Igoodia Wins Pusser's Round Tortola Race

The crew of Igoodia celebrate their win in the 2005 Pusser's Round Tortola Race.

Bill Bailey, skipper of Second Nature and winner of the Cruising class in the 2005 Pusser's Round Tortola Race, receives his trophy from Liz Jackson of Pusser's.

After corrected time was calculated, only one minute separated first and third places in the 36th annual Pusser's Round Tortola Race but it was Milt Baehr's Jeanneau 52.2 Igoodia which carried home the perpetual trophy on Saturday, November 26th.

Igoodia took line honours with a time of 4 hours 48 minutes and 35 seconds in the 35-mile round-island race and just managed to hold off Pipe Dream and Mistress Quickly on its handicap. Peter Haycraft's Sirena 38 Pipe Dream crossed the line 19 minutes later with last year's winner, Melges 24 Mistress Quickly, two minutes and 44 seconds behind her. After the corrected times had been calculated Mistress Quickly had beaten Pipe Dream by a slim seven seconds but was 53 seconds shy of another win this year. Second Nature, Bill Bailey's Hughes 38, managed to win the Cruising class despite a torn number one genoa in the early stages of the race.

Excellent conditions, with Pipe Dream reading 21 knots of breeze at times on the North side of Tortola, proved to be the order of a good BVI sailing day. "We had a pretty good race and were happy with our finish. We got a good start and caught a couple of shifts off Road Town so it took Pipe Dream until Beef Island to catch us. Igoodia sailed well, those long tacks suited her," said Guy Eldridge skipper of Mistress Quickly.

On the North side of Tortola, Igoodia, Mistress Quickly and Pipe Dream headed further inshore than the rest of the fleet and made a lot of ground on those boats. There wasn't quite enough breeze for full planing, just surfing on the occasional wave, so Mistress Quickly didn't catch Pipe Dream until she caught a ride on a squall off Cane Garden Bay.

"The hardest part was the beat up from Soper's Hole to Nanny Cay - we had to stay close to Tortola to stay out of the big waves and current but it meant the wind was flukier and it was tough to stay close enough to Pipe Dream, who put on an impressive burst of speed to come within a hair of saving their time on us all in that last leg," Eldridge added.

Both the racing and cruising classes started in Sir Francis Drake Channel off Nanny Cay and then headed anti-clockwise around Tortola. The Cruising class finished off West End while the Racing class had to complete the circuit and finish off Nanny Cay. The prize giving party was held at Pusser's Landing, Soper's Hole, where Pusser's Rum ships decanters, flagons and hip flasks were awarded together with the Pusser's Round Tortola Race perpetual trophy.

Pusser's Rum, the Original Navy Rum, has sponsored the Round Tortola Race since 1989. Pusser's Rum is the Original Navy Rum that was served onboard ships of the Royal Navy for 330 years. The father of grog, Pusser's Rum is recognized as the world's most rich and full-flavoured rum - and it's all natural, no flavouring agents used. Pusser's was recently chosen by Forbes Magazine as "One of the World's 10 Remarkable Rums", while the Financial Times chose Pusser's as "one of the choice morsels from the enduring and the rare" in its "The Best of Spirits" feature article published on November 18th, 2005.