BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival - Day 3
by Michelle Slade 4 Apr 18:15 NZDT
March 31-April 6 2025
There's no shortage of talent or breeze in the BVI as almost eighty boats prepare to assume the challenge in the 52nd edition of the BVI Spring Regatta which starts Friday in the stunning Caribbean waters off Nanny Cay Resort and Marina. Just as the trades have really kicked in, blowing consistently all week in the 20-30 knot range, the energy on the docks is equal with legends like Dee Caffari, the first woman to have sailed single-handed and non-stop around the world in both directions and the only woman to have sailed non-stop around the world three times, crewing on board the Swan 58 WaveWalker; famed offshore sailors Brian Thompson and Ryan Breymaier will be competing against each other in the Performance Multihull class on board the Gunboat 72 Layla, and the HH66 Lee Overlay Partners III respectively, while Charlie Enright is taking a different direction this year sailing on Wizard in the highly competitive VX One class.
Other teams to look out for include JAX (USA) the 43-foot stunning custom modern classic built at Brooklin Boat Yard and owned/skippered by Øivind Lorentzen, racing Spring Regatta for the first time. His crew Jesse Fielding (Newport, RI) who will be managing running backstays considers it a real honour to have been invited to race on JAX.
"She's a custom idea blending together the grand prix sailing which I am passionate about with the beautiful classic lines of a Brooklin and the incredible combination of technology between the carbon deck and the wood hull," Fielding said. "We're on the Caribbean tour and JAX is continuing to show its colours in all breeze, which is a nice thing as we've definitely been pushing it hard - we came down here to learn a lot about the boat and the boat is responding positively. We recorded 21.6 knots in St Thomas so that was spectacular - it's a real sleigh ride, it's a canoe-body boat that rips downwind. We're looking to get out there and be bow to bow with some great competition and the conditions look like they are going to set up for a great regatta in probably the best playground in the world!"
Racing in Performance Multihull, Paul Johnson (UK), boat captain on the stunning Layla, a new Gunboat 72, took third in the Round Tortola race earlier in the week against stiff local competition in class. Layla's owners were serial charterers of catamarans in the past when they had a Gunboat sail past them while on a charter and decided that's what they wanted. The only previous boat they had owned was a Hobie 16.
"Layla is very civilised; you can still drink tea at 24 knots! Johnson smiled. "The crew had a great introduction to the boat from Brian Thompson and the team at Doyle, and we took first at Heineken a few months ago, which was great. Our plan is to keep it safe, and have fun, and we've been having plenty of that. The best part of Round Tortola was probably the back side of Jost van Dyke - we were just on the front edge of a squall cruising along at 25 knots+!"
A ten-strong VX One fleet racing in the two-event Caribbean Cup series, sponsored by Evolution Sails, which culminates with the BVI Spring Regatta, has more talent than fleet organiser Tim Pitts (St Croix/USA) has seen in a long time.
"I think there are four Olympians and at least eight world champions in four boats alone," Pitts said. "While it was a ton of work pulling it off to get a fleet down here, this has been a dream of mine for a long time. This is my 13th BVI Spring Regatta and a homecoming for me. I know a lot of faces on the dock and there is no better sailing in the world."
Sandy Askew (USA) and her crew on Flying Jenny won the first leg of the VX One series last week in St Thomas. Crew Rob Greenhalgh, another well-seasoned elite sailor competing this week, is looking forward to another challenging regatta with stiff competition.
"Wizard with Sandy's husband, Charlie (Enright) and Patrick will be good, and there are other boats who have upped their game for this weekend; obviously the regular VX sailors who are really good," Greenhalgh commented. "You can't really pick it; you just have to go out and do your best and see where the chips land. Fatigue comes into it, different conditions, different sea states, the racecourses may not suit some people. Friday looks full-on for the first day of racing, then it looks like beautiful trades for the rest of the regatta. The wind conditions this year have been pretty fantastic."
Sailing in Jib & Main, Walter Keenan (USA) took third in the Scrub Invitational earlier this week on Libertas, his Beneteau First 40.7. Keenan, who used to reside in San Francisco where he raced Farr 40s, splits his time between the US east coast, Puerto Rico and the BVI. He purchased Libertas, formerly a "fixer-upper" Sunsail bareboat after finding her in the yard at Nanny Cay. He's racing with a mostly local group of friends from Tortola, many of whom have helped him restore the boat.
"In the Round Tortola and Scrub Island races earlier in the week we saw some incredibly tight racing in the Cruising classes," Keenan noted. "Lazy Dog beat us by one second on corrected time to Scrub Island, it does not get any closer than that! The two warm-up events are as much fun as the race days, as our Jib and Main class boat gets to compete with the higher performance boats in one group. Looking ahead to Spring Regatta, our class is a little smaller this year than in the past but will be competitive. We hear that the restored Tartan Ten 'Miss Piggy' is going to be the boat to beat this year, she looks great."
Father and daughter combo Eddie Brockbank, Commodore of the Royal BVI Yacht Club, will be racing in the mostly local Sport Multihull class with his 18-year-old daughter Ashley on his 24' Corsair Spring 750 Lucky 7.
"We'll be racing jib/main only as it will be just the two of us in super windy conditions - we're mostly looking forward to the breeze backing off," Eddie Brockbank laughed. "We are the smallest boat in the regatta and our class is very competitive; all the boats are very well sailed with years of local knowledge. We're out to have a good time, we're not there to win it but if we do well, I'll be very happy. I'm thrilled to welcome all the sailors who have come from near and afar, have a great regatta and be safe. We're glad to have you here!"
Entry list of BVI Spring Regatta is available here.
Schedule of events here.
For more information visit event website.