Each year the winners of the Endeavour Trophy are invited to compete as a ‘Pro’ skipper at the ProAm regatta in the British Virgin Islands. Nick Craig and Toby Lewis won the invite this year but as Nick was unable to attend, Toby asked if I would fill his place as one of the runners up at the Endeavour and being a good friend of his. Needless to say it didn’t take me long to accept an expenses paid racing holiday in the Caribbean and two weeks later we were on the plane!
The regatta is hosted each year by the Bitter End Yacht Club in Virgin Gorda. Although called a yacht club the Bitter End is in fact a spectacular holiday resort; with luxury shore-side apartments, five-star food, and a host of sailing, watersports, diving and snorkelling cruises on offer as part of the package. As the name suggests the ProAm Regatta invites eight professional skippers to compete against each other in IC24s (modified J24’s) with randomly allocated amateur crews who are guests of the resort. This year the skippers included Ed Baird, Peter Holmberg, Dave Ullman, Zach Railey, Anna Tunnicliffe, Andrew Campbell,.... and us! A short google search of these names will turn up multiple Olympic medals, Americas cup and Volvo Ocean Race titles amongst them,...... and then there was us, praying we weren’t going to disgrace ourselves against them!
The event is as much about teaching the guests racing tips and strategies as it is trying to win, as well as making sure everyone has a great time – which was not difficult in 28 degrees of sunshine! There was plenty of time after racing and a couple of days off to enjoy world-class snorkelling, have a kitesurfing lesson, go paddle boarding, or whatever else took our fancy. The evening socials were incredible fun, with events ranging from wine tasting, reggae discos, to a Mount Gay Rum Poolside Party! We managed to win the long-distances races at the beginning of the week and finished mid-fleet in the main event including a race win, however the best result for us was the outstanding time we had with our guests both on and off the water!
There is more information on the event website www.proamregatta.com or on the resort’s own website www.beyc.com. I would strongly recommend the Bitter End to anybody considering an active, fun holiday in Caribbean paradise –whether you are a sailor or not!
Matt Burge
