Bucket Tips Off Tomorrow
Friday will be the start of the three-race 19th St. Barth Bucket, which is for megayachts about 100 feet and longer, and is arguably the the most magnificent spectacle in big-boat fun racing. There are 36 entries this year, the largest of them being the 192-ft Perini Navi ketch Seahawk. (Not only is she the longest, she’s the only one with brilliant red standing rigging.)
The 35-boat fleet has great variety. There are two ancient schooners: the 85-year-old 108-ft topsail schooner Altair and the 112-year-old 184-ft Adela. There are six multistory Perini Navis, which are all about spacious luxury. And there are modern rocketships such as Hasso Plattner’s R/P 147-ft Visione. As such, the boats are divided into four divisions.
Even though almost all major boat functions are powered on most of the boats in the fleet, the boats still require large crews. For example, the last time the spectacular 180-ft Herreshoff schooner Elena of London competed, she had a crew of 64. Small wonder every room on the tiny island in the French West Indies is spoken for and the streets are clogged with an unprecedented amount of traffic.
One reason boats need big crews is the size of the chutes, which have to be semi-manhandled if something goes wrong with the socks. How big are the chutes? We’re told that one of the yachts that hoped to be sailing this year — until the build schedule fell a year behind — will have a spinnaker "roughly an acre in size." It will weigh 2,400 pounds.
You don’t find crew for the skill positions for these huge boats just anywhere, so owners fly in the best sailors in the world from all parts of the globe, and it becomes like old home week for many of the legends and lesser-known but tremendously skilled sailors of the world. Owners of the bigger boats might spend $200,000 on the three-race event. And at least one owner hasn’t raced on his boat in 10 years.
The weather for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday races is looking a little on the light side, 11-16 knots, for boats that displace as much as 550 metric tons. If the racing won’t be quite as exciting as normal, the three-day air show in support of it will help make up for it. Nine World War II-era airplanes, including perhaps the very last Japanese Zero, have come all the way from Texas to give everyone a thrill.
Because of the threat of two or more boats worth tens of millions of dollars colliding, special rules have been implemented to keep the behemoths at a safe distance. And there is a ‘win the party’ credo. But as the owners of these boats aren’t accustomed to coming in second in anything, the racing can still be quite competitive.
View the complete entry list here.
Complete entry list (for the convenience of our American readers, we’ve converted the Length Overall [LOA] from meters to feet):
Les GAZELLES des Mers (8 yachts)
Visione, R/P 148 LOA
Win Win, Baltic 109
Better Place, Wally 151.5
Ganesha, Dubois 137.7
Ghost, Luca Brenta 122.8
Inoui, Briand 110
P2, Perini Briand 114
Rainbow, Dykstra 132
Les ELEGANTES des Mers (8 yachts)
Lady B, Dubois 147.5
Elfje, Royal Huisman Hoek ketch 153
Rebecca, Frers ketch 140
Marie, Hoek ketch 180
Moonbird, Dubois 122.8
Adela, Dykstra schooner 142
Bella Ragazza, Dubois 142
Koo, Dubois 142
Les MADEMOISELLES des Mers (10 yachts)
Windfall, R/P 94.4
Varsovie, Swan 100.6
Freya, Swan 91.4
Cape Arrow, Farr-Nauta 99.7
Sunleigh, Jongert 109
Lush, Oyster 86
Drumfire, Hoek 79
Wavelength, Holland 89.8
Bequia, Stephens yawl 91.4
Altair, S&S schooner 96.4
Les GRANDES DAMES des Mers (9 yachts)
Elena of London, Herreshoff schooner 137
Axia, S&S ketch 124
Seahawk, Perini Navi Holland ketch 193.4
Parsifal III, Perini Navi Holland ketch 177.5
Meteor, Royal Huisman Dykstra schooner 150.8
Zenji, Perini Navi Holland ketch 184.8
Rosehearty, Perini Navi Holland ketch 148.5
Thalia, Holland ketch 160
State of Grace, Perini Navi Holland 132