Field set for 2019 St. Thomas International Regatta

St Thomas, USVI (March 21, 2019) – Ten boats competed in the 4th Round the Rocks Race, a scenic and competitive course featuring a circumnavigation of the 19-square-mile neighboring island of St. John. As the precursor for the 46th St. Thomas International Regatta (STIR), Peter Corr’s King 40 Blitz won the CSA Spinnaker division while Arran Chapman’s Farr 65 Spirit of Juno topped CSA Non-Spin.
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Editor’s note: The results have been updated for the Round the Rocks Race. Our apologies for this mistake.
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Nearly 50 boats are registered for STIR on March 22 to 24 with entries representing all three U.S. Virgin Islands, Caribbean islands such as Puerto Rico, the British Virgin Islands, St. Maarten and Antigua; U.S. mainland states from New York to Florida; and countries such as Canada, the UK, Belgium and Australia. Teams feature a range of talent from professional sailors and avid weekend warriors to those just learning to sail both adults and youth.

The CSA (Caribbean Sailing Association) Spinnaker class features some of the largest boats in the regatta as well as some of the fastest. Key among them is Blackfish, New York, USA’s Ron Zarrella’s custom-designed, 49-foot, cold-molded racer/cruiser, built by Brooklin Boat Yard, in Brooklin, Maine, and launched in 2017. Brooklin Boat Yard teamed up with designer Jim Taylor of Marblehead, MA, on this very successful design.

“After a successful 2018 racing season in New England where Blackfish competed in the Panerai New England Yacht Series, we were hooked and wanted to continue the competition,” says Zarrella whose crew includes wife Carolyn as well as a combination of seasoned Caribbean sailors, including designer Jim Taylor and his son Nat, some amateur friends from Nantucket, and Doyle sailmaker, Glen Cook.

“We knew we wanted to bring Blackfish down to the Caribbean for the season but didn’t think we could commit to more than three regattas in the series. So, we chose STIR, the BVI Spring and Antigua Classics. We are looking forward to the friendly competition beyond New England.”

Another hot entry with a fast boat and an all-star crew is Flying Jenny, a C&C 30 owned and sailed by Utah, USA’s Sandra Askew. Askew will be sailing with husband Dave, daughter Olivia, and professional sailors such as Charlie Enright, Will van Cleef, Brady Stagg, Peter Crawford, Norm Berge, and Grant Spanhake.

Askew has owned Flying Jenny for three years and last year won the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta and New York Yacht Club Race Week in Newport. In October, the team was crowned East Coast Champion in the C&C 30 One-Design class at the Annapolis Fall Regatta, hosted by the Storm Trysail Club-Chesapeake Station.

“This is my second time sailing this regatta,” says Askew. “We had such a blast in 2017 that we had to come back. We love the sun, the people, racing around the different islands and having drinks after the races at the yacht club.”

Sailing north from Antigua to join the action is Bernie Evan-Wong and his crew aboard the Reichel-Pugh 37, TAZ. Evan-Wong’s crew already have solid finishes in the RORC Caribbean 600 in February and St. Maarten Heineken Regatta earlier this month under their racing belts.

“TAZ, ‘the Carbon beast’ is unique in the Caribbean as a full-carbon, race boat owned by a Caribbean person,” says Evan-Wong. “We have been competing each year around the entire Caribbean circuit for 15 years.”

One of STIR’s first-time entries in the CSA Non-Spinnaker Class is Sonoma. Sonoma, captained by Craig Harms, is a classic 1986-built Bristol 41.1 center cockpit model, that operates as a luxury day and term charter yacht throughout the Virgin Islands.

Through Harms involvement with the Virgin Islands Professional Charter Association, he became aware of the Marine Rebuild Fund and its initiative to help local Virgin Islanders learn to sail and become involved in the charter industry. Harms decided to assist this effort by training a crew of Virgin Islanders to compete in regional sailing events. The team’s first event was the St. Croix International Regatta two weeks ago.

“After three days of racing in St. Croix, we look forward to extending the learning that began during that event,” says Harms, whose crew includes Khalil James, Darryl Donohue and Terrence Nelson. “By the third day of sailing we had the team and boat performing well, so we are excited to build on that progress, and hope to be in the hunt.

“But beyond the racing and sailing experience, we look forward to extending a connection between our St Croix team and the St Thomas program. This will be a week of new experiences for our crew, and they are approaching that with excitement and enthusiasm.”

The biggest and likely the most competitive class will be the IC 24s. Eighteen of these one-design vessels, a modification of a J/24, will be on the start line. Some of these boats are privately owned and some have been chartered from the St. Thomas Sailing Center, located at STUC. An example of the latter is David McBrier, from Erie, PA, USA, and his team.

“Four of our team members participated in the STIR regatta in 2017 on board Peggy and Kevin Gregory’s yacht ‘Odyssey’ a Beneteau 46.7 from Buffalo, NY,” says McBrier. “However, that boat was badly damaged in the 2018 hurricane and the new boat is now set up 100 percent for cruising in the islands. So, for 2019, we decided to come race in the IC 24 class and have some fun racing around the buoys and the local islands. With our experience of J/22, J/70, J/24 and big boats, the IC 24 is going to add a nice fun twist for everyone involved.”

Finally, multihulls will be represented in two classes: beach cats and Hobie Waves.

“This year is looking to be breezier than last year, so that will be a challenge,” says St. Thomas Kyree Culver, who won the Hobie Wave class during its inaugural introduction to STIR last year. “The great thing about the Hobie Wave class for me is getting to skipper a boat in a world class Caribbean regatta.”

Event information – Race details – Results – Facebook

Background: STIR, celebrating its 46th anniversary this year, is a globally-recognized regatta renowned for its fantastic racing, first-class race committee and friendly can-do attitude towards its competitors.

Source: Carol Bareuther