British Virgin Islands 30th Annual Spring Regatta Overall

The 30th annual BVI Spring Regatta concluded as the most successful ever with a total of 98 races run for 13 classes in the three day event.

The multi-course course, multi-start format using separate start and finish lines on the spinnaker course enabled the race committee to run 12 races for the spinnaker beach cats; 11 races for the big boats, Melges, Racer/Cruiser I and Racing I; 9 races for Racer Cruiser II and the non-spinnaker beach cats and 8 eight races for Racing II. Bob Phillips, regatta chairman and ISAF race officer was delighted at the success of the format: "We achieved what we set out to achieve - three days of non-stop racing and plenty of it. It's been such a successful format that I've heard that visiting yachtsmen from the States competing here are already thinking of using at regattas such as the Detroit NOOD and Block Island Race Week."

Adam Gosling owner of Yes! a Sydney 60 from the UK and winner of the big boat division: "I think it was great, I think it's the first time I've ever done 11 races in a regatta let alone over three days. At a regatta like Cowes Week you do 7 races in 7 days and we did more than that in a long weekend so it was fabulous. Great fun and really exciting racing."

Mick Schlans, owner of Blade Runner, a national championship-winning Express 37 from San Francisco was equally impressed: "The problem that so many regattas have is that they can't get many races off and people sit out and wait a long time but this was excellent being able to immediately return to the starting area and then restart. I thought that this was the nicest regatta format that I've ever been involved in.

"When I go out to race a race I want to race all the time I'm out there and I think that there is nothing more depressing than wait an hour and a half or two hours for your second or even first start. So I thought that the race committee did a superb job."

Blade Runner (2,2,3,2,1,8,1,1) sailed an excellent regatta topping out Racing II, the division packed with highly competitive Caribbean-based boats such as Antigua's Lost Horizon II (3,8,1,1,7,1,5, 2) which was second, Rushin' Rowlette, Magnificent 7 and J-24 Jersey Devil. Another visiting yacht Mumm 30 Twisted Lizard (1,5,2,6,2,3,2,8), returning for the second time, was third.

Commenting on his success skipper/owner Mike Schlens said: "I don't think that there was any specific key it's just that on our boat everything was coordinated very well and I think that it speaks very well for the racing format and for the venue because I think it shows how fair the venue is if an outside boat can come in and still be competitive. My real concern in coming down here is that I thought we would have no ability to be competitive and we would be just chasing boats around the marks but I think that your venue was so superb that it made a lot of fun for us."

The big boats back since their hiatus last year saw close racing between Maxi Sagamore (1,1,6,3,2,3,2,1,2,5,1), Swan 60 Sotto Voce (4,2, 1,2,3,1,1,2,6,1,3) and Yes! (2,3,2,1,1,2,3,3,1,2,2). As they went into the last day Sotto Voce was leading Yes! with a tie-break, Sagamore was still in with a chance. The second race of the day gave Sotto Voce an unwelcome sixth place and Yes! which never dropped below third place for the day took the 11 race series with 22 points. However Sagamore took the honours for the second leg of the second Caribbean Big Boat Series and continues to lead the series as the fleet awaits the final leg at Antigua Sailing Week.

"We had a really good crew that worked very well together and on these short courses it's all about crew work. Whilst we haven't all sailed together as a team before we just gelled very quickly," commented Adam Gosling.

BVI boat Pipe Dream (1,1,2,3,1,1,1,1,2) skippered by Peter Haycraft dominated Racer Cruiser II with six bullets out of nine races, once gain showing that a good well-practiced crew pays dividends. The USVI's Tempest (4,3,1,4,7,2,4,3,1) took second while another BVI boat Cold Beer 3 (11,2,3,2,2,3,2,4,4) was third. Visiting Swan from Holland Hinano also mopped up Racer Cruiser I with 8 wins in 11 races as did John Holmberg sailing Claims Paid in the spinnaker beach cat division with 10 wins out of a possible 13.

Chris Rosenberg sailing Seaborne Airlines (2,2,2,1,2,4,1,4,3,4,4) saw himself relegated to a rarely seen third place in the Melges 24 fleet. Puerto Rican Efrain Lugo in his first season sailing Orion (1,1,1,3,1, 5,3,2,1,6,3) in the Melges class managed to pip the BVI's Airgasm (3,3,4,2,5,1,5,1,2,2,1) and Seaborne Airlines by two points in a closely fought regatta - despite depositing his entire crew into the water on the second day when the extreme hiking became too much for Orion's lifelines.

Racing I came down to a nail-biting tie-breaker between visiting Swan 56 from the UK Noonmark VI (2,2,3,1,1,5,1,3,1,4,1) and Caccia alla Volpe (4,5,1,2,1,1,2,1,3,1,3) from Antigua with 24 points each. Having tied on firsts, seconds, thirds, fourths and fifths it all came down to who beat who in the last race; Mike Gilburt skipper of Noonmark VI beat Carlo Falcone with a first and took the title. Mermaid II (1,1,2,5,3,3,4,2,4,2,2) looking strong as it came into this regatta was third but did manage to beat its old owner Tom Hill sailing his Farr 40 Titan (3,3,4,4,4,2,3,4,2,3,4).

Bruce Merced sailing his Prindle 19 Rush had a somewhat conclusive victory in the non-spinnaker beach cat division with 9 straight bullets.

Over on the non-spinnaker course a 'David and Goliath-esque' battle in Bareboat II saw Island Fling a Bavaria 37 bullet its three races leaving favourite and Olympic sailor Shirley in its wake sailing a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 42.2 Nature's Little Secrets (2,4,4). Peter Ratcliffe sailing Red Stripe Vega ((3,3,2) a Dufour 41, was second.

"Boat preparation and a good core crew with excellent communication were important," said skipper of Island Fling, Andrew Thompson, "Nick Crossley who used to call the shots on Farr 40 Dignity in the UK was our tactician and we got the shifts right. Our tacking was fast and we lost very little speed out of the tacks, which was important when we needed to cross someone."

Carnival (2,7,2) won Bareboat II despite taking Chinook Wind amidships in a port/starboard incident on the second day while Andiamo (6,2,3) was second and Candis Lyn (8,1,4) was third. O De Feu (1,17, 1), although it bulleted the three races, lost the title by inadvertently not meeting class requirements; it was disqualified in race two which negated its two other wins.

Modified J-24 Cold Beer (7,1,1) sailed by Rudy Thompson was uncharitably beaten by his son Chris on No- See-Um (2,2,2) to top honours in the Jib & Main division - a consistent 3 seconds beat his father's seventh and two firsts. BVI boat Second Nature (3,4,3) skippered by Bill Bailey was third.

Jerry Ficks sailing Keep It Simple 3 had little trouble in taking Cruising with three firsts leaving his archrival Ron Noonan second place on Wildflower. Missi Lee (3,4,3) was third.

BVI trimaran Triple Jack (1,1,2) skippered by Richard Wooldridge also had little trouble in securing the Multihull division.

Awards:

Beach Cat Spin: 
1st:  Claims Paid, John Holmberg
2nd: Village Ram, Terry Jackson
3rd: Ocean Spray, Kevin Raymond

Beach Cat Non-Spin: 
1st:  Rush, Bruce Merced
2nd: Heineken, J.P. Montegut
3rd: Love Never Fails, Bruce Andryc

Class A (Melges 24): 
1st:  Orion, Efrain Lugo
2nd: Airgasm, Barney Crook 
3rd: Seaborne Airlines, Chris Rosenberg

Class B (Racing I): 
1st:  Noonmark Vi, Mike Gilbert
2nd: Cacca Alla Volpe, Carlo Falcone
3rd: Mermaid Ii, William Berardelli

Class C (Racer/Cruiser I): 
1st:  Hinano, Mr. Dik
2nd: Merril Lynch Investments, Hank Meyer
3rd: Formula 1 Events, Ross Daniels 


Class D (Racer/Cruiser II) 
1st:  Pipedream, Peter Haycraft
2nd: Tempest, John Haracivet
3rd: Cold Beer 3, John Schultheiss

Class E (Racing II) 
1st:  Blade Runner, Mick Shlans 
2nd: Lost Horizon Ii, Jamie Dobbs
3rd: Twisted Lizard, Mike Lathrope

Class F (Cruising): 
1st: Keep It Simple 3, Jerry Ficks
2nd: Wildflower, Ron Noonan
3rd: Missi Lee, Graham Talbot

Class G (Bareboat I) 
1st: Carnival, Phil Otis
2nd: Andiamo, Dick Duggan
3rd: Candis Lyn, Henrick Vanderlip

Class H (Bareboat II) 
1st:  Island Fling, Andrew Thompson
2nd: Red Stripe Vega, Peter Ratcliffe
3rd: Nature's Little Secret, Shirley Robertson

Class I (Jib & Main): 
1st:  No-See-Em, Chris Thompson
2nd: Cold Beer, Rudy Thompson
3rd: Second Nature, Bill Bailey

Class J (Big Boat): 
1st: Yes!, Adam Gosling
2nd: Sotto Voce, Arien Van Veinde
3rd: Sagamore, James Dolan

Multihull Division: 
1st:  Triple Jack, Richard Woolridge
2nd: Virgin Fire, Joe Colpitt
3rd: Avalon, Mark Murray

Bitter End Trophy For Spirit & Enthusiasm:
Orion,  Efrain Lugo

Special Mention Award:
Albie Stewart

Best Placed BVI Yacht (Chief Minister's Award):Pipedream, Peter
Haycraft

Caribbean Big Boat Series (BVI Leg):
Sagamore, James Dolan

The 2001 BVI Spring Regatta was sponsored by The Moorings, Heineken, Mount Gay Rum, Road Town Wholesale (1975) Ltd, Shell, Bitter End Yacht Club, the BVI Tourist Board, AT&T Caribbean, Village Cay Marina Tortola Yacht Services, Island Marine Outfitters, Prospect Reef Resort and Caribbean Connections.

More Information:

• www.bvispringregatta.org