Team Rob Swain Sailing School finished up sixth out 12 boats this past weekend in the IC 24 class of the BVI Spring Regatta hosted by Nanny Cay Marina in Tortola. The crew consisted of the great Tom Hall skippering, Rob and Gina Swain, myself (Carter White) and Steve Fernald. On Saturday and Sunday Rob and Gina were not available to crew so we received some great help from Dave and Nate who are currently working in the BVIs. The winds kept strong all weekend never lowering below 20 knots. The IC 24 class has a general rule of not allowing spinnakers unless the wind is less than 18 knots or so. The RC took down the no spinnaker flag for the first race on Sunday. The race was a quick windward leeward and we rounded the top mark in first. However, half way down the second leg to the finish we flubbed the gybe and two boats pasted us and we finished the race in third by about one boat length. It was great to get the cob webs out of the way and tune up the racing skills in preparation of summer in the northeast.

This was my first regatta that had international umpires on the water who would make in the water decisions about right of way rules. We had three separate situations that required the umpires to make decisions. The first situation happened on Friday. We approached the starboard layline about four lengths away from the windward mark and lee bowed a starboard tacker and was sailing on starboard for about a boat length and then two port tackers tried to fit between us and the mark. There wasn’t enough room and the closer port tacker hit us. We tried to avoid the collision but it was impossible. The umpires penalized the inside most port boat as well as us. Not sure why we received a penalty. The 2^nd situation was at a start and a windward boat was getting too close to the line and tried putting their bow down but their jib trimmer kept the jib fully trimmed and they gained a bunch of speed and couldn’t avoid hitting us. The skipper knew he was wrong and actually was yelling at his jib trimmer and started to do his penalty turn, however the umpires came over and waved the green no foul flag, so he just kept on sailing. After the race the umpires came over to us and we pointed out our smashed up side of the boat and the umpires then apologized and said that they didn’t see the collision. The 3^rd situation involved a boat that hit the windward mark right as we were approaching it and we could clearly see the infraction and nicely tried to bring it to their attention but the umpires again took no action.

Needless to say I think the umpiring was useless and ineffective. Our sport has long been self policing and if we the competitors use the rules the way they are intended the sport can be enjoyable and competitive. The other annoying by-product of the umpires was that their two powerboats were creating disturbed water all over the course making finding the waves for surfing much more difficult.

Stay tuned for photos and a review of the IC 24 with tips and tricks. We were also using a experimental line supplied by Yale Cordage which we will review on Wed. of this week.

Photo of our boat by Richard Woodridge Racing in Paradise

Photo 1: Looking across the deck of the IC24.  Photo 2: Our team is all smiles.

Photo 3: Looking back at another IC24 heading out of the harbor for the day.