Businesses report high sales at 48th BVI Spring Regatta

Business owners are reporting high sales following the 48th staging of the BVI Spring Regatta.

Part of the reason behind this reported boost in business is suspected to be because the venue of the event was changed from Nanny’s Cay’s beachside to its new outer marina.

Regatta Director Judy Petz said this year’s seven-day event was an amazing success.

She said this success comes despite not having any races on Saturday due to the lack of wind for sailing.

“The boaters were [still] thrilled. They went surfing, they went over to Willy T because a lot of people never been there,” Petz told BVI News.

“Fifty percent of the racers that are here have never been to the BVI before, and they are from 18 different countries around the world and we have a whole new venue here at Nanny Cay and it’s fabulous. It just makes everything so professional, and you feel like you are at a premier show.”

Huge financial impact

Petz said the regatta which ran from March 25 to 31 brought in millions of dollars to the territory.

“Our real focus was the sailors coming back, spend money, be part of the community, and we probably produced about $5 million for just this one week,” she told BVI News.

Testimonials: Vendors cashing in

Five food vendors and six small business vendors received their share of the financial spill-over.

“They (the vendors) are all doing really well. I would check on everybody, and they are like ‘this is the best year, I am making money!’ so that to me is the success of the event,” Petz said.

BVI News interviews with a few vendors largely corroborated Petz’s report.

Manager of the main regatta bar Kara McCracken said: “As far as other years, it is definitely busier. Friday and Saturday night it was slammed, the bands were great! People were having fun, so it is something to build on for next year.”

“Business was good, I think it was similar to previous years,” Brodie Faragher of Virgin Textiles said. “It was great being here, and it is nice to see it so well supported. It was a nice feeling.”

Rebecca Richardson from the EC Soap Company told our news centre: “Thursday was great, Friday was pretty good, last night (Saturday) was not as good and tonight has been lots of splurges of heavy business and then nothing.”

Race winners

The following vessels walked away with the bragging rights and trophies this year.

The vessel, Conviction, owned by Vladimir Kulinichenko was the winner of the first Sol course race one. Three other boats participated.

In race number -two, the Peter Corr-owned Blitz defeated 11 other particpants to claim victory.

In the third race, Fire Water owned by Henry Leonnig won. Seven others participated in the race.

In the performance cruising segment, Avanti owned by Jeremi Jablonski came in first over five other participants. And in the sport multi-hull category, the vessel named Island Hops owned by Mark Sanders emerged the victor over five other participants.

Flow was the winning vessel in the one-design offshore multihull category. There were nine other boats in that event.

Catch 22 was the winning vessel in main race of the Norman cruise racing – CSA division.

In the second race, team Naia Odessey, owned by Bob Beltrano won. Six others also took part in that race.

In the bareboat 1 section, team Merlin (Sail) Jada owned by Charlie Garrard took home the prized trophy over nine other competitors.

In the second bareboat race, Blowing the Blues Away, was the winning vessel. There were eight others in this race. And in the third bareboat race, Midnatt Solen IV were the victors in the five-team competition.

In the Hanse section, Portomar, owned by Juan Teixidor won. Seven others participated in the race.

In the final race – the cruising multi-hull category — Slow Motion , the only participant in that race, was crowned champion.