Strong winds for the win

Just after morning broke on the first day of Spring Regatta racing on Friday, Dr. Robin Tattersall sat aboard a Bavaria 37 sailboat named Jitterbug in Nanny Cay’s inner marina.

Following his class win at the ’Round Tortola Race earlier in the week, the 94-year-old surgeon and former Olympian told the Beacon he couldn’t recall the last time the conditions were as good for the annual event.

“We’ve had relatively light [winds] the last few regattas, and then of course we didn’t have it for a couple years because of Covid,” he said.

This year’s regatta, he added, reminded him of what it was like to sail in the VI in the 1970s.

“In the early days, back in the seventies, it used to blow pretty hard,” he said. “I used to have a lovely old Herreshoff ketch, Galatea of Tortola, a half-scale version of the famous Ticonderoga.”

The Galatea, Dr. Tattersall said, ultimately couldn’t handle the strong winds that blew in the 1970s during the first few regattas, which he helped organise.

“After the first couple of races [in the 1970s], the top of the mast started collapsing,” he recalled. “After the last race, it collapsed to the point where we couldn’t get the mainsail down. It was all jammed up there. But it was very exciting.”

About five decades later, the winds are still blowing and Dr. Tattersall is still racing.

The Spring Regatta completed its 52nd year on Sunday, after more than five days of intense competition on the water.

Regatta Director Cayley Smit said this year’s event was a success that drew 80 entries — about 20 more than last year.

“This year was special,” Ms. Smith said yesterday. “The turnout from BVIslanders, our Caribbean neighbors and 14 different countries around the world was fabulous. Great to see the return of our European fleet and the bareboats.”

Against the wind

Leading up to the main races on Friday through Sunday, sailors and organisers alike buzzed about the conditions that had started the week’s initial races off in spectacular fashion.

Later in the week, the water calmed slightly, but the winds continued to sing, sending boats skimming across the waves in the Sir Francis Drake Channel.

On Friday, journalists on a photography boat witnessed several sailboats in the VX One class appear to nearly tip over as they rounded the course, catching the downwind force of the trade winds. One wasn’t as lucky as the others, capsizing briefly before being quickly righted.

Later that afternoon, a sailor on the German team told the Beacon that sailing conditions for the regatta were top-notch.

“It’s been great. The Caribbean in general; the British Virgin Islands are beautiful,” Okke Warner said. “You have nice wind, good weather. [It’s] great.”

VI skipper Graham Harney and an all-VI crew sailed the Corsair F27 Ting A Ling to victory in the Sport Multihull class.

“Friday was some of the strongest breeze we have raced the boat in,” he told organisers.

“The boat loves breeze typically, but we hadn’t pushed her that hard before. Winning feels really great.”

Regatta Village

Activities on land included nightly entertainment in the Regatta Village, with performances by moko jumbies, the Heritage Dancers, and musical groups including the 3Gs, the Razor Blades and DJ Wiz.

Since taking the regatta’s reins last year, Ms. Smit said one of her goals has been to return the event to its roots, reminding attendees that the VI’s sailing history runs deep.

“The regatta’s been going for 50, you know, 52 years — it started when maritime and sailing was very much interweaved into the whole fabric of the BVI,” Ms. Smit said. “And, you know, it still is. We just want to celebrate the history of [the regatta] and how it’s naturally part of the BVI and that we are really proud of that.”

One way to celebrate culture, she added, is through art.

“I think sailing spinnakers have always had some interesting designs, and it’s a way to define your boats or your team or your own brand,” the director said. “But the art that we are bringing in is to bring more depth to the village and to the regatta.”

To that end, the regatta organisers worked with Sophie Stanton, the director of the non-profit organisation Creative Waves. The group organised four separate artistic “events” in the Regatta Village over the weekend, Ms. Stanton explained.

“The first one is in the awards themselves,” she said last Thursday. “We put a commission opportunity out a few months ago to encourage local creators, artisans, sculptors, to put forward their designs for a competition to see who would be given the commission project to make the awards.”

The group also showcased dinghy sails painted by VI artists, and artist Walden Benjamin painted live for passersby. For the children, a “crafternoon” event was held on Saturday.