Caribbean 1500: Fat Cat expected tonight
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Race viewer at 10.20 this morningFat Cat, John Winter’s 24-metre Morelli, is 163.1nm from the finish line and due to cross at about 7.30pm tonight. She’s romping along at 14.30 knots. Next to finish will be Michael Reardon’s Tripp 78 Blackbird at 8.00am tomorrow morning; Blackbird is currently 234.7nm away.
Swift, a Bavaria 36 heading down to join the Horizon Yacht Charters fleet here at Nanny Cay, is 631nm behind Fat Cat and travelling at a more sedate 5.70 knots.
Dennis and Heidi on Centime are turning back yet again. Centime, who have been delayed in Beaufort after experiencing mechanical issues shortly after the start, have been forced to return to Beaufort only one day after re-starting.
WCC prepare for arrival of Caribbean 1500
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Maria Karlsson and Andy Schell of the World Cruising ClubMost of the fleet in this year’s Caribbean 1500 has more than halfway to go to reach Tortola, but World Cruising Club staff have arrived and are setting up the program of events at Nanny Cay. Andy Schell and Maria Karlsson arrived over the weekend and have been busy setting up the Rally Office and liaising with marina and hotel staff.
Nanny Cay hosts a number of World Cruising events – including ARC Europe and Atlantic Cup in May – though this is the first year that they are hosting the Caribbean 1500 under the leadership of the World Cruising Club. Previous iterations have been run by rally founder Steve Black and his Cruising Rally Association. World Cruising Club took over Black’s events, including the Atlantic Cup this past January, and hope to continue and expand on the success of the event that Black got going 22 years ago.
The 22nd Caribbean 1500 sets sail for Nanny Cay
After a four-day delay to avoid Tropical Storm Sean, the 22nd Caribbean 1500 rally departed from Hampton, VA, today and set course for Nanny Cay on Tortola. Whilst the delay has been frustrating for the 60 participating crews, staying in port was a sensible decision by new race organisers UK based World Cruising Club.
On November 1, the official end of the hurricane season, the unrelated North American Rally To The Caribbean (NARC) departed from Newport, RI, but was severely disrupted by savage storms. Many vessels ran into difficulties and on Monday the cargo ship Oleander, en route from New Jersey to Bermuda, successfully picked up four survivors from Ellie, a 46 foot yacht that suffered steering failure in waves over 30 feet high.
Triple Jack aims to make it three ina row at 42nd Peg Legs Round Tortola Race
The 42nd annual Peg Legs Round Tortola Race organised by the Royal BVI Yacht Club and sponsored by Nanny Cay, will take place on Saturday, November 19th. Three classes – racing, cruising and multihull – will compete in the 36-mile race with all eligible for the overall prize. The much loved trimaran Triple Jack will be aiming to make it three wins in a row at this year’s race.
Sol and Nanny Cay support optimistic season for youth sailors in the BVI as new coach joins Royal BVI Yacht Club
Deborah Benjamin (far left), country manager for Sol presents support cheques to Brian Duff, a volunteer of the Royal BVI Yacht Club youth sailing programme as young sailors and new sailing instructor/coach, Omari Scott (front right), show their approval.The Royal BVI Sailing Club (RBVIYC) youth sailors welcomed new instructor and coach, Omari Scott, to his first junior programme session on Saturday, October 1 at Nanny Cay. To mark the occasion, Deborah Benjamin, country manager for Sol, attended the post-lesson debrief and gave a monetary donation to Brian Duff, one of the many volunteers who help to run the youth sailing programme. The donation is part of the company’s agreement to support the RBVIYC junior sailing programme in conjunction with Nanny Cay Marina.
Team Anguilla Win 13th KATS Premier’s Cup Regatta!
In a hotly contested KATS Premier’s Cup (9/10 July 2011) held at Nanny Cay, Team Anguilla won their first Premier’s Cup, narrowly edging St Croix by 2 points. The victory was a result of three years of hard work and training from Team Anguilla, who had stated their intention of winning this year’s regatta after narrowly missing out last year.
18 races over two days in IC-24 keelboats made for some very competitive racing from the 8 youth teams who travelled from all over the Caribbean and USA to the BVI to compete. Racing conditions were perfect, with good breeze and relatively minor swell allowing the teams to focus on maximum sailing performance.
Each boat was raced by teams of 18 years and under, and despite the competitive nature of the event all boats were raced in a sportsmanlike and friendly manner. Nonetheless there were a few minor collisions on the start line, underlining how much every team wanted to win!
Conch Charters crowned winners of the 2011 Quantum IC24 International Sailing Regatta
Conch Charters of the BVI won this year’s Quantum IC24 International sailing regatta organised by the Royal BVI Yacht Club 25/26 June and held off Nanny Cay. Conch Charters was skippered by Andrew Waters.
Unlike last year’s event which was interrupted with frequent squalls, weather conditions were perfect in the Sir Francis Drake channel for sailing this year. Nevertheless, this did not prevent a serious collision in the first leg of the first race. Fortunately no-one was hurt, but Latitude 18 (BVI) and skipper Chris Haycraft had to retire their boat. Grey Ghost (BVI), skippered by George Lane, were at fault for the collision, and behaved with excellent sportsmanship. They immediately retired from the race and offered their boat to Mr Haycraft for the remainder of the event. Fortunately this was not necessary, since Mr Haycraft was able to muster another boat, and returned in time for the third race.
ARC Europe 2011 heads off from Nanny Cay
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ARC Europe 2011. Rally check-in for Lady Lisa (SUI) – click to enlargeAn international fleet starts their Atlantic adventure | 20 yachts sailing from the Caribbean and USA to Europe
A multinational fleet has sailed from the Caribbean and USA to Bermuda, ready to sail across the Atlantic west to east with ARC Europe. 77 sailors on 19 yachts flying the flags of 12 countries will be sailing to Bermuda, then cruising the Azores archipelago before heading for Lagos in Portugal.
The main fleet started from Nanny Cay on May 5th. The second fleet started from Hampton, Virginia on May 6th. The two fleets will rendezvous in St. George’s Bermuda for some social time and preparations for the 1800nm mile Atlantic passage to Horta on Faial in the Azores.