Leopard 50 La Novia Leads Cruising Multihull Class at 53rd BVI Spring Regatta

Georges Coutu steered his Leopard 50 La Novia through two days of wildly contrasting trade-wind conditions to stand at the top of the Cruising Multihull leaderboard entering the final day of the 53rd BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival, with only four points on the board and a one-point cushion over the ORC 57 Avel Vaez.

The Dominican Republic skipper and his crew swept both races on Day 1, collecting back-to-back bullets when the fleet launched off Nanny Cay into 15-plus knots of easterly breeze. The conditions rewarded clean boat speed and decisive starts, and La Novia delivered on both counts. Day 2 proved a sharper test. A squall swept through mid-session, prompting the Race Committee to call a short postponement before the breeze dropped to patchy, inconsistent pressure that scrambled tactics across the fleet. Lead changes shuffled the Cruising Multihull standings before La Novia clawed back to the front, finishing Day 2 with four cumulative points. Avel Vaez sits second with five, while Ron Boehm's Perry Antrim 52 Little Wing is third at nine points, a margin large enough to keep the top two firmly focused on each other rather than looking back.

The Race Committee drew praise across the fleet for the speed of its decisions during the shifty second day, adjusting courses to keep racing both competitive and safe as conditions fluctuated between the different venues operating out of Nanny Cay and Scrub Island.

Coutu is no stranger to this position. He has taken the Cruising Multihull class at the BVI Spring Regatta more times than most competitors can track, and La Novia also topped the Cruising Multihull standings in the Round Tortola Race for the Nanny Cay Cup earlier in the regatta week. A clean final day would extend a record that has made the Leopard 50 something of a benchmark against which other production cruising cats measure themselves in Caribbean circuit racing.

The wider fleet has provided plenty of storylines alongside the multihull class battle. Rick Cunningham's Gunboat 62 DreadKnot, a new-to-owner entry with an origin story that reportedly involves rum and a long-held dream of doing the Transpac, has drawn attention in the Performance Multihull fleet. Dominican Republic entries have also performed solidly across multiple classes, underlining that country's growing presence in regional circuit racing.

The BVI Spring Regatta draws a mix of owner-drivers, charter operators, brokers, and industry professionals who treat the event as equal parts race series and working gathering; sea trials and boat deals happen alongside the race debriefs each evening. For a Leopard 50 to be leading on points with one day left is useful evidence for any charter company or prospective buyer weighing up what a factory production catamaran can actually do against more exotic hardware when sailed hard by a committed owner. Final racing and prizegiving are set to conclude the 53rd edition before April 4.