Parting is such sweet sorrow, but just because the racing is over doesn’t mean the memories from this year’s Bucket won’t last for a lifetime.
For many, last night’s final Awards Ceremony and Party put them center stage at the White House Museum on the far side of Gustavia Harbor. Special awards and top-three trophies in each of seven classes were bestowed upon deserving teams who cheered and whooped it up to their own fight songs played over the loudspeaker. Added to the trophies were prizes of Pier Jouet champagne and Chateau St. Margarite Rose.
The President of St. Barths, Xavier LeDee, welcomed the crowd of hundreds before Race Chairman Peter Craig moved on to the business of thanking Port Director Ernest Brin for “doing his magic” every year as well as the Stewards of the Bucket, Royal Huisman and Vitters Shipyard, and the many loyal “Friends of the Bucket” whose support and participation is vital to producing this standalone Superyacht event.
The first special award of the evening, the Wolter Huisman Memorial Award for the yacht and crew that has competed in the true spirit of the Bucket, was presented to Sunleigh from Les Mademoiselles. Sunleigh is a long time Bucket player, and even when not appearing on the podium, the owner enjoys the event as few others do, drives his own yacht, and attends all the social events. His captain reported on Sunday that the “smile was ear-to-ear” after a beautiful day of sailing around St Barths.
Each day the organizers recognized a “best starter”, and for the Vitters Shipyard Best Starter Award given last night, the time deltas from scheduled to actual start for all three races were totaled. With a remarkable total of 4.3 seconds, the extraordinarily well sailed J Class yacht Hanuman from Les Elegantes beat out all others.
The Bucket Regatta always has a remarkable number of owners helming their own yachts, and this year the organizers recognized Perseverance in Les Elegantes as the recipient of the Owner/Driver Award.
The night culminated with the announcement of the Overall 2024 Bucket Winner, which is determined by quantitative, objective criteria that identifies the class with the closest, most competitive racing. The winner of that class takes home a unique and beautiful Bucket trophy and gets its name inscribed on the stunning perpetual Hermès Bucket Trophy.
Gauging by the cheers that echoed across Gustavia Harbor, this trophy couldn’t have gone to a more excited, grateful team. Winner Gelliceaux from L’Esprit 1 had turned in an impressive performance overall, despite that this was its first regatta ever and the boat had been launched brand-new last August and delivered to its owner/driver in October. Also notable was the fact that its crew was all amateur and had no idea until they got here and put in the effort how they could even hope to fare.
Effort is what it takes, and we thank each and every yacht owner for making the journey and being part of this special fleet. Yes, parting is such sweet sorrow…but we’ll see you again next year at the 2025 St. Barths Bucket!
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