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| Racing of all sorts at the BEYC ProAm Regatta | | Print | |
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November 3, 2009
Bitter End YC, Virgin Gorda, BVI After three days of racing at the Bitter End YC ProAm Regatta here in the British Virgin Islands, we have a lay day which includes a trip to Anegada. The six pro’s and nearly 40 guests participating in the event are taking the day off to relax, snorkel, and enjoy the beautiful Caribbean weather. 
Kat and Larry Hard At Work
Photo: Anna Tunnicliffe, Nov 2009
I was invited to participate in this event earlier this year, and after
hearing what a great event it is, I committed to coming, and I have no
regrets. I am one of the six pro’s here, along with Paul Cayard, Ken
Reed, Keith Musto, Zach Railey, and Wild Card entry Craig Albrecht.
The event started on November 1 when the guests participated in a half-day regatta which was a qualifier for the finals held later this week. That morning I went windsurfing to get in a bit of a workout, but competed in the racing that afternoon in a Hobie Wave. The second day was a long distance race down to the other end of the island to an area called the Baths. There were multiple types of boats racing, but I was racing in one of the four IC24’s. Onboard I had my husband Brad crewing for me along with two other guests, Kat and Larry. We had a couple of great race down there and back, with the first three boats finishing the first leg within 15 seconds of each other. Zach took the low road the whole race, and stayed a bit more offshore than Keith and me. Despite being ahead of Keith for most of the race, he got the better of us on the last reach to the finish, as did Zach who pulled out the better pressure right at the end to take line honors. Once we reached the Baths, we moored our boats, swam to the spectator boats, had a lunch and snorkeled, and then started racing back to the BEYC at 2pm. The race back took a bit longer as it was mostly upwind the whole way. Luckily the waves were not too big and the wind wasn’t too strong, so it was quite a pleasant ride home. The race again came down to three boats. This time Craig was in the mix, rather than Zach, who had decided that he was going to try his offshore strategy again but this time it failed miserably. Craig took line honors, and Keith again, passed us in the last reach to the finish. We had a good time and were looking forward to the next day’s racing. 
Start of Second Leg of Race to the Baths
Photo: Anna Tunnicliffe, Nov 2009
Yesterday was the start of the actual ProAm Regatta. The regatta has a
racing format called triple racing. The idea of triple racing is to
score a point by winning the race, however, there are only three boats
racing at a time. Match racing and team racing are legal during the
races, so second and third in the race can gang up on first to pass
them back. We completed seven races yesterday, with three more
scheduled on Thursday morning. I struggled a bit with the racing
yesterday, but finally won the last race to put one point on the board
for me. It was an important race to win too for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, it was the last race of the day, and we wanted to win the race
back to the dock, but also because it was against Paul and Kenny, two
very talented sailors. My teams did a fantastic job all day long, and
I had a great time with all of them. |
Team Member
Olympic Gold Medalist, World Class Woman Laser Radial Sailor And Now World Class Women's Match Racer
