets of mark laying teams. I think here in the BVI, we’re really fortunate that there’s a lot of very good sailors, a lot of experienced racers.
“But I would say even more important than that is the goodwill of those people to sign up for these events as volunteers. It can be a big ask but we’re very fortunate to have a core group of people who are also willing and able to train the next generation. I think that’s one of the hardest things for a small place like the BVI is having that future proofing your race management to ensure that the races in the future can also be run to such a high standard that has become expected of us here.”
Could the regatta exist without volunteers?
“Never! None of the regattas, the world over, could exist without the volunteers. It’s the lifeblood of the community, of the sailing community, on many levels. And the volunteers stretch, certainly for Spring Regatta, on the water and off the water. So without the volunteers, we would not be able to run the regattas that we can put on. I think it’s in the DNA of people who live here. They’re eager, they’re willing to volunteer and they want to learn. A lot of people that are new to sailing are keen to come and volunteer with us on the race committee boats because it helps them learn more and if they’re not quite ready for racing themselves or they’re beginners to racing, coming out on a race committee boat or a mark boat is a brilliant way to see what’s going on.
“Volunteering is a really easy way to get involved with an international event without competing yourself. The 44Cup and BVI Spring regatta, we get a lot of professional sailors, Olympians, America’s Cup sailors, just really exciting to be watching them do their thing.”
About the 44Cup
Five-time America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts conceived the series and the design of the light-displacement, high-performance one-design RC44 with naval architect Andrej Justin in 2005. Created for top level one design racing in international regattas under strictly controlled Class Rules, the concept and design features of the RC44 are aimed at the amateur helmsmen with professional crews.
The defining spirit of the 44Cup brings together the worlds of sailing and business, allowing amateur owner drivers to race high performance one-design yachts against some of the world’s best sailors, competing in some of the most beautiful and diverse sailing venues around the world.
Since its launch in 2007, the RC44 Championship Tour has established itself as a key series to compete on in the international yacht racing scene. After 12 years and as the class went from strength to strength, with new venues introduced the calendar and new teams joining the fleet, the class rebranded as the 44Cup for 2019.
For 2024 fleet size will kick off with nine entries for the first event and over the course of the season is expected to grow to more than ten with two brand new RC44s coming online for the new year.
