Tight Racing, Lead Changes, New Boats = One Fantastic Regatta!53rd BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival Wraps Up
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Mixed conditions with shifts and gusts to 20, temperatures in the 80s and sunny skies set the stage for the final day of racing in the 53rd BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival. Chris Haycraft, Regatta Chairman, who took 2nd in Sport Multihull, notes that while the wind could have cooperate a little better, the outcome was all the same: lots of happy sailors and outstanding races.
“It was a phenomenal regatta; Spring Regatta always delivers!” Haycraft says. “While the wind didn’t work out as well as we’d hoped, we got seven great races in most classes over three days. Race Committee did a phenomenal job and kept all of us busy with some very interesting racing. I had a blast and I am absolutely exhausted; I’ll sleep for a week!”
John Hele and his crew on the TF 10 Thunder and Lightning had a terrific performance this week racing in Performance Multihull at BVI Spring Regatta for their first time. This week they scored three bullets over six races in tight racing to take first, beating Layla, the Gunboat 72 by just 1 point. The spectacular Nigel Irens 63 Sophia finished in third with 21 points. Hele spends his time in Bermuda, New York and Newport, RI, where he’s been racing the 36-foot high-performance, one-design foiling trimaran designed by Morrelli & Melvin. Hele says they brought the fast multihull about five years ago but over time there have been fewer multihulls in his area to race against.
“We saw that the multihulls were all coming down here to the USVI and BVI so last year we did the USVI regatta but the boat had an injury so we couldn’t do the BVI Spring Regatta,” Hele says. “We were determined to come back this year and here we are. It’s been amazing; it’s so much fun to race around all the different islands, and today’s second course is the best ever. The boat is performing exceptionally well, and it’s amazing. But it takes a lot of work; it’s a high-performance boat, so you have to really know what you’re doing but I have an amazing crew. The competition was extremely good; Layla was right on our tail all the time. We only won by one point in the whole week which says a lot.”
Going into the final day of racing just half a point separated CSA Spinnaker class leader Apollo, the J121 owned and helmed by Don Nicholson, and Lady M, the Club Swan 42 owned by Joan Rodriquez, and a point between Rodriguez and the J105 Kairos owned and helmed by Antolin Velasco.
“Our goal today was to have an error free pair of races and minimize mistakes because we knew that’s how the competitive boats in our class were winning – capitalizing on our mistakes,” Nicholson says. “The competition was so stiff but we had a really consistent regatta; you know that feeling when you cross the finish line and you know that you’ve corrected over the boats in your class enough to win, it’s just pretty thrilling! We were super prepared for the variety of conditions and the CSA ratings are so fair that it really is whoever handles their boat best and whoever predicts the shifts comes out the best. We had a really great week.”
In CSA Bareboat 1, the local Tortola team on Shore Thing/Team Riteway, a Sunsail 46, finished first with 8 points after taking two bullets today following a week-long battle with the ladies on Salish Sisters who finished in second with 10 points.
“It’s been a fantastic week, every race was a lot of fun, first and foremost, and it was very competitive, very close, and with plenty of lead changes,” crew Neil Hayes notes. “We performed pretty well thanks to our captain, Colm Crilly. The competition was really tight; the ladies from Vancouver on Salish Sisters were excellent and very competitive with us. Roaz was also very competitive – that’s a boat we raced a few years ago so we know it is very fast. The three of us duked it out with a lot of good friendly competition. We changed our crew most days with me, Colm and Raphael being the constants; I’ve been trimming main and Raphael has mainly been serving drinks. Colm runs the boat and we all just follow his instructions. Today we had Fiyah, the local wooden sloop captain helping us out, having his experience on the boat was a big help as he’s an excellent sailor, local knowledge definitely helps.”
It was a fight to the very end between the top two boats racing in CSA Bareboat 2, with the Dufour 41 Mistral finally prevailing on the final day scoring two bullets to take first, with Charlie Garrard and his team on the Dufour 41 Topaz finishing in second just one point behind after three days of racing.
“In the first race we led Topaz by a little bit, they kept gaining and we beat them by a little bit; they started ahead of us in the second race but we got a whole bunch of shifts and led them up the first leg by just 200 yards for 90% of the leg,” Olympian Terry McGloughlin explains. “But it got really shifty and I think at one point down the run we were the fourth Dufour 41 which was not good. We passed the other guys and as it turned out we could be two points behind Topaz as long as they didn’t win the race. They got a third and we got fourth so it worked out. It was good fun and tough racing. Today’s conditions were a bit tricky but I like shifts when they go in my favour. We all had a great time – one of my crew members came from Australia for this and he had a lot of fun. The hospitality is great; all the sponsorship is great – I can’t get two Heineken for $5 back home!”
It’s not the first time that Barney Crook on his Corsair 31-1D Airgasm has won in class at the BVI Spring Regatta but it’s been a long time – since 1986. This year Crook slam-dunked the fleet finishing a hefty nine points ahead of long-time rival Chris Haycraft racing his Corsair F31 Ting A Ling II. Spicy racing characterized racing in the Sport Multihull fleet all week especially with the addition of the Diam 24s for the first time.
“It was a fun regatta and we had awesome racing with Chris Haycraft,” Crook says. “We both provoked each other and had a great time. I’ve had 40 years of practice since the last time I won this. We had my son Adam on board, Robby Hirst and his son Toby, and Chad Lettsome, all local boys. Rob is a great tactician and Adam’s a great boat guy; they’re all good sailors, and of course the boat is great. Racing against Chris, I think we push each other which helps us both because we’re basically sailing almost one design.”
Canadian Ben Daniels runs the Panacea X pay-to-play program; this week he got lucky to have a highly skilled group of sailors including two junior sailors from Tortola. Jamie Grayson, from Virginia, USA, was a guest sailor on board racing the BVI Spring Regatta for the first time. He was thrilled to be part of a crew that easily finished first in CSA Performance Cruising with seven points after scoring five bullets and a second, a significant lead over the First 40.7 Popombi which finished second with sixteen points.
“It’s been marvellous, all the crew are really great sailors so we kind of had a head start on other boats right there; our skipper Ben and tactician Jacob were able to read the courses really well and we were just able to put the boat where it needed to be. There were no hiccups, it just worked. The breeze conditions throughout the week favoured our boat really well. It’s just been a lot of fun and I couldn’t be happier.”
In One Design, Harry Bowerman sailing on RIP took first in the IC 24 class finishing with 7 points over Mike Feierabend on Bravissimo who finished second with 11 points.
The Beneteau First 40 Libertas crushed its opponents in CSA Non-Spinnaker to take first overall after scoring six bullets over six races sailed, eight points ahead of the J39 Crystal which finished second. Cricket, a Beneteau First 35, finished third with 16 points.
Adrian Sinton, tactician onboard Libertas this week says, “We had fluctuating conditions today; it was gusty and soft and the clouds played a big role today. We just played the right side of the clouds and did pretty well with that. The competition was good – we had a couple of close races yesterday. It’s handicap racing but this boat performs well and sails well to its rating; you just try to sail the boat as fast as you can and hope you can cover when you need to. It’s been good to sail again with my buddy Kevin Wrigley, our helmsman. The last time he drove a boat was the 1995 BVI Spring Regatta which was the first time I ever sailed with him – 31 years ago! It’s been a very fun week.”
George Coutu from the Dominican Republic racing on his Leopard 50 La Novia took first overall in Cruising Multihull with five bullets and a second place over six races. Surprise competition for La Novia this year came in the form of the ORC 57 Avel Vaez chartered by Pike Severance and his group of friends from the Massachusetts area who took first last year in Performance Cruising. Avel Vaez finished second with 11 points.
“The competition was very, very tough – it was like a new challenge for us,” Coutu says. “We managed to win the regatta but it was with difficulty, and we had to sail very well, but I’m really happy with my crew. We’ve done a great job and we’re really happy. We’ll be back next year. We have already reserved our dock for next year.”
Distinguished awards were presented to Barney Crook and his crew on Airgasm, who took first in Sport Multihull class to win the Best BVI Boat award. Every year the Regatta presents the Guy Eldridge Spirit of Enthusiasm Award to an individual or individuals who shine in the spirit of the sport and who has stepped out and gone beyond. This year the award was presented to the BVI Spring Regatta mark boat volunteers for their incredible work on the racecourses this week.
Nanny Cay Marina and Resort put on an outstanding show as always as host sponsor for the event. Miles Sutherland-Pilch, General Manager, says, “This is the highlight of our year, just showing off our facilities, our services, and our amazing sailing grounds; quite frankly, there’s none better than this so it’s just fun showing off once a year. The biggest thing however are the competitors who have shown up – on the racecourse and in the village; great job by everyone and we are so grateful to have you here. It’s a real team event to put this regatta on, from the regatta committee to the race officers, to my team here at Nanny Cay. It’s a great team effort and we love doing it.”
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