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Friday, March 29, 2024
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BVI Bulletin – Aug 05

You know you want it...

Mocka Jumbies and Rum...

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Team BVI Sailor wins in the Caribbean Laser Open.

28 sailors from throughout the
Caribbean took part in the 2005 Caribbean Laser Open Regatta in St. Martin
recently. Team BVI sailors, from the race training program organized by the BVI
Sailing Foundation and The Royal BVI Yacht Club, flew to St Martin to compete
in the event. The BVI Olympic Committee helped fund the team. For some of the
BVI sailors, this was the biggest fleet they had raced in. According to Emma
Paull, “Saturday was a long day with 5 races held and each race taking about an
hour. Strong winds and big seas throughout the weekend challenged the BVI
sailors and led to some exciting racing. Jamie Bibby and Bryshaun Scatliffe
both had bad capsizes in the third race which lead them to retire to recover
during lunch. The last race on Saturday was Bryshaun’s best race of the weekend
with a respectable 13th.”

At the end of racing on Saturday, Emma Paull was first in the Radial
fleet with second and third just a point behind each other. After the first
race on Sunday morning, the top three boats were on equal points, which meant
the finishing places in the last race would give the final results. Emma had a
good start – beating and defending her lead throughout the race to take first.
St. Maarten’s Robbie Ferron finished soon afterwards, coming in 2nd. This is the first time in the regatta’s
history that a woman has taken First Radial and First Women, so I really
congratulate Emma. With each competitor taking one prize, it meant that Elsa
Myers, who just graduated from the advanced Youth Sailing Programme at the RYA
Sailing Centre at Manuel Reef, took second with St Maarten’s Janneke Brouwer
just beating her by one point. Elsa also won the special youth prize as the only
youth that finished all the races. Congratulations to Elsa!

Emma states that, “The next event for the team is the Caribbean Dinghy
Championships in Antigua. The aim of the program is to develop the talent of
our sailors with the aim of sending them to regional and international
competition to represent the BVI. The long-term goal of the program is to send
sailors to the Regional and Olympic Games. The program has special training on
Wednesday evenings for youth (under 19) sailors and racing on Fridays for all
sailors.” Congratulations to our BVI winners. We are really proud of you.

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The RBVIYC North Sound Challenge and VISAR Waterworld

On Saturday, June 11th the Royal BVI Yacht Club
ran the North Sound Challenge for the Bristol Boatworks Trophy in a great race
that started outside of Road Harbour at 11am and ended at the Bitter End Yacht
Club in North Sound. Registration was held the night before at the yacht club
at Road Reef. Winning on corrected time was Guy Eldridge’s Melges 24, Mistress Quickly, helmed by Bryshaun
Scatliffe, one of our accomplished youth sailors from Tortola.Steve Martin finished second on his charter
yacht, Add to Life with his guests
having their first experience of racing. Kevin Rowlette’s Picaroon, an Oyster 54, finished in third with an all-woman crew.
The prize giving was enjoyed by all with Mocko Jumbies and great food at the
party in Leverick Bay. Bob & Linda Phillips are to be congratulated on
being the Race Committee.

Sunday was
another day of fun. In the morning, there were windsurfing races organized by
Island Surf and Sail with entries going to Leverick Bay for a big BBQ and
VISAR’S Water World – one of VISAR’S yearly fund raising events that
encompasses the entire day. We hope that a lot of money was raised and everyone
had a terrific weekend.

THE NYMPH is studied by an International
Team

In June, a team of water archeologists began their research
on a survey of The Nymph, a British warship that burned and sank in
Road Harbour more than 200 years ago. The six-member team consisted of
researchers from the UK, US, Canada and the Netherlands and were directed by
Dr. Mitch Kent of the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College. According to Mr.
Kent, the ship was lying at Tortola when it caught fire and sank. Three men
died on board.

While in the BVI,
the team conducted a sub-surface acoustic survey of the site to determine how
much of the ship is left in the mud in Road Harbour, near the current ferry
dock. The team is attempting to raise money to fund the project through several
fund-raisers. Leading the team was Kimberly Monk, a researcher from Bristol
University with David Moore, a maritime archaeologist, assisting. David is one
of the leading authorities on Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, a pirate
who used the Virgin Islands as a base for his raids, which is pretty exciting
in itself.

La Nymphe,
launched at Chatham Dockyard in 1778, was one of 25 Swan class Royal Navy ships
built in the colonial era. The Captain was Admiral Macbride. The 300-ton vessel
had three masts, was 96 feet long with a beam of 26 feet, carried 36 guns and a
crew of 125 men. The ship served in the East Indies before being transferred to
the West Indies in 1782. It caught fire in 1783 while in Road Harbour and sank
to the waterline. It lay on the bottom of the harbour until it was discovered
in February 1969 when dredging of Road Harbour revealed its location. We love
to see historic research like this happening in the BVI. It adds so much to our
history as you can see by the artist’s picture. I will report back once the research is made public.

CONGRATULATIONS – to
BVI Olympic sailor, Robbie Hirst, for pulling off 4 bullets in the 4th
Annual North Sails Regatta One Design Keelboat Championship in St.
Maarten. Along with crew Michael Hirst
and Chris Haycraft, the Latitude 18 team had a low score of 13 points in the
Gold Fleet. We’re proud of all of you. Way to Go!!

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