Local Favorite Wins Gill BVI International Match Racing Championship

Local favorite and overnight leader Colin Rathbun (Tortola, British Virgin Islands) had a real fight on his hands in the Gill BVI Match Racing Championship Thursday, losing the first two races to set up an exciting finale with Guy Mossman (South Carolina, USA). It was a day where boat handling was key and Rathbun proved his expertise to take an unassailable two-race margin in the final to win the Gill BVI Match Racing Championship.

"We had two very different days, the first day was a light and shifty but we had to change the gears a lot today with a stiff breeze coming down the channel out of the east," commented Colin. "Things started hard for us and we lost a little ground and today was all about winning the start, because there were no big shifts, the start determined the race. This is definitely a team game and the crew today were just great; Henry Leonnig, Jason Putley, Nick Cunha are my friends and I love to go racing with them and we all live here, so it was a pretty emotional win really. Today the tough stuff was the crew work and we were up against some really good sailors, even though we had a few hairy moments we managed to recover and all credit to the guys, there boat handling won us this regatta."

David Pritchard, President of Gill North American spoke before the prizes were awarded: "Gill are delighted with the organization of the event and would like to thank all the competitors as well, especially those that have traveled so far to get here for the event. It was hard work out there especially today and congratulations to all of you on such a great event, which Gill have been very proud to sponsor." gillna.com

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