The Sailors for the Sea Clean Regatta program added a Most Green Boat Award to the 2014 BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival honors.
Sailors for the Sea also recognized the regatta with Gold Level Clean Regattas certification.
The 2014 BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival opened Monday with registration and the opening party. Racing began on Tuesday with the Nanny Cay Round Tortola Race, and the regatta will run from Friday through Sunday.
Each year, the regatta committee looks for ways to share environmental information with more than 800 sailors, 200 volunteers and more than 3,000 total visitors who come through the regatta village at Nanny Cay.
The Most Green Boat Award will be presented based on information received during registration, along with environmental steps taken throughout the week that ends Sunday. Many of the regatta sponsors have contributed to the efforts. The collective activities led to the regatta’s sixth consecutive Clean Regatta certification from Sailors for the Sea.
“It is our responsibility and duty to not only plan for participants to have excellent sailing races, but that we share and educate those attending to take care of the playground on which we sail,” regatta director Judy Petz said in a statement. “The British Virgin Islands and its three bodies of water — the Atlantic Ocean, Sir Francis Drake Channel and the Caribbean Sea — which are all impacted by what we do on both land and sea.”
Participants will complete a survey designed to build awareness of their actions and inform all of the regatta’s best practices. Additional observation at the dock and on the water, including watching environmental actions, using refillable water bottles and recycling plastic from boats also will help determine the winner.
