Burks and Crew Aboard Whatever Win 11th Annual Commodore’s Cup

Burks and crew aboard Whatever.

Capitalizing on light winds over two days of racing and relying on his Laser sailing skills, Dick Burks won a tight battle to capture the 11th Annual Commodore’s Cup title.

Burks and his crew aboard Whatever raced the Ensign to victory in Class A, consisting of boats measuring 30 feet and under.

In the Class B, for boats 31-feet and over, Windshift took top honors, but captain Stefan Scholz couldn’t edge Burks in the Laser sail off, which pitted the two winners against each other.

With the absence of a PHRF class this year, regatta organizers split the pursuit fleet in half in order to have two captains for the Laser sail-off finale.

The annual regatta is hosted by all three of the island’s yacht clubs — Coral Bay Yacht Club, St. John Yacht Club and Nauti Yacht Club — and is a fundraiser for Kids And The Sea (KATS) St. John, a youth volunteer sea safety and sailing program.

A fleet of 16 vessels set sail out of Coral Bay on Saturday, May 8, the first day of racing. After a few distress calls, however, the fleet was expected to be smaller on Sunday, May 9, but several new boats showed up to take part in the second day of racing.

KATS students weren’t left out of the fun either. Students at least in their second year of instruction took part in an Optimist regatta off Johnson’s Bay on May 8, making a strong showing for the future of St. John racing.

At the awards ceremony at Skinny Legs, Love City resident Steve Black won the coveted raffle grand prize, a 12-foot inflatable Caribe dinghy with 15 hp Yamaha outboard.

While the regatta, sponsored by Budget Marine and Cruzan Rum, didn’t boast the largest fleet in the Caribbean, it might have featured the youngest crew member in eight-week old Audie Weaver aboard Runaway.