Racing is officially over but plenty of Bucketeers are basking in the afterglow of last night’s final Awards Ceremony and Party. The joyous celebration, with hundreds of people in attendance, took place at the White House Museum on the far side of Gustavia Harbor where a giant outdoor stage embraced special award winners and top-three finishers in each of five classes to the tune of individual fight songs chosen for the occasion.
Vincent Berton, Préfet of the islands of St. Barths and St. Martin, welcomed the crowd before Race Chairman Peter Craig moved on to thanking the yacht owners, their crews and the dogged perseverance of the race management team that had to keep up with this year’s extremely challenging conditions. Also praised for their unwavering support were the Stewards of the Bucket, Royal Huisman and Vitters Shipyard, and an impressive list of Friends of the Bucket, representatives of which helped with the presenting of trophies.
Since 1995, the St. Barths Bucket has hosted the largest sailing yachts on the planet, and this year, 25 entries, ranging in size from 28 to 58 metres, comprised five classes, two of which hosted an unprecedented number of “Corinthian Spirit” teams. Notable was that it was from this latter group that the Owner/Driver Award recipient was derived: Christian Gnotke from Red Dragon, sailing in L’Esprit 1. The Best Start Award, with a mere five-second margin at the gun on Sunday, and Overall Best Starter Award, combining performances over all three days of the regatta, also went to teams in L’Esprit 1: Perseverance and Prana, respectively.
After 15 top-three teams did their thing on stage (no team was too tired for clapping, cheering and dancing), the big award – for the Overall 2023 Bucket Winner – came next, and you could hear a pin drop during the suspenseful few moments before the announcement. When Nakupenda, the winner of the largest conventional Superyacht class here (Les Mademoiselles, with six entries), was announced, the crowd erupted. To simplify a complex equation for determining the award, Nakupenda had turned in the best performance in what was deemed to be the most competitive, closely contested class of the regatta. Hoisting high the stunning Hermès Bucket Trophy was especially meaningful for Nakupenda, as this was the team’s first-ever class as well as overall victory in four times participating here.
All-in-all, everyone who competed in the 2023 St. Barths Bucket turned out to be a winner. The saying goes, “if you can’t win the Bucket, you can always win the party!”
Photographs ©2023 Ed Gudenas.
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