Richard Baldwin's swan 60, Fenix racing in Class 7 Credit: Todd vanSickle/BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival

Paradox, Peter Aschenbrenner's Nigel Irens 63 trimaran Credit: Todd vanSickle/BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival

Willem Wester's Antilope and Peter Peake's Peake Yacht Services Slippery Credit: Todd vanSickle/BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival

Close racing gave competitors the amazing opportunity of experiencing the western extent of the Virgin Islands and virtually all racing and cruising classes were sent through The Cut, a narrow gap between Tortola and St. John. There were also a multitude of downwind starts, resulting in some fantastic action from the get go.

A magnificent seven Swans are racing at this year's regatta and they all enjoyed a fabulous day on the water.

In Class 1, Bill Allcott's Farr 65, Equation reigned supreme, scoring a hatrick of bullets to open up a four-point lead over Stefan Lehnert's Tripp 55, Passion 4C.

With just one day left in the BVI Spring Regatta, Equation look to have clinched the class win. Passion 4C sailed intelligently yesterday and came close to overhauling their rivals in Race 5 but it will take a mini-miracle today to move Equation off pole position.

In Class 2, Willem Wester's Grand Soleil 46, Antilope was over eager at the start of racing. Misjudging the downwind start, the Dutch team recovered well dousing their spinnaker and returning to restart to minimize the loss and it paid off, as Antilope manage to recover to clinch second place on corrected time. The first race of the day was a great example of how competitive the racing has been for Class 2; just 19 seconds separated the top three yachts. Antilope leads the class with Peake Yacht Services, RP37, Slippery lying second, these two yachts had a great tussle as they passed Soper's Hole during the race. Michael Shlens' Farr 400, Blade lies third overall but has finally put some points in the bank over their sistership Magnitude, skippered by Doug Baker.

In Class 3, El Ocaso stamped their authority on the class with three consecutive wins and now lead the class by a healthy six points. Jaime Torres' First 40, Smile and Wave pushed them hard all day and came close to beating El Ocaso in the last race of the day, eventually losing out by just 10 seconds on corrected time. On Deck's First 40.7. Lancelot II had a consistent day securing third place on the leader board. In Class 3, Two Melges 24s have been having a great duel; Budget Marine/Gill was invincible on Friday putting in a perfect score line. Andrea Scarabelli's team have been in fine form all season, but Henry Leonig's Fire Water sailed well to give the local boat a chance of overhauling their St.Martin rivals.

Class 5 looks like it could become a three horse race for the overall win. Ian Hope-Ross skipper of Kick em' Jenny is still in pole position, even though the team from St.Martin didn't win a single race yesterday. Local favourite Kevin Rowlette steering Rushin' Rowlette raced with conviction, narrowing the gap to the leader. Bernardo Gonzalez steering Bonne Chance is third going into the last day and the Puerto Rican team are still very much in contention. Peter Haycraft's Pipedream did not have a good start as Chris Haycraft explains: "We had a very mixed day to say the least. We lost the main halyard just before the start of the first race, so we went back into Nanny Cay and got it replaced while we had a good lunch on the beach. We came out for the second race and I guess everyone else was tired because we just got away for a good win, so the day ended a lot better than it began!"

In Class 8, it was a memorable day for Bill Hirst's Freedom 44. Jack Dusty IV, which scored their first win of the regatta. However, Antonio Sanpere's St. Croix team on Cayennita Grande had the best of the day's racing scoring a 1st and a 2nd to open up a two point lead over nearest rivals; Thomas Mullen's Shamrock VII.

In Class 9, Keith Smith LiGreci's Jeanneau Sun Odyssy 40, Girasoli consolidate their slender overnight lead with two solid results yesterday including a win in the last race of the day. Jon Charlton'S C&C 41, Team Red Stripe notched up two 2nd place finishes to leapfrog Bill Bailey's Hughes 38, Second nature. These three yachts are likely to fight it out for the class win today.

In Bareboat 1, Christine Joseph's Beneteau 50, Sexy and We Know It, continued their fine form to lead the class after yesterday's racing by 7 points. Leonard Nekeman's Lucky Dutch fell back, due to scoring an OCS in the first race of the day. This has meant that fellow Dutchman, Tijmen van Elst steering BK Grondlogistiek moves up to 2nd place with Justin Barton's Team Justice now in third, after scoring their first win of the regatta yesterday.

In Bareboat 2, the new class leader is Bill Petersen and Peter Stazicker's Team Trolly Car. The previous leader, Neil Harvey's Acadia has now been called OCS in the very first race of the regatta relegating the team down the ranks. Vickie Downie's Avalon Racing holds 2nd place overall and Rob Swain Sailing School's Perelandra moves up to 3rd.

The Bareboat classes also host The international Yacht Club Challenge. Nine teams from yacht clubs all over the world are competing for a fantastic prize, a week's free charter from Sunsail, hopefully used by the winning team to defend their title. Second prize will be two round trip tickets from Cape Air. BK Grondlogistiek from the Dutch Yacht Club Ymuiden is currently in pole position for this highly valuable accolade.

In the IC24 Class Frits Bus' Coors Light virtually sealed the class win with three bullets. However racing in the class was nowhere near as intense as Friday's six-race marathon. The race officer selected two races yesterday with a course across the channel to Norman Island, where the crew enjoyed the full hospitality of the legendary Willy T Bar before a return race to Nanny Cay!