It was in BVI waters that the doctor's sailing antics turned to legend,
(Perhaps some really didn't happen, but again there are some who will swear
they did.) Seems the only rule for the annual around island race was to keep
the island of Tortola on the starboard side of your boat. Anyone who knows
the island of Tortola knows the BVI airport is on Beef Island. Beef Island
is connected to Tortola by a small bridge. At the time it was a swinging
bridge that could be mechanically rotated by a bridge custodian to allow a
navigable passage between the two islands.

A few days before the race, the clever doctor made a visit to the bridge
custodian. For a small compensation he arranged for the bridge to be opened
upon the signal of three blasts from his conch horn as he entered the
channel between the islands. No one in their life time had ever seen the
bridge opened for marine traffic. In fact it was an island joke as to why an
expensive swinging bridge was ever installed at this unused passage between
the two islands.

On the day of the race everything went as usual. The doctor got a great
start. His boat was not in the bigger—faster racing class which would, of
course, take line honors because of their greater waterline and racing
design. However on this race, the doctor not only wanted to win his
class—he wanted to be first across the finish line. As the race progressed
down the northern shore of Tortola, most of the big racing vessels passed
the smaller cruising class boats.

The doctor sailed along until he approached the small winding passage
between Beef Island and Tortola. His boat was instantly hidden from the eyes
of other race contenders by the encroaching mangrove swamps on both sides of
the channel. He blew his conch horn as arranged, and the bridge custodian,
for the first time in his life, swung the old rusty bridge to allow a vessel
to pass. As he sailed by, the smiling doctor thanked the fidgety custodian
and instructed him to re-close the bridge.

The race committee was not ready for the small cruising-class vessel they
observed nearing the finish line. They checked their watches and studied the
nearing vessel through binoculars. The larger racing vessels had not rounded
Beef Island and were not in sight. They checked again to be sure the small
approaching vessel was flying a racing pennant. As the doctor crossed the
line, the committee was reluctant to blow the finish whistle. Something was
wrong! There was a lot of controversy and head scratching after that race,
but as the good doctor pointed out, the rules were simple and he had abided
by them—he kept Tortola to the starboard and officially won the race.

There was, however, one malady that the doctor hadn't considered—one that
put a dark cloud over his triumph. Seems the bridge custodian, when trying
to swing the bridge back across the water passage, ran into technical
difficulties which rendered the bridge stuck—in the open position. This, of
course, stopped all traffic to the only airport connecting the largest
tourist and bare-boat jump off port in the British Virgin Islands. It
stopped all off-island commerce. It took a week to render the old rusty
bridge workable again. The sailing doctor's reputation as a racing tactician
guru was at a very low ebb.

http://www.allatsea.net/specificissu...featureid=1093
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jlrogers±³©