2025 BVI Spring Regatta Delivers Again
“This year’s BVI Spring Regatta brought something different — wind!” smiled Ron Boehm, owner/skipper of Little Wing, his Perry Antrim 52 cat. “Little Wing likes wind; this year we added a new North jib and a Neil Pryde code 0 to our wardrobe; we were anxious to see how they worked.”
Boehm, a long-time I-14 sailor from Santa Barbara, keeps Little Wing in St. Croix and races her regularly over the winter in Caribbean regattas. At BVI Spring Regatta this year, Little Wing finished second in the Cruising Multihull class, beaten by longtime rival from the Dominican Republic, La Novia, a Leopard 50 that swept the class with all bullets.
“Over the weekend, we used just the new jib and a single reef, and we traded line honors with La Novia; over 30-40 races in the last four years, the two boats have proven to be fairly close to even, although Little Wing owes La Novia a significant amount of time!” Boehm noted. “The BVI Spring Regatta, with its round-the-island formats, great parties, and enough time to visit both new and familiar anchorages and snorkeling sites, is the Little Wing crew’s favorite Caribbean regatta.”
BVI Spring Regatta welcomed some 80+ boats, including a 10-strong VX One fleet, which duked it out on three courses, taking in the stunning BVI islands as marks and rounding points. The earlier part of the weeklong event highlights the Sailing Festival, which includes the Round Tortola Race and Scrub Island Invitational, followed by the three-day Spring Regatta. The breeze this year was all-consuming with a solid 25-30 knots+, abating on Saturday and Sunday to a solid 20+. Carnage ensued for sure, but sailors by definition love breeze, and the epic post-race parties served to temper the high energy necessary to make good on the racecourse.
Racing BVI Spring Regatta for the first time this year was a group who sail out of Marina del Rey in Los Angeles. Calling themselves Team Phoenix in consideration of friends and family who lost so much in the L.A. fires earlier this year, and racing on a chartered Harmony 52, they enjoyed the warm turquoise waters and friendly atmosphere at Nanny Cay Resort & Marina, which offered a much-needed respite from a devastating winter.
