The year ended on a high note, as we opened the new outer marina after 17 months of construction. At a ceremony held at the entrance to the new outer marina on December 12, Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr. the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, OBE, declared the marina officially open.
Currently, 42 slips are operational along the mangrove-lined shore, with the last 78 slips expected to be in place by August 2017.
When completed the outer marina will have 120 slips suitable for yachts from 30′ to 75′ with T-heads and a bulkhead capable of berthing megayachts to 150 feet in length. Up to 10 megayachts over 100 feet can now dock at Nanny Cay.
The year started off quietly but the RBVIYC’s youth sailors were treated to a special training session in March when winning skipper of the 2014/2015 Volvo Ocean Race and double Olympic silver medalist, Ian Walker dropped by.
The Monohull Round Tortola Record fell on March 30 when Steve and Heidi Benjamin’s TP52 SPOOKIE broke the record in the Round Tortola Race, the kick-off event for the BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival. SPOOKIE’s elapsed time of 3:08:43, took a whopping 21 minutes off the previous record of 03:29:44, set in March 2013 by Peter Corr’s Aiyana, an Alia 82.
Steve and Heidi Benjamin’s TP52 SPOOKIE receiving their awards © Todd VanSickle
A light breeze and fireworks closed the 45th annual BVI Spring Regatta after three days of great racing for 12 classes including a fleet of VX Ones for the first time. Visit the BVI Spring Regatta news page for blow-by-blow reports and photo of the racing action.
On Saturday, May 7, after intensive prepping (and fun) at Nanny Cay, yachts sailing under the flags of sixteen different nations set sail for their offshore adventures as part of two World Cruising Club (WCC) Spring rallies – ARC Europe and ARC USA.
Not long after that 85 competitors from the BVI, St Thomas, St Croix and Puerto Rico were treated to a stunning weekend of sailing out on the Sir Francis Drake Channel in the 15th edition of the BVI Dinghy Championships.
June saw the arrival of Jane Tyrrell as our new Hotel & Property Manager and us reach some major construction milestones on the outer marina boosting our confidence for a December opening. Garbage management around the property gained a boost with the arrival of our own island-style garbage truck.
In October two young lads from England stopped off on their way to Miami from Grenada – by kayak! George Parry and Will McMcCreadie were paddling the 2,000 miles completely unsupported in a mission to raise funds and awareness for their Get Exploring Trust (GET).
On Saturday, November 12th, Amel 54 Phantom, was the first boat into Nanny Cay after leaving the shores of the US seven days earlier on the 27th annual Caribbean 1500. They were closely followed by the Dufour 56 Pure Elegance, and the Nordhavn 57 motor yacht Jura. Each night as yachts continued to arrive events were held on the beach at Nanny Cay, including several cocktail hours, a pizza party and a couple of beach barbecues.
Boomorang skippered by Kevin Wrigley took its second Peg Legs Round Tortola Race on December 12. After 46 years (probably) of the same course, a new one was introduced for 2016 which made for a much more interesting race.
Visit our Facebook page for other news and events like our annual Christmas Block Party which raised $2400 for the Family Support Network, and annual BVI Charter Yacht Show. Our youtube channel features videos of these events and more…
