The first of the Caribbean 1500 rally boats have begun arriving in the British Virgin Islands this morning. The 18th annual sailing rally, billed as a "fun race and cruise from Hampton, Virginia to Tortola, BVI" has seen mostly light winds and squally conditions since the start on November 4th.

Joy For All, a Farr 50 Pilothouse, crossed the finish line a few minutes before midnight on the 11th to take line honors (or honours, according to the locals at the finish line) for the fleet of 69 boats. Shortly later, three other sailboats from the "rally" class finished, and one, Romany Life, sailing in Cruise Class 3, took the finish gun. By Monday afternoon, ten other boat had finished

Skippers in the Caribbean 1500 had a choice of entering their boats in the "Cruising Class" or "Rally Class." Boats in cruise mode are not required to maintain engine use logs, with the emphasis on making a safe passage rather than a fast finish. Rally class boats are allowed engine use, but time under power is added to the elapsed time as a penalty.

All boats in this year's rally were given free use of satellite tracking devices throughout the event. Race organizers maintain a cool near-real-time web tracking page.

Photo: Farr 50 Pilothouse, courtesy of Farr Yachts.