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The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC) is ready once again to open its doors to visiting and local sailors as the 2018 BIIRW is set to begin this Saturday.
The event will see three sailing classes competing over the course of the week: J105s, Etchells and IODs.
This is the 88th running of the spring event. RBYC Commodore, Jonathan Corless stated, “The Club is pleased to offer another high quality sailing regatta for both local and visiting sailors. This regatta ranks as one of the highlights of the IOD World Class Association’s regatta calendar and competition will be tough. The Club and its members welcome all the visiting sailors to Bermuda.”
The Club is proud to have long-time sponsor, BACARDI®, (local distributor Bermuda Premium Spirits Limited (BPSL) on board once again and host sponsor the Bermuda Tourism Authority.
Vernon Pemberton, spokesperson for the company said, “Bacardi® and the Bermuda International Invitational Race Week have enjoyed a long and successful history together. We look forward to some fantastic, competitive racing out on the Great Sound and some great stories shared back at the dock.”
The International Etchells class has a long and proud history in BIIRW. Tim Patton, past winner, will celebrate his 45h consecutive appearance this year. Joining him on the race course will be Dirk Kneulman (CAN) a past multi- Etchells World champion, Jay Ross (CAN), Scott Snyder (USA) The Etchells will be racing Saturday and Sunday.
J105s are competing on the Sunday for this regatta but it will be a battle for bragging rights of the B.W. Walker Memorial Trophy. Perennial favorites from regular Saturday racing, Morning Glory, Yabsta and Mayhem will be in the thick of things amongst a fleet of six out on the Great Sound.
The International One Design (IOD). Once again this 80-year old fleet will be fielding a complete roster of 13 boats:
This year there are 13 participants: 12 from overseas and 1 from Bermuda.
Competitors are from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Sweden and Bermuda.
The IODs overall series is 12 races which is divided in to Series A and Series B. The local team to watch is BER 1, being helmed by Martin Siese with tactician Patrick Cooper. Both Siese and Cooper have a long history competing for the Vrengen Gold Cup. Stiff competition comes from Chester, Nova Scotia representative, three-time Vrengen Gold Cup winner, Peter Wickwire and former IOD World Champion, John Burnham and his co-skipper Peter Rugg, representing the Fisher’s Island fleet.
The IOD class races from Sunday April 29th – Friday May 4th, 2018.
All racing takes place in the Great Sound with the first race due to start at 12:00 noon each day.
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