Wednesday 28 March, 2012
CHAMPAGNE SAILING FOR THE BITTER END CUP
BVI SPRING REGATTA & SAILING FESTIVAL
Louay Habib
Champagne sailing for BVI Sailing Festival competitors racing round Virgin Gorda
for the Bitter End Cup Credit: BVI Yacht Shots/BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival
Racing finally got underway for the BVI Sailing Festival with a 30 mile race around
the beautiful island of Virgin Gorda. A 15-knot easterly breeze with flat water
provided awesome sailing conditions for the fleet.
First away was Peter Aschenbrenner's 63ft Trimaran, Paradox with round the world
legend Cam Lewis on board calling tactics. The ballistic multihull was first to
finish by some distance, completing the course in an elapsed time of three hours,
nine minutes and six seconds, just 13 minutes shy of the course record set by Swan
82, Virago.
Line honours for Peter Aschenbrenner's 63ft Trimaran in the Round Virgin Gorda Race
today
Credit: BVI Yacht Shots/BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival
Paradox owner, Peter Aschenbrenner comes from San Francisco but he has an international
crew on board from America, Britain and France. "We sail just six up, as Paradox
has power assisted winches and hydraulic systems," commented Aschenbrenner. "This
is my first trimaran but I have been sailing skiffs for a while. I knew the designer
Nigel Irens as a friend and I love asymmetric sailing and going fast! It would be
nice to see other trimarans come here for the Festival. There are many multihulls
in the Caribbean and the BVI is such a great place to come sailing. Today, I especially
enjoyed the reach past Necker Island, really enjoyable, fantastic sailing."
Neil Harvey's Dufour 425, Acadia led the bareboat fleet from start to finish. In
a highly competitive start, Acadia took a port flyer and crossed the entire flotilla.
Once in clear air their advantage was magnified by a lift onto starboard tack and
Acadia looked to have got away to a winning lead but were destined not to even make
the top three.
Dufour 405, Team Trolly Car sailed by Bill Petersen and Peter Stazicker corrected
out to win by just over two minutes from Leonard Nekeman's Lucky Dutch, (who were
spotted in the Bitter End grocery store purchasing a case of Heineken prior to the
race!). Timen van Elst's Sunsail 44i BK, Grondlogistiek was third by just 24 seconds.
In the Cruising Class, Stephen Schmidt's Santa Cruz 70, Hotel California Too, put
in an impressive performance to take monohull line honours. But there was a long
wait to decide the winner of the Cruising Division on handicap. Alain Fougere's
J/160 Avatar corrected out to win the class but had to wait close to an hour to
be sure of the win. Thomas Mullen's J/95 Shamrock VII was a desperately close second
by just a minute with Hotel California Too in third.
The Racing Class start was an intense affair. A dog-fight kicked off between several
boats in the starting sequence. Molto Bene was called back on an individual recall
but returned to start correctly. Stefan Lehnert's Tripp 57, Passion 4C made a conservative
start but got away well. Notably Passion 4C held their genoa through the lee of
Prickly Island and stayed high rather than going for an early hoist. Michael Shlens'
Farr 400, Blade went for an earlier spinnaker and looked to have caught a hyper-gust,
which knocked them sideways. Global Yacht Racing's First 44.7, skippered by Marcus
Chollerton-Brown put in an impressive performance to finish fourth in the Racing
Class. Especially as this was the first time the team from the Manhattan Yacht
Club had ever raced the yacht.
Having fun racing in the Bitter End Cup Credit: BVI Yacht Shots/BVI Spring Regatta
& Sailing Festival
The Prize Giving at The Crawl Pub, Bitter End was a lively affair thanks to Gold
Sponsors, Heineken and Mount Gay Rum. John Glenn, VP of sales and marketing for
the Bitter End Yacht Club announced the winners and thanked the competitors for
coming to what has been a very enjoyable stay in the out of this world surroundings
of the North Sound.
The overall winner of The Bitter End Cup was awarded to Team Trolly Car. Much to
the delight of Donna Jo Petersen, who was also celebrating her birthday on board.
"It has just been a fantastic day, the guys worked so hard and we had a tremendous
battle with Acadia but to win on my birthday with my son, husband and old friends
on board was a dream come true, it just doesn't get better than that,"
Racing concludes tomorrow with the Nanny Cay Cup, the first warning will sound at
1000 and a prize giving will be held at the Nanny Cay Marina in Tortola.
Last year's BVI Spring Regatta Winners, Antilope has top Dutch sailor on board,
Bouwe Bekking Credit: BVI Yacht Shots
Christian and Lucy Reynolds, Swan 51, Northern Child Credit: BVI Yacht Shots
Video link to the start of the Bitter End Cup race today round Virgin Gorda:
For more information about the BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival go to: www.bvispringregatta.org
Event Press | BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival | Tortola | Virgin Islands, British
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