Honouring Slim Ross: A Lifetime in Virgin Islands Boat Racing

The Virgin Islands Power Boat Racing Association will run the St. John Celebration Boat Race on Sunday 21 June 2026, and the day carries one name above the rest. The races honour Glenville “Slim” Ross Sr., who has stood at the centre of powerboat racing in the US Virgin Islands for more than forty years.

This is not the offshore racing that fills headlines on the American mainland. St. John is something older and closer to home: harbour and nearshore racing folded into a festival, watched from the shoreline, organised by volunteers for the community that grew up around it.

The man being honoured

Ross was born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and reached the US Virgin Islands by way of Tortola. For more than forty years he has been around powerboats as a captain, a racer, a mechanic and an organiser. His two sons, Glenville Jr. and Nazil, known as Scuby, race as well.

His organising work started in 1997, when he joined the Water Sports Committee under the then Virgin Islands Carnival Committee. In 2000 he took over as chair from Ulric “Sappy” Pilgrim, held the role until 2010, then handed it to Steve Hunte and stayed on to help keep the water sports events running.

How the association came together

The Virgin Islands Power Boat Racing Association was incorporated on St. Thomas in July 2018. Ross formed it with Alton Phillip and Rochelle Niles, the latter recognised posthumously, to give young people a positive outlet and to let racers compete safely.

VIPBRA sets out its purpose in a single line:

To promote safe boating and youth development in the marine industry.

Ross served as the association’s vice president until 2023. He has since stepped back from office, handing the running of it to a younger generation while staying on as an advisor.

The association is a registered non-profit. It files the short federal return used by charities that raise less than $50,000 a year, which places it firmly in grassroots territory rather than commercial promotion. Each race day takes months of work: permits, sponsors, government departments, the US Coast Guard, and the ferry and seaplane operators who keep St. John moving.

Two festivals, one calendar

VIPBRA organises two race days a year on behalf of the US Virgin Islands Department of Tourism, Division of Festivals. The first is the St. Thomas Carnival Boat Races along the Charlotte Amalie waterfront. This year’s edition, on Sunday 26 April, drew hundreds to the waterfront and carried a $20,000 prize pot.

The second is the St. John Celebration Boat Race, the smaller island’s place in a festival calendar that also takes in the Crucian Christmas Festival on St. Croix. Racers and spectators cross by boat or on the ferry for the racing and the food fair that runs alongside it.

What happens on Sunday

Safety inspection starts at midday and racing begins in the early afternoon, island time. Six classes are on the card, from the small inflatable Zap Cat catamarans up to the Offshore and Unlimited boats, with three V-hull classes in between. Every entry has to pass inspection first, with a helmet, life vest, a tagged fire extinguisher and a working kill switch all mandatory.

Keeping it alive

Ross has stepped back, but the association he helped build carries the events forward, and Sunday’s race puts his name on the day. In its tribute, VIPBRA set out what the racing means to the islands.

In the US Virgin Islands, there are three reasons to fete that will remain in the fabric of our culture for years to come. It’s indeed up to us to keep it alive.

The boats run off the St. John shoreline through Sunday afternoon.