Photo: Billy Black

This weekend a collection of owners, race crews and guests came together on 17 yachts for a regatta like no other in the racing calendar: the Newport Bucket. The Bucket was first held off Nantucket – summer playground to America’s affluent – in 1987, with just six vessels in a very informal fashion, and an emphasis on fun. It was the start of superyacht racing, says Peter Craig, the chairman of the Bucket Racing Committee, who has been involved since the outset.

The 26th Bucket to be hosted in the area had a particularly diverse fleet of racing yachts, from the 23m W Class S/Y Wild Horses to this year’s St Barths Bucket victor 45m S/Y Lady B. The entries’ racing pedigree was probably as wide as it has ever been: from newcomer to the Buckets the 30.5m S/Y Rambler (which this year beat the Newport to Bahamas race record by over 14 hours) and J Class S/Y Hanuman, to the more voluminous cruisers that spend less time racing and more time entertaining in luxury. The regatta was sponsored by a number of shipyards and service providers, as well as parent company of The Superyacht Owner, The Superyacht Group.



On the first day, the Hood-designed sloop S/Y Tenacious, with her brand new rig and mast, took line honours, fending off the pursuit of the fastest yachts on the water that day. Her owner, Ed Bosarge, was thrilled with this second event since her refit and commented on how dramatic the changes in her hardware were to her performance. The finish was close, however. Tenacious was followed across finish line by 30.5m Wally S/Y Indio just nine seconds later, then Hanuman and Rambler, all within a minute.



After a shuffle of timings and starting order, on the second day, the racing was less close, possibly due to lower winds than had been predicted and accounted for in the Bucket Rating System velocity prediction program (VPP). The VPP is masterminded by Jim Teeters, an expert in sailing who takes into account the historical and recent racing performances of the vessels, their dimensions and displacement, as well as meteorological conditions; its aim is to calculate the time of a perfect run for each yacht. The start times are then worked back from an equal finish for all yachts to theoretically put them on an equal footing so that it is the performance of the crews that is put to the test rather than the yacht’s design and hardware. This saw an hour and 13 minutes between the first and last yachts’ starts on day one and an hour and one minute on the second day. The fastest class of yachts is given a slightly longer course to speed up the race and reduce the time between the first and last starts.

Photo: Billy Black

On the second day, Indio overtook much of the fleet and finished in first place, beating P2, Rambler and Hanuman (which finished in that order), to see owner Andrea Recordati lift the trophy for the whole event. In the cumulative results, second place went to George David’s Rambler, followed by Jim Clark’s Hanuman. Indio won in her class, the Gazelles; the Mademoiselles class was won by Sejaa; and Tenacious won in the Grandes Dames class.


The Spirit of the Bucket award, in honour of Wolter Huisman, the Dutch yachtbuilder, was presented by his daughter Alice to the Vitters-built Lady B for the particularly hospitable attitude of her owners, Gerry and Barbara Hines, throughout the weekend; they hosted around 60 guests and crew each day for the racing.


Gerry and Barbara Hines, owners of Lady B, were awarded the Wolter Huisman Spirit of the Bucket award for their hospitality and welcoming approach to the weekend.

Over the 25 years of its existence, the Buckets have expanded to include a St Barths iteration, which in recent years has drawn fleets of over 40, and the north-east American regatta has relocated to Newport, RI from Nantucket. Many other superyacht regattas have sprung up over the quarter century, but the original superyacht regatta retains its charm and draw for devoted fans, both longstanding and recent. This year, to commemorate the 25 years of the infamous regatta, the organisers published a Bucket Book with pictures and profiles of the yachts which have enjoyed the events throughout the decades.



Having attended the St Barths Bucket twice previously, I was unsure what to expect from a smaller fleet in a less ‘exotic’ location. I must say I was very pleasantly surprised by the charm and intimacy that comes with this relaxed and friendly event. In recent years, St Barths has attracted growing fleets to the regatta, with this year’s largest yet at 47 vessels. Although there is plenty of excitement to be had with a larger fleet on the water – particularly with close finishes – one of the benefits I felt with the smaller group of 17 (which was a bumper year for Newport) was that the crews had specific yachts they were targeting to beat. This made things a bit more competitive (though always in the cheery manner of Buckets) and easier to focus on the whole fleet as spectators.



Another benefit was the dockage situation. St Barths is plagued with large swells that can force yachts off the dock and out to anchor, which has a somewhat significant impact on the atmosphere in Gustavia, the main town where the Bucket is hosted in St Barths. Being able to experience a dozen or more yachts along the waterfront is a truly spectacular experience in this unique Caribbean idyll. The smaller Newport fleet was accommodated in its entirety at Newport Shipyard with a great ‘race village’ feel for the weekend, and all the racers were docked alongside one another and adding to the ambiance. Owners easily got to know one another throughout the weekend which many commented to me they particularly enjoyed.



At the end of the day, the St Barths Bucket will always have the draw of being St Barths, a gem of the Caribbean, and as such is likely to continue to attract a sizable fleet for the regatta. It also benefits from the more reliable trade winds likely to provide the best racing conditions for the fleet. But I think that Newport could be the Bucket’s best-kept secret when it comes to sheer conviviality, intimacy and a great way to meet like-minded superyacht owners with the goal to entertain friends and family, bring in some race crew and stretch the legs of your superyacht, so to speak.

Next year’s Newport Bucket will take place 23 – 25 August.

Full results and race times can be found on the Bucket website here.

A complete gallery of images of the weekend's sailing will soon be available from Billy Black. To see more images contact Billy Black.

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