47th BVI Spring Regatta kicks off today
Vessels at Nanny Cay. (Photo provided)
The 47th annual BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival officially starts today, March 26.
The regatta, which ends on April 1, is one of the largest events in the sailing industry.
According to a media release from organisers, there will be a four-day warm-up event followed by three days of the sailing competition.
This year, the competition will see participants from Puerto Rico, Antigua, North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, the BVI and other Caribbean islands.
“Many of our past participants contacted us immediately after Irma, begging us to continue with the regatta to allow them to return and support rebuilding efforts,” the release said.
“There have been some challenges, but we are in full swing to produce an event that will live up to the excellence of the past and cement a new basis for growth and commitment.”
The event will be moved to a new outer marina at Nanny on Tortola.
“This marina was relatively unscathed by the region’s worst natural disaster on record and will be a perfect base for the teams to gather and enjoy the regatta,” the release said.
Going green
The regatta has now marked a decade of going green.
This year, organisers are focused on sustainability and will, therefore, ‘adopt a spot’ in the territory to clean up during regatta week.
They have selected Brewers Bay beach.
The beach, like many others, was littered with debris following last September’s hurricanes.
A local group called the Wombles, along with sailors and regatta attendees will take on the task.
“Our initiatives have inspired hundreds of other regattas and events to follow our lead to reduce plastic, recycle all glass, cans and create our awards from these recycled materials,” the release said further.
Their green team includes the Green Rangers, Green VI, Green Tech, and VI Plastic.
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This is the smallest event in years – no mention of the number of boats because it is embarrassingly small.
Sorry but your comment is incorrect and very discouraging. Please check the BVISR website and you will see that over 60 yachts have entered on-line. Registration begins today so we will see in the next few days the correct number of yachts that actually register and race in the 2018 BVISR.
At least it is still going to happen. Can we just celebrate a bit of positivity, I mean really!!!
It has been lovely to see the overspill of boats coming to Moore in Sea Cow Bay. Very encouraging. I am loving all the action in the channel. Well done for pushing through and making this happen.