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| Puerto Rico's Fraito Lugo, leads the competitive IC-24 fleet--where eight points seperate the top five--after opening day. Photo>Dean "The Sportsman" Greenaway |
TORTOLA—Toby Arnold came to the 37th BVI Spring Regatta on Glory Daze, hoping to build on last week’s fifth place finish in St. Thomas’ Rolex Regatta. Just after the first race in the IC-24 class began, his hopes disappeared.
“We lost our mast at the start of the first race,” he explained. “We came in with a good position at our favorite end of the line with a good start, then lost our lower starboard shroud on a starboard tact at the line and that caused the mast to break in two places. So, after that, we were not in a good place.”
The Barclays Kats boat was damaged on its port side in a collision while Boat Eyes, also had damage to its mast.
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| A Canada One crew member adjusts their Jib. Photo>Dean "The Sportsman" Greenaway |
St. Thomas’ Chris Curerri, said the conditions were nearing the threshold of not needing to be out there. “We could have done away with about 5-7 knots and we would have been perfect. We are not satisfied with our current position but, we can always do better. But, it was survival conditions.”
While all the commotion was going on, Puerto Rico’s Fraito Lugo took the lead in the class over BVI Olympian Robbie Hirst, where eight points separate the top five teams after five races. He said it was very rough and windy but the conditions were good and the fleet was compact. “The name of the game in this fleet is being very consistent,” he said. “I have to make good starts and always be in the first five positions all the time.”
Hirst said it’s a battle with the top five boats and the challenge is staying in control and trying not to hit anyone. “When you are in control, you go faster actually,” he pointed out. “It’s a lot of crew work more than tactics.”
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| A Boat Eyes crew member makes repairs to their mast. Photo>Dean "The Sportsman" Greenaway |
Curerri agreed, saying keeping the boat under control and pointing it in the right direction is today’s task, when racing begins at 10 a.m. this morning. “Going quickly doesn’t seem to be a problem,” he said. “Pointing it in the right direction is the problem.”
BVI’s future Olympic hopeful Alec Anderson who occupies fifth place behind Curreri, Colin Rathbu and Hirst and is eight points back of Lugo, said there are several more races to go today and he can’t settle with the current position. “Anything can happen but we have to be consistent—always making sure we’re on the line, getting decent starts and sailing as fast as you can,” he said. “You don’t have to win every race to win the regatta in fact you don’t have to win any races to win it. You just have to be consistent and capitalize on others mistakes.”
