30 March 2013

A Day for Testing Teamwork

“Main-mast staysail up. Do not unfurl. Raise your hands if you hear me.” Captain Tony Brookes calmly called his instructions into a hand-held from one of his dual on-deck navigation stations near the aft quarter of Athos, the 62 meter Hoek-designed Holland Jachtbouw that he commands. His crew with headsets faithfully obeyed, shooting their hands in the air before quickly jumping into action. So went the day that started with pouring rain and segued into one of the windiest here yet, taking the wind gauge to 28 knots and Athos to speeds as high as 15.8.

The owner and his rep Gary Veenman from Holland alternated at the helm, giving each other much-needed breaks from the giant wheel that played tug of war with them. Three trimmers scooted among the 40-some-odd crew, working the joy sticks on their remote control “God boxes” that controlled the hydraulic operations of winches for hoisting and dropping sails as well as sheeting them in and letting them out. For someone who normally sails 40-footers, it surely would have been something strange and wonderful to behold, but for those who regularly sail in this rarified world of superyachts it was just another approach to racing one of the most magnificent sailing yachts on the oceans today.

Athos’s closest competitor today in the Mademoiselles class at the annual St. Barths Bucket was the 55 metre twin-masted Adela, the steel hulled Dykstra designed Pendennis build that represents a historically significant salvage and rebuild of the 1903 original. Adela had won this 10-boat class yesterday, the first day of racing, and won again today, crossing the finish line first, after the traditional pursuit start had the smallest and slowest boats starting first and the larger and faster boats starting at specific time intervals afterward to try and catch up. Athos, which had finished seventh yesterday, was quite pleased with a second-place finish after being fifth in the pursuit-start lineup. That moved them to fifth overall behind Zefira, Salperton, and Lady B.

“No one caught us from behind and we passed two others, so we must be doing something right,” said Athos’s Brookes. “It was a hard-work race today. Windy and wet, and everyone’s uncomfortable but they still have to concentrate on the job they are doing. We had some problems (with the spinnaker hoist) but we dealt with them. It was more like the North Sea instead of the Caribbean there for a while.”

Aboard Adela, Kim “Shags” Morten conceded that the Adela team can sail well in any direction and in any conditions because they have the choice of sails to make the right calls in any given situation. “Our biggest competition is Athos; we think it comes down to the crew performance,” said Morten, adding that he has competed in every Bucket to date, the last three on Adela. “We now have top-of-the-line sails, a carbon fiber mast and a team that has sailed together in the last three superyacht regattas.”

In Grand Dames class, Georgia rose to the top of the scoreboard after taking today’s race. Blue Too, which was leading going into today, retired after a crew was injured and fell to seventh with a finish score today of 13.

In the Gazelle class, Visione maintained its first position overall with a fifth-place finish today. However, they are tied on point score (6) with both P2 and Cape Arrow, with Unfurled only one point behind.

Hanuman claimed another bullet, its third, in the J Boat class today. When asked what was different about today, tactician Kevin Burnham joked, “Nothing, we won the race!” But in all honesty, the win didn’t come easy. “The biggest challenge in pushing that type of machine around the race course (in today’s conditions) is that stuff gets shocked-waved,” said Burnham. “We blew up a kite — it just exploded into a million pieces.”

The crews on all 36 Bucket boats are glad to be back on terra firma for tonight’s pirate-themed “Bucket Bash.” The party should do its part to prepare them for tomorrow’s Wrong-Way Around (the island) Course.

Barby MacGowan will be reporting daily from St Barths. Follow her news reports on this Daily Update page, with previous day's news here. Be sure to read her blog, "As the Winch Turns" on the Recaps page.

30 March 2013

2013 Bucket Donation to the Saint Barths Yacht Club Youth Sailing Program

Representatives from the Saint Barths Yacht Club Youth Sailing Program accepting the 2013 Bucket donation. Each year a portion of all entry fees are donated by the owners to a local charity. Owners and friends of the Bucket are also making additional contributions. Director Ian Craddock (back center) presenting to Marc Grisoli, SBYC President (left) and Helene Guilbaud SBYC Administrator (right).

Click here to learn more about The St Barths Yacht Club Sailing Programs

Photograph above courtesy of Cory Silken.

29 March 2013

A Good Friday to Be in St. Barths

Hundreds of superyacht owners, crews and industry leaders have chosen to spend their long Easter Weekend in St. Barths at the St. Barths Bucket, where pursuit-style racing of absolutely drop-dead gorgeous mega sailing yachts has become an annual affair since 1995. Racing started today for 31 entries in three classes (for fast "Gazelles", sleek "Mademoiselles", and highly revered "Grand Dames", while it was the second day of racing for five historic J Boats.

Parsifal III, in the Les Grandes Dames des Mers class, turned in one of the closest finishes of the race today, getting the horn for fourth place after overtaking Silencio on the reach to the finish line and edging them out by a mere 17 seconds.

"The energy increases when you see you have the chance at winning," said Parsifal III's owner Kim Vibe-Petersen. "Every one of us, until the last 20 minutes, didn't think we could overtake Silencio. But something special happened in the wind…bing, bing, bell! And we took off."

Tactician James Lynne explained that once Parsifal III was within 80 meters of Silencio, it got into a lull and bore away to keep the separation. "We were very lucky and got a nice gust; we had the whole crew (46 in all) hiking out to windward," said Lynne.

The Alloy Yachts ketch Blue Too won the Les Grandes Dames des Mers class, employing a winning strategy based on the KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid) theory. We just went for a yacht race," said tactician Chris Bouzaid. "We had great crew and a great yacht. In this light air the hardest thing is keeping these big boats moving. We managed to keep the boat moving and that paid off."

Captain James Barrett added that the best call today was to stay away from the land. He said Blue Too's owner thoroughly enjoyed steering for the entire race, which was 17 miles counter-clockwise around the island. "The yacht has one of the smaller crews in this regatta – five permanent and 11 for racing," said Barrett, adding that Blue Too finished third overall and second in class last year.

Joining Blue To's crew today was John Winder, a member of the International Super Yacht Rule (ISYR) Management Team who is here working Jim Teeters, the head of it. "What was really fun was that Ron Holland was aboard and he and Chris Bouzaid were doing a lot of talking and reminiscing, refreshing one's memory from the way-back machine," said Winder.

Winder went on to explain that the ISYR management team has been expanded so it can get more eyes and ears on the race course with the superyacht teams. "If you think about it, we started years ago with just the Bucket and the Superyacht Cup Palma, and now we're up to over 10 events. We are working with skippers and tacticians to answer their questions and deal with their concerns in an ongoing dialogue," said Winder.

To that point, the Super Yacht Racing Association, to which many boat owners here belong, held its annual meeting here on Wednesday. At the heart of discussions was the ongoing work toward making superyacht racing safer. Each yacht entered here has been issued a Nikon Laser Rangefinder, made possible by Bucket sponsor Pantaenius yacht insurance. The range finders are required under an appendix in the Racing Rules of Sailing for all SYRA sanctioned superyacht regattas and are for use by each yacht's Safety Officer to assure that a minimum of 40 metres separation between yachts is maintained at all times.

The five J Boats that were fleet racing today corrected out to finish in the same order that they crossed the finish line. Hanuman took the top slot on the scoreboard, and it was significant that only eight seconds separated the second-place finisher Lionheart and the third-place finisher Velsheda.

Tomorrow's "Not So Wiggley Course" will take the fleet around out-islands to the northwest of St. Barths. Tonight, after daily awards are presented, the race will be to the much-anticipated dock party and fleet open house.

Barby MacGowan will be reporting daily from St Barths. Follow her news reports on this Daily Update page, with previous day's news here. Be sure to read her blog, "As the Winch Turns" on the Recaps page.

28 March 2013

J Boat Magic at the Bucket

No one could deny that Opening Day of the St. Barth Bucket included some magic on the water. Five historic J Boats competing against each other in a traditional fleet race was a rare and beautiful sight, and the finesse with which they were handled over a 15-mile course (six windward-leeward legs at around 2.5 miles each) was impressive…and then some.

The first two legs were all about Ranger fending off Hanuman, but then Lionheart made an ambitious play to overtake Hanuman and then eventually Ranger to lead by the gate at the bottom of the second downwind leg. What happened after that could only be described as Hanuman and its well-oiled team pulling a rabbit out of their hat. “We got a break we needed at the right time,” said Ken Read, the world champion and Volvo Ocean Race veteran who helmed Hanuman. “We were trying to go left all day, and we finally got the lane we wanted.”

Lionheart, Hanuman and Ranger had seemingly sailed into a hole after going left at the gate, and when Lionheart and Ranger tacked to go right (joining the side already chosen by Rainbow and Velsheda), Hanuman continued left…and left…and left…until it found the port rhumb line to the last windward mark. They would round it a full 15 boat lengths ahead of Lionheart, with Rainbow trailing 12 lengths behind that and Ranger and Velsheda pulling up the rear. The order would carry on to the finish where Hanuman’s official finish time topped Lionheart’s by almost three minutes.

"There was a transitioning cloud line in play all day long on the left side of the race course,” said Read, who named fellow Volvo sailors in his afterguard — Kelvin Harrup, Kimo Worthington and Juan Villa— as critical minds in his team’s decisions. “It was in play both upwind and down, and it was what sprung us in the end.”

Read made it a point to say that his all-star team was also a great group of friends, including owners Kristy and Jim Clark and their special guest today, Richard Branson.

The normally pristine waters were churned by an abundance of spectator boats, and it is expected to be an even more chaotically beautiful sight tomorrow when the J Boats are joined by an additional 31 superyachts that have signed up for this edition of the famous Bucket Regatta.

Lionheart’s Captain Toby Brand summed up the spark of excitement on board his boat today that will no doubt grow into a fire by Sunday, when the racing will have concluded after four days. “Everyone has been stoked about the Bucket,” said Brand, referencing the fact that there has not been a J Boat spectacle like this since 1936 when the yachts were in their America’s Cup heyday. “We all had a special feeling as we were going out today; we talked about is as a team. Just lining up on the starting line, everybody had a lump in their throats. We were chuffed to be here and be involved and get a really good fight on the water.”

Lionheart, unlike the other J Boats here, is not an original or replica of any boat from a previous age of sail. It was built from one of three rejected designs proposed for Ranger. The Ranger DNA, however, is evident in the knuckle bow.

The Ranger here, which won the Bucket overall in 2010, is a copy of the original Ranger that was built for Harold Vanderbilt and raced 34 times in her life, winning 32 of those races. It was broken up during the second World War to use as metal for the war effort.

Rainbow was built last year and is a copy of the original 1934 Rainbow built for Vanderbilt to defeat Endeavour. The new Rainbow is the only J Boat with a hybrid propulsion system, using a lithium ion battery and two generators.

Velsheda, the only original J Boat here, was built in 1933 for W.L. Stephenson, owner of the Woolworth chain of shops. It was relaunched after a rebuild in 1997.

The aluminum-hulled Hanuman, built in 2009, is a replica of the steel-hulled Endeavour II, which was built in 1937 to battle the J Boats in the America’s Cup Race that year. She was beaten by Ranger and scrapped in 1968.

Barby MacGowan
Media Pro International’s Barby MacGowan is reporting daily from St. Barths. Follow her releases under news and updates and her blog under Recaps.

2013 Bucket Regatta News - 27 March, 2013the J Boat Hanuman practices today in St. Barths, passing by its mother ship Athena.

J Boat Racing Starts the Show Tomorrow

Tomorrow will be a historic day at the St. Barths Bucket Regatta, which has been called, by some, “the most important super yacht regatta in the world.”  The event, in its 18th edition here and its 27th as its own unique brand of racing (the original Bucket Regatta debuted on the island of Nantucket in 1986 and today has editions in both St. Barths and Newport, R.I.), is starting a day early to give the J Class an extra race. And what a race it will be, as five of the behemoth 130’+ (40 meter) sloops – Hanuman, Lionheart, Rainbow, Ranger and Velsheda -- will be sailing together for the first time ever in the Caribbean.  As well, it will be the first time since the 1930s, considered the J Boats’ Golden Era, so many have converged for a single racing event.

“We are feeling good about this regatta,” said Rogier van Overveld, crew boss aboard Rainbow.  “We sailed against four of the boats in the Solent (all but Hanuman) and we’ve been doing a lot of sailing since, with almost the same crew, which are all from the Netherlands.”  Rainbow’s co-helmsman Mark Neeleman is his country’s five-time Olympian in Finn and Star class, and most of the crew sailed aboard Windrose of Amsterdam (Rainbow owner Chris Gongriep’s previous yacht) here last year.

Hanuman is sure to give them a run for their money, however, as two-thirds of its crew are big names from America’s Cup and/or Volvo Ocean Race arenas.  And among those is what Captain Greg Sloat calls the “Newport mafia” headed by helmsman Ken Read. Read is best known for his Volvo Ocean Race accomplishments as skipper of the Puma Ocean Racing Team but also has 40 World, North American, and National Championship titles to his name. Sloat revealed that the collective know-how onboard is being harnessed for a small-boat approach to sailing the one very big Hanuman. He called Hanuman one of the “Super Js,” which were built for the America’s Cup.  “The ratings among us are very even, so determining a winner might come down to a single mistake,” said Sloat, adding that adept boat handling is the foundation of the approach.

Results for the J Class, which plans to sail one windward-leeward race tomorrow, will be calculated using the J Class Association handicap (the J Class Rule), and the racing format will be traditional fleet, where all yachts start together on one line.  The remainder of the Bucket classes, which begin racing on Friday, March 29 and continue through Sunday, March 31 along with the J Boats, will sail under the International Super Yacht Rule (a formal packaging of what was originated by Bucket founders as the Bucket Rule) and enjoy a “pursuit”-style racing format, which gives them staggered starts in each of three classes.

Including the J Boats, a total of 36 boats are entered in the St. Barths Bucket. The raciest of the yachts, in the nine-boat Les Gazelles des Mers class, include such recognizable grand prix names as Leopard3 and P2, with Rebecca showing as one of the long-time favorites here. The 10-boat Les Mademoiselles des Mers class sports no less than six Dubois designs, testament to the importance of this regatta as a showcase for designers, naval architects and yacht builders. One of these, Salperton IV, stands out as the recent winner of the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta in the BVIs. Striking a distinguished note of beauty in this class will be two schooners, Athos and Adela, the latter of which will be helmed by Dennis Conner.

In the 12-boat Les Grandes Dames des Mers class, the ever awe-inspiring Maltese Falcon will wow spectators.  It is one of eight Perini Navis, all massively impressive in their own ways, sailing in this class.

The four class winners of the 2013 St. Barths Bucket will each receive a Ship’s Bell Clock from Chelsea Clock. 

The J Class will award two additional trophies, the Hundred Guinea Cup, given to the winner of the one race tomorrow, and the King’s Corinthian Cup, given to the first owner-driven J Boat.

Live tracking for the J Boat racing can be found at http://www.tractrac.com/index.php?page=eventpage&id=279

Barby MacGowan will be reporting daily from St Barths.

Follow her news and notes here and on the recap pages.

2013 Bucket Regatta News - 18 March, 2013

Get Ready for Bucket Excitement!

The 2013 St Barths Bucket Regatta action starts on March 28.  This annual yachting spectacular will feature the latest in superyacht designs along with true classics. Thirty-five yachts are ready to join the festivities and racing.

Racing begins on Thursday March 28 when five J Class yachts head for the starting line. This will be the first gathering of five or more J’s since 1937! 

Three more races are planned, with all yachts racing in four separate classes -Les Mademoiselles des Mers, Les Grandes Dames des Mers, Les Gazelles des Mers, and the J Class.

The largest yacht is the 88m Perini Navi built schooner Maltese Falcon. Eleven of the current entries are 50 meters or larger. Among new boats to the St Barths Bucket is the 31m Dubois Naval Architects designed Sarafin and the 31m Newport Bucket winner Indio.

The around the island courses create spectacular opportunities to view these breathtaking vessels under sail. The racing format has been modified somewhat, with the start times set so that the classes should finish together. This change is designed to make the racing both more competitive and safer.

Now in their 27th year, the Bucket regattas attract the crème de la crème of yacht builders from every sailing nation, with several builders boasting multiple entries. The “Big Five” sailing yacht builders (Perini Navi, Royal Huisman, Holland Jachtbouw, Alloy Yachts and Vitters) have for many years supported the Bucket Regattas, playing a meaningful role in growing the Bucket and helping maintain the non-commercial atmosphere, another significant hallmark of Bucket races.

One of Executive Director Tim Laughridge’s goals is to ensure that the renowned Spirit of the Bucket is retained while providing participants with great class racing. He’ll be helming Parsifal III and racing to win, but reminds everyone that the overriding theme is to sail safe and win the party!

The four class winners of the 2013 St Barths Bucket will each receive a Ship’s Bell Clock from Chelsea Clock. 

WIMCO Villasis thePreferred Villa Rental Partner for the St Barths Bucket.

Media AccreditationThe Media Registration and Accreditation Request Form is posted.

The Bucket Books are still available!
We’ve captured all the special fun, traditions, and excitement of the Bucket Regattas in one stunning coffee table book. Created to mark the Bucket’s 25th anniversary, it’s brimming with breathtaking photos of yachts racing around the marks and memorable visuals from all those unique parties. There are many entertaining anecdotes from our yacht owners, guests, crews, spectators, and organizers. Learn more and place your order.

The Official 2013 Charity is The St Barths Yacht Club Sailing Programs learn more

21 February 2013

RACING CHANGES FOR THE 2013 ST BARTHS BUCKET

OVERVIEW
There are always lessons learned at any superyacht regatta. The St Barths Bucket organizers strive to make the regatta a better experience for the yacht owners and participants each and every year. 

With St Barths averaging 40 yachts over the past five years, it has created challenges both on the water and ashore. This year’s event will again showcase some of the most impressive superyachts in the world (Entries link) and a fleet size that is once again nearly double that of any other superyacht regatta on the racing calendar.

Much was learned with last year’s record fleet and the Event Director produced a detailed post-event assessment for the Directors and sponsors. The report highlighted areas of concern and provided recommendations that addressed these. We expect that these will ultimately make the Bucket experience even more enjoyable for yacht owners, their guests and crews.

While there were no collisions last year, there were too many close calls – even with the moderate conditions experienced on all three race days. Certainly an argument could be made that congestion on the racecourse led to safety issues and that the amount of passing that some yachts had to do impacted fair sailing and the rating rule authority’s task of handicapping yachts fairly.

FAIR RATINGS – THE INTERNATIONAL SUERYACHT RULE
Over the past nine years the Bucket Rating Rule, now the International Super Yacht Rule (ISYR), has achieved a remarkable level of success at leveling the playing field for fair handicapping of the most divergent yacht designs.  Recent finishes at the Bucket have been dramatic with upwards of forty yachts that describe every tangent of superyacht design. Results these past few years have been determined by the thinnest of margins. It has not been uncommon to see as many as 10 yachts finishing within a mere 2 minutes. We will be providing more information on the ISYR later this month.

At the end of the day we’ve become the victim of the handicapper’s success.  As the ratings and good sailing create close and exciting finishes, all too frequently it’s getting to be dangerously crowded on the finish line with our large Bucket fleets.  In short - too exciting!

CLASS PURSUIT RACING
This year in St. Barths, the Bucket Regatta will use the same popular pursuit racing format with a focus on class racing. We will use the same controls we’ve used to bring the finishes together, to separate them.  We do not want to lose any of the excitement of our traditional pursuit racing format, therefore, we will structure the racing to have each class finish together (as opposed to the entire fleet).  As such, we will have up to a dozen yachts approaching the finish at a time…. instead of forty!  This will be an important step forward with regard to enhancing safe racing. 

In function this will be simple.  All yachts will share the same start and finish line and will sail the assigned course for their specific class.  The rating authority and race committee will structure the starting times, such that the three classes will finish at different times – the gap between class finishes will likely be approximately 10 minutes. We are running test scenarios this month to evaluate starting sequence lengths with different courses for classes, and other relevant factors.  Within each of the three pursuit classes the racing will be as exciting as ever, featuring the routine close finishes, but there will be less congestion at the last few turning marks and the finish line. 

We are excited about this new development, and look forward to far less “hair raising” finishes while maintaining the exciting pursuit racing concept of first boat in class home wins.

OVERALL BUCKET WINNER
As in the past, we will celebrate an overall Bucket winner at the conclusion of the regatta. That yacht will be one of the three pursuit class winners determined by a multifaceted criteria that will include their ‘fleet result’, how competitive the racing was in their class, good sportsmanship on the racecourse, and competing in the traditional ‘Spirit of the Bucket’. Additional details on the Overall Winner criteria will be available early next month.

CLASS BREAKS
The three pursuit classes for the 2013 Bucket Regatta will be Les Gazelles des Mers, Les Mademoiselles des Mers and Les Grandes Dames des Mers. Proper class breaks are very important to the issue of fair racing. Ideally, yachts in the same class have somewhat similar sailing characteristics. It is not always in the best interest of fair racing to have breaks based simply on speed. Other important factors include displacement length ratio and sail area / displacement (upwind and down), to name just a few. This year the Bucket Regattas has formed a committee to determine class breaks. The make up of this committee, more on our philosophy and the 2013 preliminary class breaks will be posted on the Bucket web site and e-mailed to boat captains early next month. We look forward to receiving your feedback.

J MANIA
In another development for 2013, the Bucket regatta has a staggering five J class entries. This will be the first gathering of five or more J’s since 1937! The J Class Association has requested their own class start, which actually works nicely with our intent to break out a ‘racing oriented’ performance class to enhance both safe and fair racing for the entire fleet (based on lessons learned in 2012). 

The J Class will start and finish first, race on a similar course as the Gazelles, have a conventional fleet start, and race under standard ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing. In determining racecourses each day, the race committee will make best efforts to maintain separation between the racing class and pursuit classes. There will be written contingencies provided in the unlikely event the J’s encounter any pursuit yachts on the racecourse. This 2013 change provides yet another layer of safety to the St Barths Bucket Regatta.

SUMMARY
As you can see, we are taking meaningful steps this year to enhance fair racing and safe sailing. The organizers are confident that the changes being enacted will make the racing far safer, resolve a growing ‘race boat problem’, provide for better class racing and enable the rating rule authority to be more successful with the handicapping.

We have listened closely to the yacht owners, sailors and our race management team to make adjustments that deal with the realities of a 40-yacht superyacht fleet.