Having now celebrated its 40th year, the BVI Spring Regatta may officially be classified as “middle aged,” but it hardly shows any signs of slowing down.
On March 28-April 3, an impressive 122 boats descended on Tortola’s Nanny Cay for five days of what sailors have long come to expect from this event—sun, wind, high-octane competition and even higher-octane parties.
As in years past, the regatta kicked off with the BVI International Match Racing Championship, sailed this year in IC24 one-designs, a local variant of the J/24. Local sailing fixture Peter Holmberg, an Olympic and America’s Cup veteran, won the event.
The fleet racing included everything from a one-design start for the venerable 19-foot Squib class—which has been a part of the regatta since its founding—to the Racing A class, which included Peter Corr’s spectacular new 81-foot racer-cruiser Aiyana. In between were the usual polyglot of Caribbean characters, ranging from a number of Melges 32s and 24s in Racing B to three separate bareboat charter divisions and the 115-foot catamaran Necker Belle.
Among the more impressive performances was that of Willem Wester’s Grand Soleil 43 Antilope. Fresh off its recent win at the St. Thomas Rolex regatta, Antilope won the Racing A division handily, with a near perfect score. Equally impressive was the Bavaria 36 Team Horizon, which swept the Bareboat C division with an unbroken string of firsts.
For complete results, click here.
