March 22, 2010, Nanny Cay, BVI: New for the 2010 BVI Spring Regatta, April 2 – 4, are two courses for the Sol Racing Area specifically designed for the big boats. For the likes of Titan XV, Tom Hill’s new Reichel Pugh Custom 75’, Bill Alcotts’Andrew’s 68’, Equation and Bella Pita, the Caribbean based Tripp 75 owned by Jim Grundy, two courses have been added to the program which will give these big boys the opportunity to strut their stuff.
 
BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival Chairman, Bob Phillips, felt that it was time to give the bigger boats a chance set a few records. “With the right wind, a boat like Titan XV can complete a 60 miles course in about three hours; they cover an incredible amount of geography in a short period of time. Reaching, these boats are capable of speed of 30 knots and they love doing it, the crews love it. Short little windward leewards are good fun but when they get the chance to cook the speeds up into the upper twenties, they like that too.”
 
With the start south east of Road Town, Course One will takes the big boys through Round Rock passage, south of Virgin Gorda and then north of Richard Branson’s Necker Island before turning southwest and skirting between Tortola and Jost Van Dyke. A hard left at Great Thatch will send the boats back to the start/finish line to complete the 56 mile course. Course Two is a little longer routing these racing machines not only around Virgin Gorda but also the BVI’s furthest point, Anegada, before threading their way back between the Dogs and Scrub Island to finish in the  Sir Francis Drake Channel. In the event that the winds are such that it might be more fun to go the other way, Course Two allows the race committee to reverse the course.
 
For the smaller boats, there will also be some round the rocks, round islands racing. Says Bob Phillips, “We have beautiful barrier islands and we want to show them off.”

Held annually on the first weekend of April, the BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival will be celebrating its 39th anniversary. Now with both BVI Spring Regatta and the Sailing Festival being in the top four Caribbean sailing events, the week encompasses seven-days with two events back-to-back attracting an average of 150 yachts per year with eighty percent of the competitors from overseas.  The BVI Spring Regatta is presented by Nanny Cay Resort and Marina; the BVI Tourist Board is a Platinum sponsor; Gold sponsors are Bitter End Yacht Club, LIME, First Caribbean International Bank, Heineken, The Moorings, Mount Gay, and SOL.  Contributing sponsors are Island Oasis, Sea Hawk Nautical Coatings, Clearwater, Tortola Yacht Services, Maui Jim Sunglasses, Meridian Construction, BVI Yacht Charters and Virgin Textiles.  
 
New for 2010, the International Yacht Club Challenge will pit competitors from yacht clubs throughout the world against each other in Sunsail Beneteau 39’s.  Participants will receive up to a 10% discount on the charter and compete for a grand prize of a free week’s charter from Sunsail.
 
Visitors can fly to the British Virgin Islands through San Juan, Puerto Rico with American Airlines, Cape Air and LIAT. Flights are also available through Antigua , St. Maartin and Barbados on Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and BWIA.  Ferry service is also available from St. Thomas.
 
For full details on the BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival including daily news, photos and complete results from the 2009 event, visit the official web site http://www.bvispringregatta.org. For more information on the British Virgin Islands visit: http://www.bvitourism.com.
For more information on Nanny Cay Marina visit:  http://www.nannycay.com.