Registration has opened for the 52nd BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival. The seven-day event of ‘Warm Water and Hot Racing’ takes place March 31-April 6, 2025, and is one of the top events in the Caribbean sailing calendar.
The Sailing Festival element of the event begins on Monday, March 31, with opening day festivities and a skipper pack collection. Racing kicks off on Tuesday with the ever-popular Round Tortola Race for the Nanny Cay Cup, a stunning 37 nautical mile race around the island of Tortola and a perfect shakedown race for all the crews as they circumnavigate Tortola: “It’s one of my favorite races of all time, sailing around Tortola,” said Sandra Askew, owner/skipper of Flying Jenny, a Cape 31.
The Scrub Island Invitational follows the next day with a 12nm upwind race from Nanny Cay to the Scrub Island Resort. The relatively short, sharp race in the sheltered waters of the Sir Francis Drake Channel ends with an afternoon BBQ, music, and pool party. A lay day on Thursday, April 3, allows families and crews to explore the host island of Tortola some of the outer islands, or prep for the BVI Spring Regatta (April 4-6), three days of spectacular sailboat racing and some of the best that the Caribbean’s has to offer featuring a unique mix of round the island and course racing.
Michael Wilson, owner/skipper of Cape 31 Shotgunn, winner of Spring Regatta’s division CSA 2 in 2024, commented at the regatta close: “It’s been a really good regatta; we want to come back here again. The race committee did a brilliant job of getting as many races in as they did and the variation of sailing with Round Tortola and Scrub Island earlier in the week is a nice change from the usual kind of racing we do.”
The regatta attracts a diverse fleet, from performance racing boats to a competitive bareboat fleet, with plenty of charter options in both categories, such as whole boat or ‘head’ charters.
Sail Racing Academy’s Escapado, a Beneteau First 40.7 and veteran of six BVI Spring Regattas saw a team of six with a mix of nationalities and ages ranging from 21 to 60-something last year. One of the crew clients was Englishman Ben Newman, who was looking for some sailing to do after he finished university. An advert for Sail Racing Academy piqued his interest and he signed up. “I’ve sailed in the past, but this is a very different experience,” Newman noted. “This is more racing than cruising, so the sailing is approached differently, it’s really good fun.
It was Newman’s first time to the BVI: “It’s absolutely beautiful. You see one nice island and think, wow, that is so nice. Then you turn around and see another one that is just as nice! The first two days of racing were great conditions and when the wind is on, it’s just ideal, with a lot of technical racing through narrow channels, it’s been great fun”.
The focal point of regatta social activities for the week is the Regatta Village at Nanny Cay, which features the Big Top bar, satellite bars, food village, nightly DJs and live bands, tastings and demos, Moko Jumbies, art shows, and more.
To sign up or for further information on the BVI Spring Regatta visit: https://www.bvispringregatta.org
