2013 has been extremely busy year for everyone at Nanny Cay. Throughout the year we’ve had a non-stop schedule of events and ongoing improvement projects.
In February we dredged the flushing channel at the western end of the marina as a part of phase one of the outer marina development. The channel was originally 3-4 feet deep, is now 9 feet deep at low tide and 12 feet deep at high tide, and is really working well in bringing fresh water into the marina. We also hosted the Sweethearts of the Caribbean Regatta and the new Walcon megayacht docks, capable of taking yachts up to 40 metres in length, were busier than ever.
One of the busiest months of the year was March. We hosted the finish of the 16th Dark and Stormy jaunt to Anegada. Later in the monthIntrepid, a Tortola Sloop, which was found in St. Croix, was returned to her home in the BVI. Intrepid can be seen at her berth in Nanny Cay and is one of four Tortola boats that have been preserved in the BVI.
At the end of the month we hosted the 42nd BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival for the 12th year. The week-long event featured a new format for the Sailing Festival which included the Round Tortola Race for the Nanny Cay Cup in which Peter Corr’s Alia 82 Aiyana smashed the monohull record by nearly half an hour, setting a new record of 3 hours, 29 minutes and 44 seconds for the 37-mile run around Tortola; the Caribbean Insurers Island Invitational Race; and the Wind, Water and Wander Tortola Day, which includes traditional Tortola Sloop races and youth sailors racing in the Sol Optimist Challenge, a relay race with teams of three – comprised one racer, one beginner and one adult. Read all the stories from this year’s BVI Spring Regatta here.
May started off with the ARC Europe team from World Cruising Club returning to Nanny Cay. This year marks the first time that the Atlantic Cup and ARC Europe departed as one fleet.
While they were here, the ARC Europe & Atlantic Cup fleet held safety demonstrations on safety flares and lifecrafts.
Other highlights of May included the BVI Dinghy Championships, the last part of the Virgin Island “Triple Crown”, being held at Nanny Cay; the completion of the two acre expansion of the boatyard which can now accommodate up to 280 yachts including 50 catamarans. Additionally, we acquired cat cradles from ‘Yacht Leg & Cradle Company’, and also added tie-downs secured with five-foot sand screws to our list of boatyard safety measures.
In August, the badly damaged Lagoon 450 that has sat forlornly in our boatyard yard since late 2012 left for St Maarten where she is going to be re-built. Watch the precision exercise needed to get her on the barge.
We started construction on the last block of our waterfront townhouses in September and we only have three left to purchase! The BVI’s premier marine electronics provider, Cay Electronics, relocated to a new specially built location in the heart of Nanny Cay in October.
November was a really busy month and the season started with a bang. We were home to theinaugural BVI Wine & Food Festival’s Grand Tasting Village featuring celebrity chefs; we sponsored the 44th Annual Peg Legs Round Tortola Race – congrats to Rushin Rowlette for winning!; and installed Tortola’s first marine waste pump-out facility.
We hosted the BVI Yacht Charter Show for the second year and the ARC Caribbean 1500 returned again. At the end of the month we hosted the annual End of Movember Party for BVI Movember, a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for men’s health and in particular Prostate Cancer.
December saw our fuel pumps upgraded and ended with the arrival of ten RC44s and their support containers which will be stored here and then rigged and launched at the end of February for the RC44 Regatta to be held at the Yacht Club Smeralda in Virgin Gorda.
