The West End Yacht Club successfully carried off it’s 26th Sweethearts & 22nd Classic Yacht Regatta at the Jolly Roger, West End, Tortola, on February 6 – 8th raising a whopping 2K to go towards the preservation of the Caribbean’s oldest Island Sloop – VIGILANT (1882) – which is rotting away on the hard at West End. This regatta is annually held over the weekend of Valentine’s and this year had 31 entries from St. John, St. Thomas and the BVI. Geoff Brooks, from the HLSCC set up a 3-panel display showing the history of the Island Sloops in the BVI with a model used as a donation box for funds going towards the preservation of Vigilant.

Each year, on the weekend closest to Halloween, multi-hull lovers gather on Jost Van Dyke, one of the smallest BVI islands, for the Caribbean’s only multihull regatta. Named after Foxy Callwood, host of the event at Foxy’s Tamarind Bar, run by the Loyal West End Yacht Club and sponsored by The Catamaran Company, this event is unique in that it offers great multihull racing as well as an outrageous Halloween Costume Party as its annual fare.

What a great weekend. We all enjoyed it to the MAX and hope you did too. Thanks to all of the USVI boats that came over to help make this regatta the fun that it was.

FOR GREAT PICTURES GO TO www.yachtshotsbvi.com Go to Scenic BVI and then to May 16 - 31st; Click on Foxy's Wooden Boat Regatta - THEY'RE GREAT AND THANKS TO YOU, GUY

Celebrants from several continents converged on the small island of Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands, to toast Foxy & Tessa Callwood on their anniversary of 3 decades of hosting the only all wooden boat regatta in the Caribbean – Foxy’s Wooden Boat Regatta (FWBR). What a great weekend - Both the BVI Chief Minister, Dr. Orlando Smith, and Governor Tom Macan attended with each presenting an award to Foxy for his contribution to both sailing and tourism in the BVI. A whopping 26 entries made up the two-day event during the Whit Holiday weekend on the last weekend in May. Sponsored by Mt. Gay Rum and Road Town Wholesale the event was a “red hat” regatta with Ann Leonard, from RTW, congratulating Foxy on his accomplishments.

Neptune Treasure’s patriarch, Vernon Soares started this 3-day event as a tribute to his late wife, Julie, seven years ago. Sponsors were Caribbean Cellars, The Jolly Roger, Harbour View Restaurant & Sailor’s Ketch. Everyone certainly had the opportunity to get in some great sailing as well as to enjoy a highly advanced degree of limin’. BVI Yacht Charters donated the Committee Boat, a Kit’s Kats, a roomy 45 Kronos catamaran, driven by John Cope.

The West End Yacht Club successfully launched it’s 26th Sweethearts & 22nd Classic Yacht Regatta at the Jolly Roger, West End, Tortola, on February 6 – 8th raising a whopping 2K to go towards the preservation of the Caribbean’s oldest Island Sloop – VIGILANT (1882) – which is rotting away on the hard at West End. This regatta is annually held over the weekend of Valentine’s but moved up a week this year to accommodate the St. Croix International Regatta. There were some 31 entries from St. John, St. Thomas and the BVI entered in the four races that make up the regatta weekend. Geoff Brooks, from the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) set up a 3-panel display showing the history of the Island Sloops in the BVI with a model used as a donation box for funds going towards the preservation of Vigilant.

At a Board Meeting held on Jan. 6th, it was agreed that the upcoming Sweethearts Regatta would be dedicated to the Island Sloop Fund and the saving of Vigilant -

The oldest Island Sloop in existance built in East End, Tortola, in 1882.

Vigilant Today

The regatta is sponsored by Road Town Wholesale, Mt. Gay Rum and Heiniken Beer.

GET READY - IT WILL BE THE 1ST SWEETHEARTS & CLASSIC REGATTA TO HAVE THOSE GREAT RED MT. GAY HATS so be sure to attend. You can e-mail captdave@surfbvi.com for questions. Thank you!

The weather was really windy but great, the chili cook-off was tremendously successful and the racing was outstanding for the 12th Annual Firecracker Regatta over July 4th weekend at the Jolly Roger, Restaurant & Bar, home of the West End Yacht Club.

Held in a pursuit format, the weather was something else for the event, – winds were out of the east with a hefty 16 – 26 knots. as the seas were unusually rough several of the signed up racers cancelled at the last minute. Vice-commodore of the RBVIYC,Chris Haycraft, easily won the event, even after a three-minute penalty for being over the line early. Haycraft’s IC-24, Crowley, is a converted J-24 and really spun around the course showing all of the great new changes to the boat.