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Most of the fleet in this year’s Caribbean 1500 has more than halfway to go to reach Tortola, but World Cruising Club staff have already arrived and are setting up the program of events at Nanny Cay. Andy Schell and Maria Karlsson arrived over the weekend and have been busy setting up the Rally Office and liaising with marina and hotel staff.
Nanny Cay hosts a number of World Cruising events – including ARC Europe and Atlantic Cup in May – though this is the first year that they are hosting the Caribbean 1500 under the leadership of the World Cruising Club. Previous iterations have been run by rally founder Steve Black and his Cruising Rally Association. World Cruising Club took over Black’s events, including the Atlantic Cup this past January, and hope to continue and expand on the success of the event that Black got going 22 years ago.
Participants can expect a full program of events in Nanny Cay. Rally yachts are offered discounted dockage at the marina during the event, BVI Customs & Immigration will be on hand especially for the fleet to handle clearance procedures, and local businesses within the marina complex – including Peg Leg’s restaurant, where the awards dinner will be held – are going out of there way to make the fleet feel welcome.
Nanny Cay is much more than just a marina, and can better be described as an almost autonomous village with most yachting services on site, including mechanics, a Quantum sail loft, working boatyard, haulout storage, a Budget Marine chandlery, coffee shop, cafes, a beautiful hotel, a surf shop, small grocery store and taxi stand. Road Town, Tortola’s main city center, is only a short cab ride distant, offering anything else cruisers might need. Bobby’s Provisioning located inside the marina complex, offers a daily van into Road Town to their larger supermarket where sailors can stock up on anything they cannot find at Nanny Cay.
The program of events at Nanny Cay is nearly finalized, and includes several welcome cocktails as the boats begin to arrive (expected this coming weekend), beach BBQ’s, a pizza night and the opportunity for early-arrivals to participate (or at least spectate) during the Round Tortola Race, which begins Saturday morning. Peg Leg’s has sponsored the event for several years, which sees monohulls and multihulls alike vie for fastest around the island. The race is sponsored in part by the Royal BVI Yacht Club.
Click here for a fascinating look at Nanny Cay’s half-century history, as told by it’s oldest surviving team member Raldo Charles.
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