To accommodate the forecasted light air on day one of the St. Barths Bucket Regatta, organizers assigned the shortest course choices for an around-the-island race that saw 26 superyachts compete in seven classes. (Though the official fleet count is 30, four of those are “Social Entries” that do not participate in the actual competition.) The decision resulted in sailors laying tracks of between 16 and 20 miles (depending on the class) in a four-to-five hour contest that rewarded perseverance and wisdom.
“It was pretty straightforward until halfway down the downwind leg,” said Ed Baird, navigator aboard Visione, today’s winner in Les Gazelles, which sailed the longest course as the fastest boats here. “We had a noticeable shift under a cloud off the end of the island and were able to sail 30 degrees higher than the others in our fleet. Then it got complicated when some boats on the shorter courses started converging and we had to keep crossing them and dealing with their wind shadows.”
Hummingbird, winner in Les Petites Dames for 90-footers, made nice gains along the shore on the first beat, and by the long run on the western end of the island was ahead by 10 minutes. (The boat beat runner-up Freya by 11:18 in the end.)
“We’re one of the faster boats in our class,” said Hummingbird’s tactician Ben Saxton, “so we have to always keep in clear air to overtake the other boats. (By design, faster boats start behind slower boats in pursuit racing; thus, they must always work to catch up.) “We like to keep it simple: learn one thing every day, have a nice time and hopefully the results will follow.” Saxton added that Hummingbird performs better in light air than heavy, so he feels lucky that the forecast for this regatta should favor his team.
The heavy-displacement Perini Navi boats in Les Grande Dames, which sailed the shortest course, certainly don’t share the same love for light air that Hummingbird does; however, today’s winner Panthalassa can be proud of its handy performance. It beat second-place finisher Rosehearty by over 38 minutes.
In the Corinthian non-spinnaker L’Esprits, one of the largest classes here with five boats, it was a tight race before the second half when the wind got softer and the spread got larger. The ultimate winner was Vijonara.
The smaller Les Mademoiselles sailed a nail biter over 17 miles, with Aurelius overtaking Whisper on the last beat to win by just over two minutes.
Hyperion, in the highly competitive five-boat Les Elegantes, also posted a slim lead – just 1 minute, 17 seconds – to win over Ravenger, while V prevailed over Galateia in Les Cent Pied for 100 footers.
Tomorrow’s racing will be in light air once again and likely over custom courses.
Photographs by Martin Baum – Pantaenius.
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