Class winners and Opti sailors at the 2023 BVI Dinghy Championships organised by the Royal BVI Yacht Club (RBVIYC). Photo: RBVIYC/Facebook

The six Optimists, skippered by sailors aged between 8 and 13 sailed a total of 7 races. Photo: RBVIYC/Facebook

With three races sailed, wins in the first two were enough for Rusty Henderson to take first overall in the foiling event. Photo: RBVIYC/Facebook

With many sailors competing in their first-ever regatta, there was a buzz of excitement with a smattering of nerves as boats were rigged and sailors gathered for a briefing. The race course was set in the Sir Francis Drake Channel with the ILCA’s and RS Fevas set to race a triangular course, the Optis a windward leeward course and the Foilers figured it out on the fly!

'Green fleet'

The six Optimists, skippered by sailors aged between 8 and 13 sailed a total of 7 races. Three different sailors, Lochlan Geyser, Piper Bailey and James Davis all claimed race wins with Dots Knight, Jake Richardson and Phoenix Steer all finishing races in a top three position. All of these young sailors are ‘green fleet’ which means they are new to racing and have been building their skills in their after-school sailing classes. Racing in a regatta is a major achievement for all of them and every race was another chance to learn something new.

Other members of the youth sailing programme were competing in the RS Feva class which saw a mixture of adults and youngsters. The only youth team, Aerin Westlake and Maggie Nolan, put in a fantastic performance to finish in third place. Rhiannon Davis, sailing with son Ioan, finished in second overall with 13-year-old Mia Armstrong, with mum Cate as crew, claiming a clean sweep of first-place finishes to take the title.

Adults get in on the action

According to a press release from the Royal BVi Yacht Club, it was not just about learning to race for the young sailors as members of the adult training courses also took to the race course for the first time.

Grainne Hussey and Katie Harby finished fourth place in the Feva class taking onboard some interesting memories and identifying skills to work on!

Marentia de Villiers wins ILCA4 

In the ILCA4 (Laser 4.7) fleet Marentia de Villiers won the first three races and finished second in the fourth to take the title ahead of Bijorn Bullock.

Bijorn, another sailor racing in his first regatta, clinched the win in race 4 and second place in races 1 and 3 was enough for him to finish second overall.

Third place went to Hoss Moghimi.

Samuel Allen sweeps ILCA7 Class

The ILCA7 (Laser) class sadly had only two entries and taking a clean sweep of race wins, Samuel Allen was the overall winner. Aaron Gardner finished in second place.  

Many of the ‘usual suspects’ in the Laser fleets have taken up wing foiling so a foiling event was added to the Championships in 2022.

Foiling

With conditions a little too light for several of the expected entrants, it came down to a showdown between last year’s podium finishes once again. With three races sailed, wins in the first two were enough for Rusty Henderson to take first overall. Colin Rathbun finished in second place and Chris Haycraft in third.

The Royal BVI Yacht Club extended special appreciation to its partners Nanny Cay and Nagico.