Interline Regatta 2017 Dates British Virgin Islands Airline Industry Trip

36th Annual BVIs Sailboat Event Is Octoberfest On The Water

While some people around the world are hoisting huge brews in big beer halls, a few fun people are having a different kind of Oktoberfest.

They are hoisting rum drinks dressed as pirates, witches or castaways at the annual Interline Regatta hosting my the Moorings marina, in the British Virgin Islands.

Or they would have, had Hurricane Irma not hit the BVIs. The bars on the schedule are either destroyed or so badly damaged they won’t be making rum drinks until December at best, and most of of the sailboat charters have lost their fleets.

This has caused The Moorings to cancel the 2017 Interline Regatta, originally set for Oct. 10-19. Here is the official statement from The Moorings.

Here is all about the regatta and what was planned for 2017.

Technically a regatta for skilled skippers who work for the airlines of the world, this is really a flotilla of party boats that goes island-hopping through the Virgin Islands, stopping for costumed theme parties each night on the island.

As many as 100 boats form the flotilla, which is stocked with airline industry personnel and others lucky enough to be involved. There’s a regatta, all right, but the real reason for the journey is the nightly parties in the various ports of the BVIs – Pirate’s Blight on Norman Island, Anegada Reef Hotel, Marina Cay and the gorgeous Bitter End Yacht Club on Virgin Gorda among them.

You do not have to be an airline employee to participate, there are no tickets to the parties to buy and you don’t even need to know how to sail.

What you do need is to get on a boat with someone who does now how to sail. You charter boats out of various places in Tortola, load it up with provisions (food, rum), follow the schedule and have fun. Here is the link to the Moorings sailboat charters.

Some nights have themes – a toga party, pirate party and Gilligan’s Island Castaway bash. With between six and 10 people per boat, which are rented catamarans ranging in size from 44 to 50 feet, the nightly attendance reaches approximately 800 revelers.

Here’s the full schedule with the nightly themes and locations:
• Oct. 10 – Pirate theme party, Pirates Bight, Norman Island
• Oct. 11 – Dia de los Muertos, Foxy’s, Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke
• Oct. 12 – Official Welcome Party, Mariner Inn & Marina, Road Town (wristband required)
• Oct. 13 – Miami Vice theme, Bitter End Yacht Club, Virgin Gorda
• Oct. 14 – Baywatch theme party, Anegada Reef Hotel, Anegada
• Oct. 15 – Saints And Sinners theme party, Leverick Bay Resort, Leverick Bay
• Oct. 16 – Arabian Nights theme party, Coco Maya, Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda
• Oct. 17 – Awards Ceremony, Scrub Island

For more on the Interline Regatta, check out PubClub.com’s photos and review!