By Tom Leweck, Scuttlebutt, Virgin Gorda, BVI
Alec Anderson, youngest champion, Bitter End Yacht Club Pro-Am Regatta.
Photo provided
In spite of the fact that Alec Anderson had been named as a collegiate All-American in 2011, in 2012, and in 2013, many of the resort guests arriving at the Bitter End Yacht Club for the Pro Am Regatta were not familiar with his name. Well – they all know him now. Anderson has just become the BEYC’s 2013 Pro Am Champion.
Racing in a matched fleet of IC24s with guests of the BEYC rotating in and out of the crews of the eight invited pro skippers, Anderson took second place in the 12-race fleet racing qualifier – just four points behind former Olympic Silver Medallist Zach Railey. That was more than good enough to move him into the four-boat Semi Finals, where the format switched to match racing.
The recent graduate of sailing powerhouse Roger Williams University had not done a lot of match racing in college, but was a quick study. In two very close races against Dave Ullman, he went 2-0, and advanced to the Finals. Now, the only thing standing between him and the championship was match race expert Dave Perry, who had just dispatched the fleet race winner Zach Riley, 2-1.
Once again, Anderson was flawless – defeating Perry 2-0 to become the youngest-ever Pro Am Champion. Perry had to settle for second place with Zach Railey capturing third by defeating Dave Ullman 2-0 in the Petit Finals. In the consultation round of match racing, Paul Cayard was 2-0 against Stephanie Roble to finish fifth overall.
What’s next for Anderson? He recently teamed with Chris Brockbank to campaign a 49er with hopes of representing the BVI in the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Remember the name Alec Anderson. No doubt you’ll hear it again.
The elite skippers (and Scuttlebutt founder Tom Leweck) at the 2013 ‘Fantasy Camp’…
- Alec Anderson, native BVI-islander, 3-time College All American
- Taylor Canfield, World #1 ranked match racing
- Paul Cayard, America’s Cup fame
- Dave Perry, match racing and rules guru
- Zach Railey, Olympic medalist, Finn
- Stephanie Roble, US #1 ranked match racing
- Dave Ullman, too many accomplishments to list
