From Flying Trimarans to Bareboat Battles — The BVI Delivers Again

BVI Spring Regatta: Where Speed Meets the Islands

There are regattas you race.

And then there are regattas you experience.

BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival has always been firmly in the second camp — a place where world-class racing meets trade wind sailing, island geography and just enough unpredictability to keep everyone honest.

And in 2026, it delivered exactly that.

A fleet stacked with variety. A racecourse that rewards instinct. And conditions that don’t let you hide.

Sophia: A Trimaran That Refused to Be Ignored

If there was one boat that caught the eye — and held it — it was Sophia.

The Nigel Irens-designed 63-foot trimaran, now campaigned by Marcus Sirota, arrived in the BVI with momentum and didn’t waste time reminding the fleet why.

Formerly known as Paradox 3, the ORMA 60-inspired machine had already built a serious résumé:

MOCRA class honours in the Rolex Fastnet Race Overall victory at the Caribbean Multihull Challenge Podium finishes across the RORC Caribbean circuit

And crucially, it had a skipper who understood exactly what he had underneath him.

“I was looking for something faster, something more performance driven,” Sirota explained. He found it.

Despite being considered “older” by cutting-edge multihull standards, Sophia proved one thing very quickly:

Fast is still fast.

A Multihull Fleet That Meant Business

The Performance Multihull division wasn’t short on firepower.

Sophia lined up against:

Little Wing (Gunboat 68) Layla (72ft) Dreadknot (62ft) Avel Vaez (ORC 57) The foiling cat Falcon

That’s not a fleet. That’s a conversation about speed, design and intent.

And in the BVI, where the breeze fills and the water flattens just enough, these boats don’t just race — they fly.

Local Knowledge vs Raw Pace

While the headline boats grabbed attention, the real racing often played out deeper in the fleet.

Tortola’s own Sam Talbot returned with his Rapido 40 trimaran — still working through technical gremlins, still smiling about it.

“We were still fighting steering issues,” he admitted, waiting on yet another rudder solution. That’s multihull racing. When it’s right, it’s magic. When it’s not, it’s a project.

But Talbot understood something more important:

The BVI is built for this.

Protected waters Multiple island options Creative course setting And enough wind variation to keep it interesting

“It’s probably the best multihull venue in the Caribbean,” he said.

Hard to argue with that.

The Sir Francis Drake Channel: A Racecourse That Thinks Back

The beauty of racing in the Sir Francis Drake Channel is that it doesn’t just reward speed.

It rewards awareness.

With islands scattered like chess pieces across the course, every decision matters:

Go inside or outside Chase pressure or protect position Commit early — or wait and react

Add shifting conditions — from light, tactical mornings to full trade wind pressure — and you get exactly what the BVI delivered:

Racing where no two legs feel the same.

Monohulls, Friends and Rivalries That Run Deep

Further down the fleet, the racing was no less real.

Antolin Velasco returned aboard Kairos, chasing improvement after a frustrating previous year.

Lost sails. Lost time. Lessons learned.

This time, it was about doing it better.

But in the BVI, it’s rarely just about results.

It’s about:

Friends racing friends Crews splitting across boats Rivalries that are competitive — but never cold

“Part of our crew from last year were on another boat,” Velasco said. That’s the BVI in one sentence.

Bareboat Racing: Where It’s Still About the People

Then there’s the bareboat fleet.

No million-pound budgets. No optimisation programmes. Just crews, boats and a willingness to get stuck in.

Charlie Garrard’s Team Merlin summed it up perfectly:

Minimal prep New crew members Long days on the water Longer nights ashore

And still — tight racing.

“Podium is the goal,” he said. “But if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t matter.”

Because here, it’s about something else:

Racing hard — and enjoying it properly.

Local Campaigns: Racing What You Have

Scott Meyers brought a different kind of campaign.

Living aboard Dark n Stormy at Nanny Cay, his approach was less polished, more real.

Last-minute prep Equipment still being fitted Discovering sails you didn’t know you had

“I’m kind of winging it,” he admitted.

And yet — he showed up.

That’s the point.

Why the BVI Still Delivers

What the 2026 BVI Spring Regatta proved — again — is simple:

You don’t need uniform fleets. You don’t need perfect boats. You don’t need controlled conditions.

You need:

Good water Good breeze And people who want to race

Everything else falls into place.

The Bottom Line

From high-performance trimarans to bareboat crews learning as they go, the BVI delivered a regatta that felt exactly as it should:

Fast.

Unpredictable. And properly alive.

Because in the end, this isn’t just racing. It’s sailing — the way it was meant to be.