ARC Europe Safety Day
Yesterday the World Cruising Club (WCC) team held a morning of safety demonstrations for the ARC Europe & Atlantic Cup fleet gathering at Nanny Cay. A safety flare demonstration was conducted on the breakwater to enable any crew that had not experienced the use of flares or seen them ignited before to get some hands on experience with these safety devices.
Boatyard Update
The boatyard is accessed via Nanny Cay’s naturally sheltered marina with berths for 180 yachts and high-speed fuel dock. In the Summer of 2012, five new superyacht berths, each capable of taking yachts up to 40 metres in length, were installed by Walcon.
BVI Dinghy Championships this weekend
The BVI Dinghy Championships are scheduled this weekend (May 4 and 5) at Nanny Cay and along with Laser, Laser Radial, and Opti Dinghy Classes, IC 24 and 420 classes have been added. Participants can register here or call the RBVIYC at 1-284-494-3286. Entry fee is $75. Registration is at Nanny Cay on Friday evening for all participants with a window on Saturday morning as well to register before the racing starts.
ARC Europe back in town and preparing from Weekend departure
The ARC Europe team from left: Kieran Higgs, Lyall Burgess, Andy Schell, Mia Karlsson At 0900 on Monday morning, the ARC Europe team from World Cruising Club raised their flag on the breakwater and opened the doors to the rally office, located upstairs next to the Marina office.
Winners in decided in BVI Spring Regatta
Rene Van Dop’s Dutch Team Aquaholics sealed Bareboat 1 class win with two bullets today The large expanse of the North Atlantic lies just to the North of The British Virgin Islands and on this morning, the BVI Spring Regatta competitors got a real taste of it. The sea state kicked up to 2 metres and the wind speed for the first start was 20 plus knots when a vicious squall darkened the horizon in The Sir Francis Drake Channel.
Blinding rain colder than the sea spray reduced visibility to just a few feet and had sailors scurrying for foul weather gear. With wet sails, slippery decks and the big easterly breeze blowing squalls in off the Atlantic, the last day of racing at the BVI Spring Regatta got under way. However, conditions improved during the day with the squalls diminishing to allow the competitors to dry out in the fresh 15-20 knots of warm breeze and glimpse of sunshine through the broken cloud.
A Wild Day in Paradise
With 20 knots of easterly funnelling into bullets of pressure of 25 knots, the second day of the BVI Spring Regatta hosted by Nanny Cay Marina produced some electric action in the Sir Francis Drake Channel. Pulses were racing, especially in the Melges and IC24 fleet who scampered downwind in a ball of spray, surfing at high speed. With no discard available in the BVI Spring Regatta, keeping clear of trouble was a major factor in the big breeze and the yachts that succeeded faired well on the leaderboard after a windy day in paradise.
Day one of BVI Spring Regatta a tense, tactical teaser
Hamnett Hill’s Marten 49, Defiance from Montreal, Canada leads Performance Cruiser 1 after day one of racing Photo: Todd VanSickleIt was a day for watching the weather on the first day of the BVI Spring Regatta hosted by Nanny Cay Marina, Tortola. 10-12 knots of easterly pressure provided perfect conditions for the fleet at the start of the day and the Race Committee chose to use the string of beautiful islands on the south side of the Sir Francis Drake Channel as turning marks for the first race. The wind speed and direction oscillated somewhat to deliver shifty conditions and tactical racing. Later in the day, a heavy rainsquall caused an early end to proceedings due to unstable wind conditions.
The Sol Optimist Challenge
Eight teams took part in the The Sol Optimist Challenge held off the beach at Nanny Cay yesterday afternoon. A relay race with teams of three – comprised one racer, one beginner and one adult – was organized by Brian Duff, director of Sailing Development, Royal BVI Yacht Club (RBVIYC) to showcase the program. The format saw racers racing racers, beginners racing beginners and adults racing adults in the event which started Le Mans style and saw each participant rounding one or two marks off Nanny Cay, depending on their ability, before heading back to shore and tagging their team mate.
