ST. BARTHS (20 March 2019) – A sure-to-be exquisite three days of sailing are on tap for the 2019 St. Barths Bucket Regatta, a 31-year-old tradition that has been part of the Saint-Barthélemy island life since 1995. Officially beginning Thursday, March 21, with racing starting on Friday, March 22, the event will see 34 of the world’s most magnificent sailing superyachts slice through the azure-blue waters of the Caribbean on race courses around and through the rocks and isles surrounding St. Barths, all the while with dependable trade winds acting to accentuate their indescribable beauty and ingenious design.
The superyachts range in size from 30 metres (Varsovie) to 60 metres (Hetairos) and include a half dozen that have never yet been seen here. They include the brand-new Baltic-built Pink Gin VI, which at 53.8m is the largest carbon fiber sloop in the world, and the 56m Royal Huisman ketch Aquarius, designed by Dykstra. Also new to the Bucket here are the 34m schooner Columbia; the 40m sloop My Song; and the 33m sloop Nakupenda.
Past overall winners sailing here include the 34m sloop Nilaya (2018), the 34m Royal Huisman sloop SPIIP (2017), the 45m sloop Visione (2015), and the 55m Dykstra-designed schooner Adela (2013).
In a historic return to the St. Barths Bucket, the 38m schooner Kaori has been given a prominent spot in the line-up of superyachts seen at the Capitainerie on mornings before and afternoons after racing. Twenty-five years ago, when Kaori was named Mandalay and owned by publisher Nelson Doubleday, Jr., she raced in the very first St. Barths Bucket. Doubleday and a handful of friends are credited with starting Nantucket Island’s Nantucket Bucket in 1986; then, nine years later, they decided St. Barths was as good of an island as any to recreate that event in the Caribbean. (Mandalay renamed Kaori took overall honors here in 2007.)
“From those first days when Nelson and his friends first came up with the idea of timed-start pursuit races for big boats, the Bucket and superyacht racing has come a long way,” said Race Director Peter Craig, explaining that the ORCsy and ORCcs rating rules help “equalize” discrepancies between different sizes and designs of superyachts, while the special racing rules of World Sailing’s Appendix SY keep the superyachts safe while competing. “Anytime you have over 30 superyachts gathered together for racing, it’s a great thing. It assures not only an amazing spectacle but also a fair separation of the fleet into meaningfully sized classes for good, fair competition.”
Six classes, all of which are elegantly named to match the magnificence of the superyacht lifestyle, will be scored separately for top-three class trophies, starting with the most performance-oriented Les Gazelles des Mers. Next is Les Elegantes des Mers, followed by Les Mademoiselles des Mers, Les Femmes des Mers, Les Grandes Dames des Mers, and finally, for those wishing a more laid-back competitive experience, Les Voiles Blanche (Corinthian Spirit). The coveted “Bucket Trophy” will be presented to the overall winner determined to be the ORCsy team that prevails in the “most competitive, closely contested class.”
The St. Barths Bucket, which has evolved into a regatta truly like no other, doggedly keeps its congenial focus, casual island flavor and non-commercial spirit through the efforts of its longstanding stewards Perini Navi, Royal Huisman, Rybovich and Vitters. In addition, 16 industry “Friends of the Bucket” help make this the place to be every March for discriminating superyacht owners and their guests.
St. Barths photograph © 2018 CorySilken.com