Another glorious day is dawning over the fleet of 20 sailing superyachts taking part in the Loro Piana Caribbean Superyacht Regatta & Rendezvous, organised by Boat International Media and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.
As the fleet – which ranges from the Swans Selene, Blues and Alpina to the Fitzroy Ohana, Royal Huisman Twizzle and Baltic Yacht Hetairos – make their way towards the start line west of Necker Island, there is a fresh breeze blowing across the sound which should make for another classic day of racing on the pristine waters of the British Virgin Islands.
As owners and their guests remember last night’s Loro Piana Owners’ Dinner and the crews recover from an epic party at Sandbox on Prickly Pear island, all thoughts will now be turning to tactics for the day. Early indications suggest that the race committee will elect to send the fleet anticlockwise around Virgin Gorda in a reverse of yesterday’s course. With a downwind start and a long beat round the south and east of the island there should be plenty of action on the water.
For Volvo Ocean Race veteran Bouwe Bekking, calling the shots on Day One Class A winner Nilaya, being at this regatta makes a pleasant change from Southern Ocean blasting. ‘You can’t get it any better,’ he beams. ‘I think you know Virgin Gorda is a fantastic place to sail and it completely lives up to what you expect – sunshine, good breeze and good competition so there’s nothing else to wish for when you go yacht racing!’
On board Leopard by Robertissima, the crew will also be looking to repeat their strong performance on Day One where the team notched up a solid second in Class A. ‘We were curious to see how the supermaxi would perform in the first race,’ says Vasco Vascotto, tactician for the event, ‘and it was a great race in spectacular conditions. We did good clean manoeuvres and didn’t take any chances.’
Look out for updates from the course throughout the day by following us on Twitter - @nautiwords and @boatint – and we will bring you a full race report with images and video of the day’s action on the water later today.