Royal BVI Yacht Club sailors who participated at this year’s Back to School Regatta. The event was hosted by the Royal BVI Yacht Club and took place on September 19 and 20, 2015 at Nanny Cay, with a total of 32 competitors.

Rayne Duff battled it out with Mia Nicolosi all weekend for the top spot. After two days and ten races of incredibly close and competitive racing, Rayne finished 2.5 points behind Mia for a 2nd place overall. Photo: File

Thad Lettsome and Jason Putley traded first places finishes throughout the weekend in very close races. In the end, Thad won out finishing with 16 points to Jason's 19 points over the eleven races sailed. With this win, Thad Lettsome qualifies for the Caribbean Dinghy Champs in Puerto Rico on October 16-18, 2015. Photo: File

On the first day, the Championship course got in six races and the green course, eight and then on the second day the Championship fleet and green fleet managed nearly a dozen between them.

The green course had tons of fun!

Ryan Lettsome, Noah George, Samuel Allen, Felix Thorp, Esme Frith, Hallam Frith, all sailed fairly well: getting seconds, fourths, and placing in the top half of the fleet, with each sailor being able to improve their performance from the previous race

On the second day of racing green fleet had two full hours of sailing which meant a great deal of upwind focus. The green fleeters managed to stay focused for the remainder of the regatta and two, Ryan Lettsome and Felix Thorp, were able to sail their way into a first place!

“Improvements were made on the upwinds by Noah, Esme, and Hallam; on the reaches and the finish improvements were made by Samuel,” said organisers.

The Royal BVI Yacht Club was represented by five members of its racing team.

Sailing in her first championship event, white fleeter Anya Reshetiloff was impressive with a number of excellent starts. Max Reshetiloff finished 9th overall racing in the blue fleet. Along with his great leeward mark roundings, Max succeeded in his goal of placing top 10 at the event. Kyle Roose's consistent finishes landed him one spot ahead of Maxwell in 8th place overall and a trophy for 3rd in the blue fleet.

Nathan Haycraft with his superb kiting managed to pass boats on almost every downwind leg. Nathans best race was a tie for first with St Thomas' Mia Nicolosi. Nathan finished 2nd in the blue fleet and a strong 4th place overall.

Tough battle between Rayne Duff & Mia Nicolosi

Rayne Duff battled it out with Mia Nicolosi all weekend for the top spot. After two days and ten races of incredibly close and competitive racing, Rayne finished 2.5 points behind Mia for a 2nd place overall.

The Laser Radial fleet was comprised of four sailors from the Royal BVI Yacht Club. Stephon Ganga and Jerome Parkins sailed well in their first regatta in the laser radial class. Stephon and Jerome's boat handling consistently improved through the course of the regatta.

Thad Lettsome qualifies for Caribbean Dinghy Champs in Puerto Rico

Thad Lettsome and Jason Putley traded first places finishes throughout the weekend in very close races. In the end, Lettsome won out finishing with 16 points to Jason's 19 points over the eleven races sailed. With this win, Lettsome qualifies for the Caribbean Dinghy Champs in Puerto Rico on October 16-18, 2015. 

The regatta wrapped up around 1:30pm with happy faces and fantastic trophies made out of recyclable materials.

The next event the Royal BVI Yacht Club race team will be doing is the Columbus Day Regatta over in St Thomas, USVI.

The VI’s next Youth Regatta will be the BVI Dinghy Championship on May 22 and 23, 2016.