The visual today on the northwest side of St. Barths was nothing less than breathtaking as 26 Superyachts sailed custom courses of between 12 and 16.5 nautical miles and deployed their giant multi-colored spinnakers for final downwind legs to the finishes. Although a northerly breeze of three to seven knots was expected to die throughout the day, it pleasantly freshened for seven pursuit starts in as many classes and continued to blow a steady 9-11 knots, making it the windiest of the three days of Bucket competition here.
Finishing second today in the five-boat Les Elegantes was Hyperion, which had handily won its prior two races and secured victory in the series with four points overall. Three points behind was Adela, which had climbed from fourth on day one to third on day two and finally, with a win today, second overall. For its performance in this very competitive five-boat class as well as other special criteria, Hyperion was awarded the coveted Bucket Trophy, considered the top trophy here.
“If you looked at the three-day forecast on Thursday, you would have said the racing was not going to happen,” said Hyperion’s Captain Nico Jacklein. “Everyone plans long-term for this – we book everything out a year in advance – so we’re all going to be here, wind or not. We’re just happy and proud of the organizers for pulling a rabbit out of the hat and managing three races. We also didn’t expect to win the Bucket Trophy.”
As for Adela’s performance, Jacklein credited that team with doing a phenomenal job of managing racing angles. “We were happy to see them work their way up to second, and it was fun on these last two days of wiggly shorter courses to see the entire fleet together.”
In Les Mademoiselles, there was a three-way tie for first going into today, but winning in convincing fashion was Whisper to top the scoreboard. “We went out early to do some race recon, which determined that we would start on port for the first beat and go right,” said tactician Terry Hutchinson. “That decision was a bit nerve wracking because Nostromo, which has very good sailors aboard, started on starboard and went left. Somebody was going to be right and somebody was going to be wrong, but in the world of swings and roundabouts, it rolled Whisper’s way today.”
In Les Grande Dames, Panthalassa won today’s race just as decidedly as it won Friday’s and Saturday’s. “Because we have very large, heavy boats in this class and light winds, we focused on minimum maneuvers,” said Skipper Tristan LeBrun, adding that the boat sailed here last year as well with the same owner and team. “For us it was a goal to win, so we prepared quite a lot and in detail. Last year we learned what to do and what not to do. We race together on the owner’s racing yacht, so we are used to working together many times a year.”
In Les Gazelles, each of three boats had a win in the series, but in the end Velsheda won overall after posting a second-place finish today. “Visione was threatening us today but tore two spinnakers, so it could have been a different story,” said tactician Tom Dodson.
Vijonara turned in another dominant performance today in L’Esprit to post three bullets in three races, while Hummingbird maintained its lead in Les Petites Dames with a second-place finish today.
V posted a third win today to prevail in the all-new Les Cent Pied, which featured two 100-foot Wally boats. “Ourselves and Galateia have fantastic racing together at (non-Superyacht) regattas,” said V’s tactician Ken Read, explaining that the hope is to attract more of the high-performance racing boats at next year’s event. “At some regattas it goes our way and at some it goes their way. In true Bucket fashion, this was as laid back as our two grand prix boats can be.”
Photographs by Martin Baum – Pantaenius.
You must be logged in to post a comment.