Tortola, British Virgin Islands - April 1-7, 2024

The Organizing Authority (OA) is the BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival and the Royal BVI Yacht Club.

  1. RULES 

1.1. The Regatta will be governed by:

(a) The rules as defined in The Racing Rules of Sailing

(b) CSA Rating Rules

(c) The Class Rules for those classes sailing as One Design

(d) Each boat shall carry a VHF radio to be used exclusively for the purpose of safety and race committee communications.

1.2. The Racing Rules of Sailing are changed as follows:

(a) Rule 52 will not apply.

(b) Rule 44.1 is changed. The penalty for a boat breaking a rule of PART 2 will be a One-Turn Penalty.

(c) Provided that rule 44.1(b) does not apply, a boat that may have broken one or more rules of Part 2 or rule 31 in an incident may take a Post-Race Penalty (30% scoring penalty) at any time after the race until the beginning of a protest hearing involving the incident.

(d) Rule 90.2 (c) is changed. On the water changes to the sailing instructions will be announced by VHF radio.

(e) Rule 62.1 (a). Failure to receive any race committee announcements transmitted over VHF radio will not be grounds for redress.

(f) The first sentence of Rule 76.1 is changed to “The organizing authority or the race committee may reject or cancel the entry of a boat or exclude a competitor, subject to rule 76.3, provided it states the reason for doing so.

(g) Accredited journalists, photographers or cameramen who are not regular crew members may join and/or leave a boat at any time and by any means so long as their doing so does not directly affect another competitor and they play no part in the racing of the boat. This changes RRS 48.2

2. ADVERTISING 

2.1. Boats may be required to display advertising chosen and supplied by the organizing authority in accordance with World Sailing regulation 20.

3. ELIGIBILITY AND ENTRY 

3.1. The Royal British Virgin Island Yacht Club, as the organizing authority, may refuse to allow a boat to race if in its opinion the boat is inadequately crewed or equipped or is otherwise not seaworthy or unsuitable for the course to be sailed.

3.2. The race committee will have the right to inspect any boat before or after a race.

3.3. Boats having a valid rating certificate may enter by completing an official entry form and submitting the applicable entry fee. An official entry form may be obtained at www.bvispringregatta.org.

LIABILITY

  1. a) As a condition of entry into this Regatta, the entrant accepts that it is their sole and inescapable responsibility for the management and safety of their yacht, and the BVI Spring Regatta Committee, BVI Chamber of Commerce and Hotel Association, Royal BVI Yacht Club, Sponsors or any of their members and employees accept no responsibility for loss of life or injury to participants or others or the loss of, or damage to, any yacht however caused, before, during or after the Regatta.
  2. b) The Skipper/Owner of each yacht participating in the Regatta shall be responsible for the behavior of each member of the crew of their In the case of any destruction of property, any breach of reasonable standards of good sportsmanship by skipper or any crew member, or the failure to comply with any reasonable request of any officer or agent of the BVI Spring Regatta Committee directed to any member of any participating yacht, that yacht may be disqualified from participating in any future races in the Regatta.

4. CLASSES 

4.1. The races are open to boats of the following classes:

  • CSA Spinnaker including Racer/Cruiser
  • Offshore Multihull and Sport Multihull
  • CSA Performance Cruiser, Jib and Main, Bareboat, Multihull, Cruising Multihull
  • One Design Classes

4.2. The organizing authority reserves the right to create additional classes at any time.

4.3. A boat will be assigned to a class by the organizing authority which reserves the right to transfer a boat to another class after the first day’s racing and before the start of the second day’s racing. Changes will be posted on the official notice board at the Registration area.

4.4. The minimum number of crew for each boat will be two except where class rules state otherwise.

4.5. CSA Rule 8.9.1.2 is changed. Bareboat: The provided anchor, chain and/or rode shall be on board when racing and may be relocated. No part of an anchor shall overhang the bow or forward cross arm while racing.

5. FEES

Sailing Festival Spring Regatta Discount for Both
April 2-3 April 5-7
Monohull & Multihull $175 $425 $550

6. SCHEDULE

6.1. Registration for the Sailing Festival will be open 1200-1800 hours on Monday 04/01/2024 at the Registration area. (Accepting Registration for BVI Spring Regatta as well)

6.2 Registration for the BVI Spring Regatta will be open 1200-1800 hours Thursday 04/04/2024 at the Registration area.

6.3. The order of starts, the starting area, and the finishing area for the first race each day will be posted by 0800 hours on the day of the race. 

6.4.  Dates of Racing:

Date Day(s) Class 1st Warning
Sailing Festival
April 2 Tuesday All 1000 hrs
April 3 Wednesday All 1000 hrs
April 4 Thursday Foiling / Dinghy and  Fun Lay Day 1000 hrs
Spring Regatta
April 5 - 7 Friday - Sunday All 1000 hrs

7. SAILING INSTRUCTIONS

7.1. The sailing instructions will be available at the registration area and online at bvispringregatta.org and www.yachtscoring.com.

8. VENUE 

8.1. Racing will be in the Sir Frances Drake Channel and adjacent waters. 

9. THE COURSES

9.1. Windward/leeward & distance racing from multiple starting areas as illustrated on the Course Mark Card.

10. PENALTY SYSTEM 

10.1. An international jury will be constituted in accordance with Appendix N and rule 91(b).

11. SCORING

11.1. Each boat’s series score will be the total of the race scores.

11.2. All measurement classes will be scored by Time on Time.

11.3. One race will constitute a series.

12. PRIZES 

12.1. Prizes for each class will be given after racing on Sunday, April 7, 2024.

12.2. Additional Prizes may be awarded