Bigger is better for Anguilla in Premier’s Cup!

Team BVI 2, were the closest to the top team who still finished with more than double, 64, the visitors’ points. Anguilla had a much closer victory in 2011 when they beat St. Croix by two points. During the first day, the winds were strong all morning, blowing at more than 15 knots, giving the larger teams an advantage. Anguilla used the edge to take three firsts and two seconds to secure an early lead that they never relinquished. The Anguillans earned 12 first places, three second places, a third and a fourth over 17 races.

“Obviously their coordination has been a key to this race,” Anguilla coach Paul Koeniger said. “We’re physically bigger as well, which has helped us stay flat and let us get our speed up.”

Size wasn’t the only advantage the Anguillans had going into the race. They were able to bring back five of the six members of the championship team from 2011. Although the newer crewmember wasn’t from the 2011 team, he had raced in the territory and the Premier’s Cup in the past.

The winds and the weather worsened as the teams wrapped up the morning session on the first day of racing. They finished just before the rain started to fall sending spectators looking for cover during lunch. However, the rain passed and the wind died down by the time racing resumed in the afternoon.

“We were underweight so it was tough for us to stay as flat as some of the other teams when the winds were strong,” Team BVI coach Omari Scott said. “The kids have been sailing well today. We just need the conditions to change.”

Mr. Scott got what he was hoping for after lunch.

Team BVI 2 was able to bounce back once the winds died down in the afternoon. The team went from fifth place at the break to second place by the end of the first day with two firsts, two seconds and two thirds during the  second half of the first day.

However, the lucky streak didn’t hold for the team on the following day. The team finished with five sixth places and a second place to end the regatta. The teams from the Bahamas as well as Trinidad and Tobago had strong showings on Sunday to close the gap, but they couldn’t catch the VI who finished in second place.

finishing in third and fourth place overall, respectively.