BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival Preview
by Michelle Slade / BVISR 26 Mar 19:39 PDT
March 31-April 6 2025
Racing enthusiasts are all set for spectacular racing & superb parties in the 52nd BVI Spring Regatta hosted by Nanny Cay © Alex-Turnbull.com
Boats from fourteen different countries - and racing enthusiasts from many more - are about to converge upon the stunning British Virgin Islands sailing grounds for the 52nd BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival. With the help of its generous sponsors and dedicated community, the event couldn't be more ready to welcome the fleet of 2025 to the thrill of hot trade wind racing, warm water and cool parties.
The week of festivities starts with the Sailing Festival on Tuesday April 1st, when the legendary Round Tortola Race for the Nanny Cay Cup is sailed, followed by the Scrub Island Invitational on Wednesday April 2nd, which lightens the tone after the strenuous Round Tortola race, with a short 11 nautical mile sail to Scrub Island Resort and Marina where a fabulous beach party awaits at Marina Cay - a cherished gem of the British Virgin Islands, renowned for its laid-back bohemian vibe and warm hospitality. Friday April 4th will start the three-day Spring Regatta where the competition will truly play out.
Competing in this year's event for the first time is a youth team (all under 26) from Antigua sailing on the RP37, Warthog, a Reichel Pugh design. Jim Vos is the Owner/ Driver and the team consists of a large number of sailors from Antigua and Barbuda's Star Sailors League (SSL). Mitchell, who is a professional skipper for Warthog, is also an Antiguan National Sailing Academy sailor, a previous Antiguan Laser champion, and a successful Spirit skipper whose first campaign was with many of the sailors now on Warthog. Mitchell led Warthog to class victory in the RORC Nelson's Cup Series (Antigua) in February.
"We are really excited to sail in Tortola in the BVI Spring Regatta," Mitchell said. "Conditions are always fantastic and the event has great onshore vibes. "Warthog was extensively refitted in Antigua by me and other Antiguan sailors, which is remarkable because that's how the previous generation of America's Cup teams functioned. She has become a true example of what a modern race boat encapsulates."
Also from Antigua is well-known sailor Sandy Mair racing his Beneteau First 35 Cricket. With enormous passion for the sport and a veteran of races for many years on the Caribbean circuit, Mair has been a CSA Measurer for over 40 years and created the Caribbean Sailing Association Travellers Trophy for Antigua Sailing Week to encourage regional boats to participate in all of the Caribbean events.
Antigua aside, other countries represented this year include the UK, USA, Canada; Puerto Rico; BVI; US Virgin Islands; Curaçao; Dominican Republic; Germany; Italy; Netherlands; France; and St Maarten.
The challenging racing conditions and the chance to compete in one of the most beautiful and lively sailing destinations in the world draws Adrian Lee, owner/skipper of Lee Overlay Partners 3, a HH66 multihull, back to the BVI this year. A life-long monohull sailor from the UK, Lee returned to the BVI last year after a lengthy hiatus to cruise with his family and for the first time take part in Spring Regatta on Lee Overlay Partners 2, his Swan 60. A self-confessed offshore junkie, Lee has been racing offshore since he was twenty; he's raced the RORC Caribbean 600 seven times which he won in 2010 in a former boat Lee Overlay Partners I, a Cookson 50. This year he has switched his game into the high-powered HH66 catamaran and has an excellent crew onboard including Ryan Breymaier, one of the US' most successful short-handed offshore sailors.
"After 40 years of monohull sailing, multihulls are new for me," adds Lee. "It feels a bit like moving from a propeller plane to a jet! We hope to push the boat to its limits, sharpen teamwork, and deliver consistent, fast performances throughout the races. The BVI Spring Regatta always delivers a fantastic blend of excitement on the water and a great social atmosphere off it, making it an unforgettable experience each time.
Tony Mack and his team McFly will race on the chartered J122 El Ocaso. A longtime regular to the BVI Spring Regatta, Mack hails from Hamble, in the UK, and is a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron and Royal Southern Yacht Club.
"This is our 12th BVISR, so we obviously like it," Mack smiled. "We have had eight first places in Bareboat and CSA, and back in the UK we have won the J111 UK National Championship seven times. We have chartered El Ocaso (it is like a larger J111) many times before and have won. Last year we won Antigua Sailing Week CSA Overall and the Lord Nelson Trophy for best overall performance."
Racing for the VX One Caribbean Cup 2025, a two-leg series sponsored by Evolution Sails, an 11-strong VX One fleet deep in talent is primed to highlight just how much fun it is to race these cool twenty-foot sport boats in champagne Caribbean conditions. Phil Lotz, from the US, will be downsizing from Arethusa, his Gunboat 60, which he has raced in recent years in BVI Spring Regatta to a chartered VX One. Lotz has had success in J/105s, Melges 32s, Etchells, Viper 640s, IC37s, and he's also an accomplished team racer. He has won two national championships on his Swan 42, Arethusa, and won the inaugural Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup. In a size-doesn't-matter scenario, Lotz hopes that prior time-on-the-water in the BVI will pay off.
"We have been sailing the VX One on Monday nights in Newport and the winter series in Miami and thought this would be a great way to do some Caribbean sailing too," Lotz said. The boat is great in breeze. I'll be racing with my wife Wendy - we have sailed together since the late 70s when we met and Wilson Stout who is a great crew and very handy around boats. I'm not sure how much it will translate from racing the Gunboat since we won't cover the same ground but having been there will make the whole event easier as we challenge ourselves in a small boat in the Caribbean breeze."
The bareboat fleet has always had a strong presence at the BVI Spring Regatta and after setbacks in the past few years, is back in solid numbers. From the US, Carl Hanssen, sailing with Team Variance, has chartered a Moorings 46 with a group of friends who have been racing together for 15 years, sailing countless Mackinac and course races on the Great Lakes.
"At home, we sail out of the Muskegon Yacht Club on Lake Michigan aboard a J/111 named Variance, but we love the islands and typically cruise for a week with our partners, then switch boats to race the regatta," Hanssen said. "We competed in the BVI Spring Regatta in 2019 and 2022 and we are back racing for the glory of Lake Michigan sailors!"
Racing on a chartered Moorings 52 for the first time at BVI Spring Regatta, the Dutch team Glad 2 B Here are a group of friends from a cooking club back in the Netherlands.
"We have taken part in the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta and wanted to try something new," Ronald van Riet commented.
The event would not be complete without the great turnout of local BVI competitors who look forward to Spring Regatta all year, many who help shoreside with regatta organisation and who have been regulars racing since the early days of the event.
Regatta Chairman, Chris Haycraft whose father, Peter Haycraft OBE was one of the founders of the BVI Spring regatta in 1972, will be racing his Corsair F31 Ting A Ling II in the Sports Multihull Class, in what is always a fierce competition against other local boats like the Corsair F27 Ting A Ling, sailed by Graham Harney, Barney Crook's Corsair 31-1D Airgasm, and Eddie Brockbank (Commodore/Royal BVI Yacht Club) on his Corsair Spring 750 Lucky 7.
"We will have the coldest Heineken in the Caribbean, the best race management and nice relaxed parties," Haycraft, who has competed too many times to remember, noted. "We're aiming to have fun and race well, plus we would like to complete a race without breaking anything!"
For further information on the BVI Spring Regatta visit: www.bvispringregatta.org.
Current entry lists here.