Bella Pita – click to enlargeThe day dawned with perfect conditions for the forty-six boats racing in the Bitter End Cup, the first day’s racing of the 2010 BVI Sailing Festival. In four classes, the boats beat from Nanny Cay to the North Sound on the east end of Virgin Gorda. Boats and crews ranged from the sleek, sexy and professional to those who were just along for the fun of it, from the stripped out carbon Frers 44’s to a Moorings 4700 towing a dinghy, making their way east to the finish line and the parties at the Bitter End Yacht Club.

Big winners today in the Racing class were Vela Veloce, Richard Oland’s brand new Southern Cross 52 taking first place, Defiance, a Martin 49 was second and only 17 seconds behind, BVI’s Three Harkoms placed third. Vladiimir Kulinichenko (better known as Kuli), tactician/driver for Three Harkoms described the raced as ‘benign’, with 11 to 16 knots of wind and very little chop. “Going up the course, we tried to help the Bareboats stay out of our way and avoid the tricky parts. There was a big wind shadow around the Dogs and we told them to follow us and it paid off. There was also a twenty degree wind shift going through Colquhoun Cut and we played it right.” He went on to explain that due to the current, the big boats were favoured in today’s race.