One of the most prestigious regattas in the Caribbean, the St Barth Bucket, takes place March 28th-31st 2013. The small port of Gustavia buzzes with excitement as a fleet of sailboats, mostly over 100ft in length, begin appearing in the harbor. Much of that excitement revolves around the J-Class yachts, originals and replicas. Hanuman, Ranger, and Velsheda are expected to take part this year—as well as the high-tech mega yacht, Maltese Falcon, the largest competitor at 289ft.
Of the sponsoring yacht builders—Holland Jachtbow, Perini Navi, Royal Huisman, Vitters, and Alloy Yachts—Perini Navi has the largest fleet in the regatta (as of late January), with eight yachts set to compete: Andromeda La Dea, Maltese Falcon, P2, Panthalassa, Parsifal III, Salute, Silencio and Zenji.
British naval architect/designer Ed Dubois will again be well represented with six entries on the list: Koo, Lady B, Moonbird, Salperton IV, Sarafin and Zefira.
“The Bucket is my boat show,” says Dubois. “I bring potential clients here—some are repeat clients who have become friends—and the Bucket gives us a stage on which to act our play.”
New this year is a feeder race organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, from Virgin Gorda to St. Barth, on March 25th. The feeder is open to monohulls over 80ft and multihulls over 60ft.
The awards ceremony in St Barth on March 26th includes the Virgin Gorda – St. Barth Loro Piana Super-yacht Trophy.
Each year, The Bucket makes a sizeable donation to a worthy project or organization on St Barth. This year that donation goes to the St Barth Yacht Club sailing programs. A great way to get future generations of sailors ready to compete in The Bucket!
For a complete list of entries and detailed race information, go to: www.bucketregattas.com/stbarths
Ellen Lampert-Gréaux lives in Saint Barthélemy where she is editor-in-chief of Harbour Magazine. She writes regularly about entertainment design and technology for Live Design magazine, and about Caribbean architecture for MACO, a Trinidad-based lifestyle magazine.
