JANUARY 2012
CARIBBEAN COMPASS
PAGE 16
Greener BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival The BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival is March 26th through April 1st. Regatta Director Judy Petz says, “We have three race areas, with 18 classes — the right racing for everyone. We are adding the Gill BVI Match Racing Championships on March 28th and 29th. This is a Grade 3 event. Please contact us for an invitation. “We are also continuing our practice for a greener regatta and our silver level with Sailor for the Sea certification. This year we will be using all the bottles we have recycled over the past three years — over 45,000 — to be made into our 2012 awards. The glass will be recycled and repurposed to make outstanding awards that are created right here in the BVI. ‘The drink you were holding last year may be the award you hold this year’ is our slogan.” For more information visit www.bvispringregatta.org. Les Voiles de Saint-Barth: The Place To Be! Les Voiles de Saint-Barth, scheduled for April 2nd through 7th, continues with steady development following the success of the previous two editions, with the same goal in mind: to offer sailors from around the yachting world maximum enjoyment out on the water and ashore. With the support of their faithful partners, the organizers are doing their utmost to ensure that as many sailors as possible will be able to take advantage of the exceptional sailing conditions in the magical setting of Saint-Barth. Les Voiles de Saint-Barth can be proud of their rewarding third place ranking in the official list of Caribbean regattas. Peter Holmberg, the Virgin Islander Olympic medalist and match-racing expert, and his friends in the Caribbean Sailing Association have put Les Voiles de Saint-Barth alongside the RORC 600 and the Heineken Regatta at the top of West Indian racing events. François Tolède, Luc Poupon and
the organizing team are determined to keep the growth of the event under control and ensure that Les Voiles remains a fixture on the Saint-Barth calendar. Those involved in tourism have invested a lot to enable as many sailors as possible to stay here with their families and take advantage of this major week of racing. Accommodation for families and friends of the crews and the various leisure activities available ashore contribute to the success of the event. François Tolède, the event organizer, is pleased that business leaders in the tourism sector on the island are there to help and do all they can to satisfy the requirements of the 70 or so owners and their crews that are expected in April. CHRISTOPHE JOUANY / LES VOILES DE ST. BARTH
—Continued from previous page Francisco Figueroa and Jollaim Berrios also scored a win at the 2011 Hobie 16 North Americans. A fleet of over 20 beach cats is expected to compete. In the monohull classes, in addition to traditional individual class prizes, there will be three new ways to win. The first is an overall prize for the champion of the Racing A and B and Racer-Cruiser classes combined. The second is an overall prize for best visiting performing yacht, and third is an overall prize for the winner of the IC-24 and J/24 classes combined. Each of these three lucky skippers will win their weight in Heineken. “We’ll offer a mix of windward-leeward courses for the racing classes and short 40 to 45 minute races for the one-design IC-24s and J/24s. We are expecting a large fleet of J/24s, including teams from the Dominican Republic and Mexico,” says Ayala. “There will be courses with reaches for the cruising classes.” Regatta festivities will kick-off with a Captain’s Meeting on March 15th, racing March 16th through 18th, with nightly parties and an Awards Ceremony on March 18th. Classes include CSA Spinnaker Racing, CSA Spinnaker Racer-Cruiser, CSA J/24, IC-24, CSA Performance Cruiser, CSA Jib & Main and Beach Cat. There will also be a class for the native Chalanas. “We will also host the Puerto Rico International Dinghy Regatta March 17th and 18th,” says Ayala. The Snipes, Optimists, Lasers and Laser Radials will sail right off the beach.” For more information visit www.prheinekenregatta.com.
The racing element, which has already been heaped with praise, will be stepped up, with careful attention paid to the race courses around the islands and rocks swept by the seas and the seasonal tradewinds, to make them as technical and tactical as possible. In addition to the Maxi Yachts, Racing Yachts (spinnaker and non spinnaker), Classic Yachts and Racing Multihulls may be joined by several TP52s following requests from a certain number of owners; “If there are more than five boats, we reserve the right to open a new class and they will have their own competition,” added François Tolède. Without over-estimating the demand, the harbour in Gustavia can welcome 70 boats. The concept of fine racing on the water and a friendly reception ashore clearly pleases everyone. Peter Holmberg praises the wisdom of this approach and the perfect combination of racing and friendly gatherings ashore: “Les Voiles really does offer an intelligent concept. The organizers have from the outset found the right formula, pleasing hardened racers and those competing for their own enjoyment. The message is clearly understood and is circulating around the racing world. Saint-Barth is in the process of becoming necessary on the event calendar in the Caribbean in April. It is up to the organizers now to keep the growth of the event in check, so that it will remain one of the leading regattas in the Caribbean.” For more information see ad on page 17.