On Sunday evening, under a setting sun on the beautiful beach at Nanny Cay, the 45th BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival drew to a close with the ritual awards ceremony and fabulous fireworks. The entire fleet was treated to a delightful racing day, with a light easterly of 8 to 12 knots throughout the morning, becoming a little lighter towards the end of racing.

It was no surprise that first place in CSA-Racing 1 went to the TP52 SPOOKIE, skippered by Steve Benjamin (USA), finishing the regatta with 7 bullets over 7 races. The Melges 32 Soca, skippered by Luis Juarbe (PUR) finished second with 18 points, and in third, Tschuss, a Mat 1180, skippered by Christian Zugel, finished with 23 points.

Heidi and Steve Benjamin, owners of SPOOKIE, always a big presence at Spring Regatta, clearly love BVI sailing and undoubtedly will be back for more. Said Steve, "With respect to the Premier, the Governor, and the entire BVI government, we are so happy to be here in your sailing waters, some of the best sailing waters in the entire world. We thank Nanny Cay and the sponsors; we know Nanny Cay is building a new marina which will be really good for us so that we have more than half a foot under the keel! Thanks also to my crew who say I'm not sailing so well with my new wheel, so they want to put the tiller back on. It's so wonderful to see all the competition here; it's the friendliest and the best sailing that we do, here in the BVI."

In the lighter conditions today, almost all fleets found the conditions quite technical. Winner of CSA-Racing 2 with 13 points, Tony Mac (GBR), racing with his crew Team McFly on the First 40 Southern Child, said, "It was hard work. We think we probably needed more weight today for the boat to perform to its optimum because when the wind died it was really hard work. There are a lot of multi-regatta winners, like El Ocaso, Corr's Light Racing and LIPTON in this class, and they are all good sailors."

In the CSA - Bareboat 1 fleet, Team Crude Yachties aboard The Remedy, a Moorings 45.3 skippered by Mike Hill (BVI) took first overall finishing with 10 points. Following closely in second with 12 points was Team Aquaholics aboard Lady Aubrey, a Moorings 50 skippered by Rene Van Dop (NED). Mary Jewell, Larry Caillouet's Sunsail 50 took third in the 16-strong class with 16 points.

"It's been fantastic racing against some really good crews, really high standard and we've really enjoyed it," Hill said. "We couldn't do it without the other crews, or without my crew who have been fantastic."

In CSA-Bareboat 2, the strapping Dutch team racing the Sunsail 44i Warvor, skippered by Willem Ellemeet were the clear victors in class, also securing the International Yacht Challenge with 5 bullets over 5 races. Alberto Borin (ITA) skippering Tortola Moon, a Sunsail 41, took second with 11 points while Koen Lindner's Sunsail 44i Bageal (NED), took third with 18 points.

Thierry Simon, racing Discovery 50, Curante Cridhe (GBR) took first in CSA-Multihull 2, with 5 bullets over 5 races. Wildfire, the Edel 35 catamaran skippered by John Hayes (BVI) took second with 10 points.

Rumor in the IC 24 fleet was that Stinger would be the boat to look out for in this regatta. Sure enough, skipper Jens Hookanson took 9 bullets and 2 seconds, ending the regatta with 24 points, 10 points ahead of second place Alec Anderson on INTAC. Third place went to Gregory Fink's Kuliagus II with 39 points.

Hookanson said, "The local guys in this fleet are really good; they're very fast. This is our first IC 24 regatta but I've been sailing J24s for a long time and I guess my crew did a good job...just kidding; they were great. I chartered the boat from John and Peter Holmberg (St Thomas). I think the key, like in any racing, was getting off the line at the start, then you have to have competitive boat speed and getting the first shift off the line, then just having good boat speed and tactics to stay ahead. They did an awesome job here with the starts, the lines and moving things around. We had great courses, just windward leewards and the one fun race yesterday. And, the parties are always fun!"

New to Spring Regatta this year was the VX One fleet. Tim Pitts (USA), fleet chairman, who took third overall in class racing on Cruzan Rhode, said, "It was absolutely perfect, we enjoyed everything from the weather, to the conditions, the hospitality here was just great. We had 11 boats sailing all weekend in premium conditions. Jeff Eiber on This Side Down (USA) sailed extremely well and deserves every bit of his win. The courses were perfect, the race committee listened to all our input and it's probably the best-managed racing we've had and we'll be back next year."

This Side Down, VX One fleet overall winner and recipient of the first VX One Caribbean Cup, was the family team, Keven and Jeff Eiber with their 22-year old son Emery. "Certainly sailing together as a family this week has been the highlight. It is such a challenge every time (LOL!), but the highlight is that we did it!"

Save the date for 2017 BVI Spring Regatta: 27th March to 2nd April, 2017.

Link to awards gallery pictures and an update on the 2016 Awards Ceremony will be available on the website: www.bvispringregatta.org Photo Gallery: www.bvispringregatta.org/photos/2016-photo-gallery/

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