BVI Nations Cup

New match racing event for the Caribbean announced

While some sailors may be 'laying' about during the Layday of the second annual BVI Sailing Festival and precursor to the BVI Spring Regatta, eight teams flying their national flags will be battling it out on the waters of the North Sound in Virgin Gorda for top honors in the first annual Nation's Challenge Cup.

The Sailing Festival 'Nation's Challenge Cup' scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 31 March, 2004, will be open to two-boat teams representing their country of entry.

The event will be sailed in the Bitter End Yacht Club's new fleet of Hunter 216s from the drawing board of noted sport boat designer, Glenn Henderson, father of the Henderson 30 and the 1997 Sailing World Sportboat of the Year. With two flights, the 'B' teams will race in the morning, and the 'A' teams will race in the afternoon. Four races will be sailed in each flight with the boats swapped after each race. Crew weight per boat will be no more than 675 lbs.

"It's a little extra to add into the fun mix," said John Glynn of the Bitter End Yacht Club. "While we know that a day by the pool, or on the beach, or snorkeling, or dinghy sailing, or windsurfing may be enough for most people, there are others whose competitive spirit cannot be quelled. So what better way to represent your country than in a sportboat in the Caribbean? We're expecting entries from the USA, BVI, UK, Germany, Puerto Rico, Netherlands, US Virgin Islands, and Antigua or St. Maarten".

The entry fee is $100 per country and includes boat usage and backstay national flag. The first eight two-boat teams to enter will be accepted with a waiting list thereafter to allow for last minute dropouts.

The 2004 BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival starts on Monday, March 29 with a welcome party at regatta hosts, Nanny Cay Marina. Three days of destination cruising, racing and Layday fun, in, around, to and from Virgin Gorda's enclosed North Sound lead up to the main three-day regatta starting on Friday. The three-day regatta takes place on the south side of Tortola in the Sir Francis Drake Channel on three different courses.

The expanded 7-day format has turned the traditional three days of racing action into a week-long sailing festival that takes participants throughout the British Virgin Islands.

The largest ever BVI Spring Regatta concluded this year with 138 boats competing, substantially beating the record set last year of 114. The inaugural Sailing Festival - a low-pressure, three-day warm up for the regatta - saw 38 boats racing to and from the Bitter End Yacht Club in the North Sound, Virgin Gorda.

Nanny Cay Marina will once again be hosting the regatta and the perennial "regatta village". This fully equipped marina and boat repair facility, located within a natural basin, has berths for 180 motor cruisers and yachts.

Initially a family retreat on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands, Bitter End Yacht Club has evolved into a destination resort featuring eighty-five shoreside accommodations, three restaurants, a full-service marina and a world-renowned watersports center and sailing school.

Visitors can fly to the British Virgin Islands with direct flights into nearby St Thomas with Air 2000; a scenic 40-minute ferry journey across to Tortola completes the journey. Flights are also available through Antigua and Barbados on Virgin Atlantic or British Airways as well as through San Juan, Puerto Rico on American Airlines.

To obtain entry forms and enter your national team, contact the Bitter End's Special Event Office at 203-656-0799 or by e-mail at jglynn@beyc.com. For more information on the Bitter End Yacht Club visit: www.beyc.com