You can't beat the Bucket
Easter Sunday marked the final day of the 2013 St Barths Bucket, sponsored by media partner, The Superyacht Owner. It was a fantastic day’s racing as 36 of the world’s most beautiful sailing superyachts battled it out on the clockwise ‘Wrong way around the island’ course.…
Gustavia, Saint Barthélemy
Easter Sunday marked the final day of the 2013 St Barths Bucket. And what a fantastic day’s racing it was as 36 of the world’s most beautiful sailing superyachts battled it out on the clockwise ‘Wrong way around the island’ course accompanied by Force 5-6 winds, glorious sunshine and the occasional rain squall with gusts of up to 25 knots. At the prize-giving ceremony at Nikki Beach, 55.5m Adela claimed the legendary bucket as overall winner after four days of racing. “I’m simply overjoyed for the owners,” said a teary-eyed Henk Wiekens, joint MD at Pendennis. “Rebecca tried hard but it’s Adela’s day. This event has been good for us and good for the industry.”Three out of the five J class yachts competing on the course
Adela’s win came at the end of four days of pursuit-style racing that began on the opening day with five J boats (Hanuman, Rainbow, Ranger, Lionheart and Velsheda) competing against each other – the first time such a number has met on the race course since 1936. With Richard Branson on board as a guest, Dykstra-designed Hanuman dominated the race in light winds and the crew, skippered by Puma’s Ken Read, proved themselves unbeatable in the three subsequent races. Alice Huisman was at hand to present owner Jim Clark with the J Class trophy at Sunday’s prize-giving ceremony. “Sail hard and play hard: that’s the spirit of the St. Barths Bucket,” she claimed in an emotional speech that earned a heartfelt round of applause.
Adela, overall winner of the 2013 St Barths Bucket
Royal Huisman is one of the ‘Big Five’ shipyard sponsors of the St. Barths Bucket with Perini Navi, Vitters, Alloy Yachts and Pendennis. As the sole media sponsor, The Superyacht Group Chairman Martin H. Redmayne recognises the Bucket events in Newport and St Barths as the pre-eminent superyacht sailing regattas in a market that brings together “the most significant gathering of yachts, owners and industry players.” It is a sentiment that Burak Akgul of Perini Navi (who had no less than nine boats on the starting line) agrees with whole-heartedly: “This is an opportunity for us — we who are actually building something very special — to provide an opportunity for a small group of families to indulge in the greatest luxury, which is one’s time, in the manner they choose, aboard their sailing yachts.”
Jim Clark, owner of Hanuman
From its casual beginning in Nantucket in 1987 (with seven boats) to its most recent iteration in Newport and St. Barths (with a record 47 boats at St Barths last year), the Bucket Regattas have captured sailors' imagination in a way that no other event can begin to approach. “As far as I know the original Nantucket Bucket had a Royal Husiman boat in it, which was Volador,” recalls Mike Koppstein of Royal Huisman. “As Hank Halstead has said, this event is about the industry giving back. Meeting clients for the five major builders involved is, of course, very important, but I don’t think it’s the immediate goal. It’s about showing people how to enjoy their boats in addition to casual cruising and adding value to the ownership experience.”
Pierluigi Loro Piana, owner of My Song, at the helm of Southern Wind's Cape Arrow
A prime example of what the event means for owners who might otherwise not race their boat is Gerald Hines, the owner of the 45m Lady B, designed by Dubois Naval Architects Ltd and built by Vitters. Now in his 80s, Mr Hines only took up sailing ten years ago and had invited a host of friends and acquaintances to share his Bucket experience (and the boat was given a handicap dispensation to take account of the 30 or more guests aboard during the racing). For much of the racing, Mr Hines was to be found with a broad smile on his face behind Vendée Globe yachtsman Mike Golding, brought in as helmsman for the four days of racing. Bitten by the Bucket bug, he is even considering building a new boat, probably of carbon fibre with a deeper lifting keel for extra speed.
Gerald Hines, owner of Lady B
Ian Craddock, one of the Bucket founders, recalls the days when they would have fishing lines out while they were racing around the island and he would stand up on an empty milk crate in front of the Gustavia capitanerie to announce the results. The Bucket has changed dramatically since then, with professional crews being brought in for the hotly fought racing. “In some ways I do miss the old days and the lack of seriousness,” he admits. “However, the boats are much bigger and more powerful and that means we have to be more professional. We’re very fortunate to have our sponsors and it’s a long-term relationship with all of them. But the feedback we’ve had from industry players is that the Bucket has actually influenced yacht design: people are now building boats to take part in this event. We’re pretty proud of that fact.”
We will bring you more industry opinions and owner interviews from the 2013 St Barths Bucket in the forthcoming issues of The Superyacht Report and The Superyacht Owner.
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