Final day canned

Alaistair Abrehart reports from the BVI Spring Regatta

Whooping, hollering and cheering echoed around Nanny Cay Marina, hosts for the 33rd annual BVI Spring Regatta, as the dulcet tones of principal race officer Peter "Luigi" Reggio announced the anticipated cancellation of racing at 10am this morning.

A 'Le Mans' style start followed as racers quickly opted for their plan Bs cooked up last night after looking at the weather forecast. Norman Island and the infamous Willy-T floating bar were high on the list.

"There was no point making them suffer on the water," said Bob Phillips BVI Spring Regatta chairman. "We've had a phenomenal number of races over the last two days - almost double that of many other major regattas held over a three-day period. It's obviously disappointing to have a no-wind final day but when you include the Sailing Festival as well we've squeezed a lot into a short space of time."

Following a protest last night, the top three boats in Bareboat B have swapped positions. Regardless of efforts by Frevo Team Germany (1,1,1,11) to reopen the hearing on Sunday, they were disqualified in the last race, ending the regatta with fourteen points rather than four. Northern Lights (2,3,5,3) moved up into first place with 13 points. Also ending the regatta with 14 points was third place Something Hot (5,2,6,1) and fourth place Mickey Mouse (3,4,2,5).

132 boats representing 15 different countries competed in the 33rd annual BVI Spring Regatta held April 2-4. 60 boats entered for the second annual BVI Sailing Festival, the low-pressure, three-day warm up for the regatta.

The BVI Spring Regatta is jointly owned by the Royal BVI Yacht Club and the
BVI Chamber of Commerce and Hotel Association. The 2004 BVI Spring Regatta
& Sailing Festival is presented by Nanny Cay Marina. The BVI Tourist Board
is a platinum sponsor. The Moorings, Heineken, Mount Gay Rum, First
Caribbean International Bank, The Bitter End Yacht Club, and Road Town
Wholesale (1975) Limited are gold sponsors. Tortola Yacht Services, CCT
Boatphone, Maui Jim sunglasses, Village Cay Hotel & Marina and Prospect
Reef Hotel are silver sponsors.

Caribbean Star, Fujifilm and Dasani are bronze sponsors.