Big and Beautiful

Thirty-six megayachts and three J Class yachts showed up for St. Barths Bucket last weekend and were treated to near-perfect sailing conditions. Winds of 11-18 knots over the three races meant good speed and relatively little damage to the boats or crews — and once again a big-boat sailing spectacle not seen anywhere else in the world.

The one thing the boats had in common was that they were huge and in spectacular condition. How sailmakers can make gigantic sails so perfect on such large yachts is beyond our comprehension. We were told that some of the sails weigh more than two tons!

The racing was mostly close, as often it was only a matter of seconds that separated winners, and four of the six division finishes went to tie-breakers or were razor-thin victories.

A number of San Francisco Bay sailors participated. For the second year Paul Cayard was the tactician on the Perini Navi Rosehearty, which took two of three firsts and class honors in Les Grandes Dames des Mers. Ken Keefe was aboard the Swan 90 Freya, which had three bullets to walk away with Les Mademoiselles des Mers. Rodney Daniel of Oakland crewed aboard the 146-ft Visione. There may have been other Bay sailors, but with 1,500 sailors having flown in for the event, we didn’t get to see them all.

If you enjoy megayacht sailing, you need to put the Bucket on your bucket list.