Titan XII dominates 34th BVI Spring Regatta

BY DEAN GREENAWAY

 Tom Hill’s Titan XII dominated the three days of the 34th BVI Spring Regatta, held in the Sir Francis Drakes Channel from Friday to Sunday. The regatta attracted a near record 134 entries, on three courses competing in 14 classes. The regatta was preceded by a Sailing Festival—for the Bitter End and Nanny Cay Cups—as well as a Nations Challenge Cup during Wednesday’s lay day.

Teams competing for the BVI Tourist Boards

But, the regatta talk was all about Hill’s Titan XII. Needing to beat the field by 16 minutes on average on the two mile long legs—considered a short course for his 75 footer—Hill and his crew, competing against boats as small as 36’, rose to the occasion. They hit the right tacks, read and caught the right winds, and kept the edge on the downwind legs, relegating his pursuers to the back seat. While Temptress and Celtic V were the closest pursuers on opening day, Celtic V fell way off the pace, landing in sixth place by the end of the competition, as Edgar Cato’s Hissar finished in the third spot.

While others faltered, Hill’s crew merely had one bad run—a third place finish in Saturday’s first race. Hill’s 75-footer racked up six first place finishes in nine races to finish with 13 points, seven better than Richard Shulman’s 45, Temptress. Edgar Cato’s 56-footer Hissar placed third with 30 points.

“The team that Tom and Dottie put together, most of them have been sailing for years and years. To sail a big boat as efficiently as a small boat, around short courses like we have here, takes a lot of good communication and team work and that is what the crew have,” explained tactician Pedro Isler after collecting the prize for Hill during Sunday’s awards ceremony. “We can sail our boat like an IC-24 or a laser, which is pretty special. It’s a really well sailed 75-foot boat.”

Peter Haycraft, center, has sailed in all 34 BVI Spring Regattas. Having conquered 1st place in Racer/ Cruiser Class, he receives his prize from FirstCaribbean International Bank manager Michael Spencer. FirstCaribbean International Bank was the gold sponsor of the event.

Isler said by winning races on corrected time there’s isn’t much room for a margin of error. He said in an hour’s race, they owe second placer Temptress 18 minutes. “They are far behind but, it’s a matter of seconds whether we beat them in every race. It’s amazing how close we always come out on handicap with the competition,” he pointed out. “Even though we are out there all alone sailing way out in front of the fleet, we’re constantly trying to push ourselves to find the next wind shift to find another second or two.”

Saturday’s racing saw a few surprises that shaped the final results, starting with an upset coming in Bareboat A. Dunbar’s Dot Com, Friday’s leader, placed a mere fifth in the first race. Platinum Harken, co skippered by Gerald Miller and Neil Harvey moved into second place as Dot Com slipped to second. Dot Com never recovered and had a fourth place finish on Sunday, to hang on to third place.

While St. Thomas’ John Foster’s Magnificent 7 retained the top spot in Racing D, Guy Eldridge’s Mistress Quickly traded places with Lou Dobbs’ Lost Horizon, but never recovered on Sunday and ended the competition in third place.

Team Germany moved from fifth place in Bareboat B and into second place behind BVI Yacht Charters/HIHO, who kept its grip on the title. Ted Broose’s Next Best Thing was sitting in third at the end of Saturday’s races, but slipped to fourth, after John Thompson’s Compass Rose won the final race.

Peter Haycraft, a founding member of the regatta who has sailed in all 34 events, won the Racer/Cruiser class with 10 points on his Serena 38 Pipedream. Jose Sanchez’s Myett’s Balaju II grabbed second with Pat Noland’s Boomerang following with 25.

“Winning is still good and I’m going to carry on,” Haycraft said, with his traditional pipe hanging out of the right side of his mouth. “We had a couple of boats we raced against in Rolex—Lazy Dog and Anticipation—if they had been in our class here, it might have been a different result.”

Pat Nolan’s all women crew—sailing their second year in the regatta on Boomerang—and placed third in Haycraft’s division, said he was hard to beat. “Pipedream is very well sailed, they have an excellent crew, beautiful sails and they are tough to catch,” Nolan noted. “We put up a good fight, but looked at their rear end the whole regatta.”

Reflecting on the development of the regatta, Haycraft said there are more boats involved, better organization and professionalism which is benefiting the sailing community and the BVI. He noted that the BVI Spring Regatta pioneered a real time results system via the internet so that by time competitor’s return to base they already know the results. “Everything has improved and has gotten better and will get better,” he said. “And I plan to still be a part of it for a few more years.”

Regatta chairman Bob Phillips, said it was the best regatta they have had in the last six years. “The last four years we have lost Sunday racing because of no wind. This year, we had three great days of racing. We had some varied conditions but overall, we had enough breezes for everybody to be moving well, I think this was the best event. It never rained, the village was packed the music was great, what else could you ask for?

The week-long event began with a Sailing Festival last Tuesday. Mick Schlens sailed his chartered Express 37, Cosmic Warlord to victory on corrected time in the Bitter End Cup—an upwind race from Nanny Cay to Bitter End on North Sound Virgin Gorda—that officially kicked off the BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival with four classes.

Schlens chartered the boat from the Bitter End. He was followed by Peter Newlands' Beneteau First 40.7. Bill Alcott’s Equation—an Andrews’s 68-footer was the first to cross the line in 2 hours 35 minutes and 51 seconds, but was third on corrected time after the number crunching.

On Wednesday’s lay day, the 2nd Nations Challenge Cup was held at Bitter End. Team Ireland used 19-year old Australian skipper Jeremey Walmott’s three firsts in the morning session, to win, while Team West Coast needed a tie breaker to edge Team Great Britain for second place.

Team Ireland finished the competition with 15 points. Team West Coast and Team Great Britain—skippered by double Olympic gold medalist Shirley Robertson—each amassed 20. Team BVI followed with 32, while Germany had 35 and Team Midwest USA rounded out the competition with 46. The Nations Challenge Cup format included two flights. The "B" teams race in the morning and the "A" team’s race in the afternoon. Four races are sailed in each flight with the boats swapped after each race. The maximum crew weight was 675 lbs.

Spring Regatta public relations office Alastair Abrehart said with six teams in the competition, the event can only get better and better. He noted that there were still two teams on the waiting list. “There was a rush to join the racing. But, I think that as people get more familiar with it and understand what it’s all about—it’s a bit of fun in one design boats and very matched close racing boats—it will grow from year to year,” he pointed out. “We’ve oversubscribed both years. It’s pretty much a fun day and people just to the lay day activities at Bitter End Yacht Club. The event was also joined by laser racing and team racing on the lasers. For those wanted to, it was a busy day on the water. For those who didn’t, it was a very relaxing day at Bitter End Yacht Club.”

Thursday’s Nanny Cay Cup—a downwind race from Bitter End Yacht Club to Nanny Cay—which also included the Moorings Sailing Festival Cup, for best performing bareboat in the two races, that began with the Bitter End Cup, saw Mike Schlens and crew on Cosmic Warlord, taking the overall prize for the Sailing Festival after turning in a third place finish on Thursday, to go with Tuesday’s win. Martin Jacobsen’s Swan 44, Crescendo, took the measure of Bill Alcott’s Andrews 68 Equation—which had the fastest time on the windward leg—for a 35 seconds edge on corrected time.

Following are the 34th BVI Spring Regatta award winners:

Bareboat A: 1. Platinum Harken, Gerald Miller/Neil Harvey 2. Justice, Justin Barton. 3. Dot Com, Dunbar.

Bareboat B: BVI Yacht Charters, Phil Otis. 2. Team Germany. 3. Compass Rose, John Thompson.

Moorings Charter Cup A: 1. Platinum Harken, Gerald Miller/Neil Harvey. 2. Glascarnoch, Jacob Oetiker. 3. Sherlock, Oscar Tejerina.

Moorings Charter Cup B: 1. Compass Rose, John Thompson. 2. Carpie Diem, Fredrick Maner. 3. Ullswater, H Plug.

One Design: IC-24. 1. Sea Hawk, Robbie Hirst. 2. Stinger. John Holmberg. 3. Conch-Querer, Andrew Waters.

Beach Cats: 1. Caribbean Auto Mart, Thomas Ainger. 2. Wave Magnet, Douglas Dereu. 3. Rush, Bruce Merced.

Laser Standard. 1. Thomas Barrows. 2. Doug Stewart. 3. Ron Gurney.

Laser Radial: 1. Emma Paull. 2. Sydney Jones. 3. Claire Burke.

Formula Windsurfer: 1. Sean Anderson. 2. Ewan Enderson. 3. Alec Anderson.

Racing Class B: Titan XII, Tom Hill. 2. Temptress, Richard Shulman. 3. Hissar. Edgar Cato. Big Boat Series: Titan XII, Tom Hill.

Class C: 1. Crescendo, Martin Jacobsen. 2. Cosmic Warlord, Michael Shlens. 3. Anticipation, Peter Newlands.

Class D: 1. Magnificent Seven, John Foster. 2. Lost Horizon, James Dobbs. 3. Mistress Wuickly, Guy Eldridge.

Racer Cruiser: 1. Pipe Dream, Peter Haycraft. 2. Meyett’s Balaju II, Jose Sanchez. 3. Boomerang, pat Nolan.

Performance Cruising: 1. Shamrock V, Thomas Mullen. 2. Diva, Robin Tattersall. 3. Northern Child, Julian Sincock.

Jib and Main: 1. Hotel California Too. 2. Big Ben, Andy Kaiser. 3. Aix d’or, Erik van Ouwerkerk.

Bitter End prize for Spirit and Enthusiasm. Sydney Jones.

Bitter End Swan Award: Cooper Island course, Northern Child of St. Peter Port, Julian Sincock. Norman Island course: Crescendo, Martin Jacobsen.

Chief Minister’s Cup—Best BVI Boat: Sea Hawk, Robbie and Mike Hirst.