ABN AMRO ONE, winner of the 2005–6 Volvo Ocean Race yesterday lifted the Racing A Class winner’s trophy at this year’s BVI Spring Regatta, allowing them to take overall honours in the Caribbean Big Boat Series with one event remaining. The three day regatta, which took place in the Sir Francis Drake Channel off Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, delivered perfect Caribbean racing conditions for the race-winning 70 foot Volvo Open 70.
The 2007 BVI Spring Regatta is the second of three events making up this year’s Caribbean Big Boat Series. Having won their class in both the St Maarten Heineken Regatta and this weekend’s BVI Spring Regatta, ABN AMRO ONE takes first place in the series with one event – Antigua Race Week – yet to be sailed.
Skippered by Kiwi Brad Jackson joined by a combination of sailors from ABN AMRO ONE, ABN AMRO TWO, the TEAM ABN AMRO shore crew and other special guests, ABN AMRO ONE relished the reliable twenty plus knot trade winds and crystal clear waters of the British Virgin Islands. Racing windward-leeward courses each day combined with longer round-the-islands courses which allowed ABN AMRO ONE and her crew to stretch her legs, Tom Hill Sr’s Titan XII, ABN AMRO ONE’s nearest competitor, were unable to catch ‘Black Betty’.
Skipper Brad Jackson commented: “We’ve had a fantastic regatta here in the BVI’s this weekend, with unrivalled Caribbean sailing conditions. The crew aboard ABN AMRO ONE has had a lot on – sailing short courses round the islands on a boat built for ocean racing is very physically demanding. It’s been a pleasure to skipper ABN AMRO ONE in our second Caribbean regatta and look forward to racing again in Antigua next month.”
ABN AMRO ONE crew list:
Brad Jackson, (NZL) Skipper ABN AMRO ONE
Justin Slattery (IRE) ABN AMRO ONE
George Peet (USA) ABN AMRO TWO
Mike Quilter (NZL) TEAM ABN AMRO
Neil Cox (AUS) shore crew TEAM ABN AMRO
Graham Fleury (NZL)
Phil Harmer (AUS)
John Kostecki (USA)
Anne-Marie Kostecki (NED)
Chris Nicholson (AUS)
Francis Tregaskis (GBR)
Bob Wylie (AUS)
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