St. Barths Bucket Regatta 2012 (Photo © 2012 by Tim Wright / www.photoaction.com)

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.

Newport Bucket Regatta Overall wWnner Indio (Photo by George Bekris)

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.

Parsifal III (Photo by George Bekris / www.georgebekris. com)

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.

St. Barths Bucket Regatta 2012 rounding the island. (Photo © 2012 by Tim Wright / www.photoaction.com)

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St. Barths Bucket Regatta 2012 (Photo © 2012 by Tim Wright / www.photoaction.com)

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Perini Navi Maltese Falcon (Photo By George Bekris)

The Perini Navi Cup is a superyacht regatta restricted exclusively to Perini yachts that for a few days gather to challenge each other in the Mediterranean Sea.

After the first edition in 2004 Perini Navi Cups have been held in 2006 and 2009, the appointment for the fourth edition will take place between the 1st and 4th September 2011 in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, one of the most beautiful west mediterranean charter destination.
Yachts, over the years have come to be associated more with leisure and entertainment. But the performance yachts that sail and compete in a regatta can still generate so much excitement that it can get you hooked to sailing for life. The Perini Navi Cup, the annual super-luxe regatta in Sardinia is already gearing up to present a grand event that is better than the previous years in every which way. The event is still a few months away but some big ticket sponsors have already come on board and that’s why the organizers are confident that the regatta in Sardinia will be a super show this year.

The regatta will take place from September 1 to 4 in the waters around Porto Cervo. The event is dedicated to the world’s most stylish sailing superyachts. The format of the regatta has been marginally enlarged this year and an extra day of racing has been added to the original schedule. The participating yachts are all priceless beauties that are capable of outperforming the others if handled skillfully. If you calculate the value of all the yachts competing in the regatta it will add up to hundreds of millions of dollars. The megabucks Maltese Falcon will be there with the Lord Foster-designed Panthalassa and founder Fabio Perini’s own Elettra. Many other big names will be confirming their participation.
The sailing superyacht regatta is being organized under the auspices of the ultra-exclusive Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. The big name sponsors who are backing the event this year are Rolex, Audi and Champagne Pommery. There are several others who will be contributing to the success of the event. If you are passionate enough to want to participate, you can check the James list for some of the best yachts on sale.

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Maltese Falcon (Photo by Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi)

Having cheered on the first six yachts when they departed on the Transatlantic Race 2011 two days ago, the 14-strong group of yachts that will take the second of the three staggered starts now have less than 24 hours until they begin the race across the North Atlantic for themselves.  The warning signal at 13:50 Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, June 29, will cue the largest group of yachts to depart, including the show-stopping Maltese Falcon, and spectators are guaranteed to see a unique sailing spectacle when the cannon is fired at Castle Hill Light.

Without doubt, tomorrow’s start will feature the most diverse battle of the race.  The Open Class has just two yachts, but they are two of the showiest yachts in the race.  Maltese Falcon, at 289’, is the largest yacht competing and is up against the only multihull entered in the race, Phaedo, the Gunboat 66 owned by Lloyd Thornburg (St. Barthelemy).  The Lamborghini-orange catamaran and the futuristic Perini Navi will be a spectacular sight as they head off into the Atlantic.

In IRC Class Two, Jazz, a Cookson 50, has a star-studded crew including the highly experienced navigator, Mike Broughton (Hamble, U.K.), and skipper, Nigel King (Lymington, U.K.).  Unfortunately, due to family commitments, owner Chris Bull is unable to make the trip.  Two German teams on nearly identical yachts will also go head-to-head in the class:  Christoph Avenarius and Gorm Gondesen’s Shakti and Jens Kellinghusen’s Varuna should virtually match race across the North Atlantic.

IRC Class Three will feature six yachts, including Snow Lion, the Ker 50 owned by former NYYC Commodore Lawrence Huntington (New York, N.Y.).  Snow Lion is a proven winner, having won her class in the Newport Bermuda Race, and should be highly competitive on corrected time.  There are, however, some real fliers in this class, not the least of which is Zaraffa, the Reichel Pugh 65 owned by Huntington Sheldon (Shelburne, Vt.), whose crew includes several veterans of the last edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.  The Volvo 60 Ambersail, skippered by Simonas Steponavicius (Vilnius, Lithuania), is a much-travelled yacht having logged over 100,000 miles since being purchased in 2008 to celebrate a thousand years of Lithuanian history. After sailing around the world, Ambersail took part in the 2010 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race, winning class honors and placing second overall.

The youth entry from Germany, Norddeutsche Vermoegen Hamburg, will be helmed by Eike Holst whose third Transatlantic Race will be his first as skipper.  And while the majority of the team aboard the Andrews 57 are university students in their 20s, two of the crew are just 18 years old.  Many of sailors in the race were introduced to the sport as a family activity, which means the parents of these sailors, in particular, have a degree of understanding and ease with the undertaking at hand.  That was not the case for Jerome Vigne, the Parisian-born mechanical engineering student who will have a very relieved mother welcoming him home to Germany.

Blending a comfortable interior with the performance of an Open 60 is Ourson Rapide, the Finot-Conq 60 owned by Paolo Roasenda (Vedano al Lambro, Italy).  This is a special boat that should have a dream-like ride downwind.  Scho-ka-kola, named for the German chocolate confection, is a Reichel Pugh 56 owned by Uwe Lebens (Hamburg) that has completed two previous Atlantic crossings.

Prodigy, a Simonis/Voog 54, is a proven winner.  Owner Chris Frost (Durban, South Africa) took line honors in the 2011 Heineken Cape to Rio Race and will compete in the Rolex Fastnet Race, as well as the Rolex Middle Sea Race, as part of a year-long campaign.  Of the 10 crew on Prodigy, two – including Aaron Gillespie (Butler, N.J.) and John Fryer (New York, N.Y.) – were recruited by Frost using the “Crew Finder” feature on the event’s website.  It will be Gillespie’s first Transatlantic crossing.

The two smallest yachts in start two are both Class 40s: Dragon and Concise 2, the latter skippered by Ned Collier-Wakefield (Oxford, U.K.).   Tony Lawson (Haslemere, Surrey, U.K.) assembled a crew of young aspiring sailors from Great Britain to make up Team Concise.  The team has become a force to be reckoned with having won the 2009 Class 40 World Championship, set a world record for the Round Britain and Ireland course and taken class honors at the RORC Caribbean 600 for the last three years.

Dragon is the only boat racing across the Atlantic double-handed. Owner Michael Hennessy (Mystic, Conn.) has been an avid sailor ever since introduced to the sport by his father at the age of four on San Francisco Bay.  Following college, Hennessy logged thousands of miles cruising along the New England coast before he started to focus on short-handed distance racing in 2002.  Since then he has competed in four Newport Bermuda Races, as well as dozens of other races across New England.  In 2008 he took notice of the fast growing Class 40 fleet and took delivery of his Owen Clarke-designed boat. In just two short years, Dragon has become a fixture on the ocean racing circuit.  Joining Hennessy will be co-skippered Rob Windsor (East Northport, N.Y.) who grew up sailing with his family on Long Island Sound.

Sponsors of the TR 2011 are Rolex, Thomson Reuters, Newport Shipyard, Perini Navi and Peters & May, with additional support by apparel sponsor Atlantis Weathergear.

For more information, visit http://www.transatlanticrace.org/.

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Vanquish (Photo by George Bekris)

While the water views from anywhere along Newport Harbor (R.I.) are already magnificent, they will be absolutely breathtaking in late June and early July when 32 ocean-going yachts set sail in the Transatlantic Race 2011, which charts a course that stretches 2,975 nautical miles from Newport to Lizard Point, at the end of a peninsula in South Cornwall (UK).  This history-making event is organized by the Royal Yacht Squadron, New York Yacht Club, Royal Ocean Racing Club and Storm Trysail Club, with pre-start activities taking place at the New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court clubhouse in Newport and the awards taking place at the Royal Yacht Squadron’s Cowes Castle clubhouse on the Isle of Wight.

 The fleet runs the gamut from sleek traditional designs, such as the 94’ William Fife-designed Sumurun, to sophisticated super yachts, such as the 289’ custom Perini Navi clipper sailing yacht Maltese Falcon, with three masts so tall (190’) they barely clear Newport’s towering Pell Bridge, which serves as a gateway to Rhode Island’s famous City by the Sea.  And as those who are veterans of ocean racing will attest, crossing the Atlantic Ocean is no small feat, especially when storms, testing seas and even icebergs (still a danger in the North Atlantic in June) are included in the mix of challenges encountered.

 “What I find so incredible with open-ocean racing is that there are very few things that you can do these days that are the same as what people did 400 years ago,” said Sumurun’s owner Robert Towbin . “You have such a sense of history when you’re out there and for a couple weeks you get to feel, in effect, the same way Columbus felt.”

 Towbin has sailed Sumurun in two previous transatlantic races, winning the Classic Division in the 2005 Rolex Transatlantic Challenge and taking overall victory in the 1997 Atlantic Challenge Cup presented by Rolex.  He is currently preparing his classic yacht, which was built in 1914, to endure what will be its first challenge of the 2011 sailing season.  “If you have an older boat, a race of this complexity takes a lot out of it, so we are putting a lot of work into it to get it up to date,” said Towbin.

Three separate starts – June 26, June 29, and July 3 – are planned (Sumurun will be in the first start) to “stagger” the yachts of different sizes and ability so that they will arrive in England in proximity to each other. Challenging their crews both mentally and physically, the larger boats hope to finish the race in 8 to 12 days, while the smaller boats may take up to 18 to 22 days to finish. 

 In addition to class winners, whichever yacht finishes the course with the fastest elapsed time will set the benchmark for a new  racing record from Newport to Lizard Point, to be ratified by the World Speed Sailing Council. Rolex watches will be awarded to the record holder and the overall winner (on corrected time) under IRC.

 It’s anyone’s guess which of the true racing thoroughbreds entered might prevail.  Among them, scheduled to depart in the final race group, are the VOR 70 crewed by PUMA Ocean Racing Team, the Newport-based second-place finisher in the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race and entrant in the next edition as well; Rambler 100, George David’s  maxi rocket ship that has been tearing up race courses since the beginning of the year, including breaking the record for the RORC Caribbean 600 and taking line honors at the Pineapple Cup-Montego Bay Race; and ICAP Leopard, which holds the current record from Ambrose Light to Lizard Point for monohulls using powered sailing systems. 

 And if that’s not impressive enough, there will be two all-youth teams competing, one from Germany (aboard the Andrews 56 Norddeutsche Vermoegen in race start two) and one from the U.S.A. (the All American Offshore Team’s IRC 65 Vanquish in race start three).  In addition, four Class 40s, high-performance monohulls designed specifically for shorthanded sailing, will have their own class (starting in the second group).

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St Barths Bucket (Photo by Oskar Kihlborg www.kihlborg.se )

Virago a performance Nautor Swan sailing yacht wins the 2011 St. Barths Bucket Regatta overall for the 25th Anniversary St. Barths Bucket Regatta.

BY CLASS

A beautiful slideshow courtesy of  Cory Silken of the 40 strong fleet of Superyachts with spectacular St. Barths as the backdrop.

 St. Barth’s Bucket selects – Images by Cory Silken

Overall Winners
1st 2nd 3rd	Virago Hanuman Symmetry
Les Gazelles – Racing Class
1st 2nd 3rd	Virago Symmetry Ranger
Les Grand Dames – Cruising Class
1st 2nd 3rd	Axia Genevieve Blue Too
Les Elegantes – Classic Class
1st 2nd 3rd	Rebecca Windrose Marie
Alloy Cup
Blue Too
All Star Crew Award presented by Holland Jachtbuow (also presented by The Yacht Report and Crew Report magazines)
Rebecca
Wolter Huisman Memorial Spirit of the Bucket Trophy
Marie
Perini Navi Cup
P2
Vitter’s Shipyard Seamanship Trophy
Maltese Falcon
Skullduggery Cravat
Axia
Hard Hat Award
Mike Slade on Leopard
Escargot Cup
Gloria
Hard Hat Award
Mike Slade on Leopard
Descriptions of Awards
Overall These awards, first through third, are presented for the best performance overall for combined results, all classes, all races.
Les Gazelles & Les Grand Dames In 2005, when the Bucket Regatta grew beyond all expectations and the fleet doubled in size, it was determined that the yachts should be split into classes that considered their essential attributes.  However, the distinction of “Cruising Division” and “Racing Division” seemed just, oh so pedestrian, for a fleet of this stature.  In the RC’s opinion, the designation of “Les Gazelles des Mers” for the Racing Division and “Les Grandes Dammes des Mers” for the Cruising Division, seemed far more appropriate. In 2011 “Les Elegantes” was added, providing a class for “classic yachts”. Each Division has trophies presented for best performance overall, first through third.
Alloy Cup Best Performance by an Alloy Yacht
All Star Crew Award At each Bucket Event, every yacht is asked to cast a ballot for the yacht crew among the fleet that demonstrates the most professional service in all tasks, while maintaining the best voie de vivre, camaraderie, teamwork and respect among the crew.  This is the crew that displays the pinnacle of the profession and has the most fun at it – the yacht that everyone wants to work aboard.   Because the award is earned by peer recognition, it has earned serious stature within the marine industry.
Spirit of the Bucket Trophy This award is presented each year by Alice Huisman, to the yacht that best exemplifies the spirit of the Bucket Regattas.  The selection is absolutely subjective, but considers sportsmanship, safe seamanship, best hospitality and overall contribution to the event.  We have created a lot of humor around the premise that “Bribes can get you anything in the Bucket” and this is where the truth comes clear.  The Bucket Regatta was really started as a Club of yacht owners who loved nothing more than sailing their yachts well, getting the best out of them, and then sharing great yarns and libation at the end of the day.  There are a group of owners who have contributed a lot to the event over the years, from tenders to parties, committee boats, etc.  It is this Spirit that sets this event apart from all others.  It is in recognition of this Spirit that the Wolter Huisman Memorial Trophy is awarded. (None of the above reduces the RC’s taste for fine champagne!)
Perini Navi Cup Perini-Navi Yacht with the best result.
Vitters Seamanship Trophy Awarded to the yacht that demonstrates the best seamanship and sportsmanship in the interest of promoting safety on the race course.  All participants in the Bucket acknowledge that superyachts have serious limitations operating safely in close quarters and therefore, the RC has always valued safety well above performance.  This award will recognize the yacht that best demonstrates that understanding.  It also goes to prove that nice guys don’t always finish last!!
Skullduggery Cravat The Skullduggery Cravat is a perfectly tied Admiralty Noose, framed, with instructions in elegant calligraphy on how to tie a proper, 13 turn noose.  This was originally awarded to the owner of SARIYAH in 2002, so his captain, Timothy Laughridge (Bucket Committee) could be hung at the pleasure of the Fleet. The award was renamed and put forward by the Committee to reinforce the Bucket premise that we are NOT here to promulgate adult behavior.  The Cravat will be awarded to the yacht and crew who display the best bucket humor.  As a guideline, we again focus on SARIYAH, where one year they spent the evening prior to the last race, slaughtering a down feathered mattress, then they packed the feathers in with their spinnaker so when they set their ‘Chute with the Hawk logo the following day, they not only dusted the horizon with feathers, but left a rubber chicken hanging from their spinnaker pole!!!

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Hello Little One (Photo by Rawphoto.co.uk)

Confirmation of three more yachts in the last few days brings the total entries for The Superyacht Cup 2010 to 19; the maximum number that can be berthed at The Superyacht Cup Village in the centre of the City. Additional yachts may take part in the event, but they will need to find a berth in the Port’s marinas or at STP boat yard – immediately adjacent to the SYC site.

A new development for this year is the appointment of a professional Race Officer, Premiere Racings founder, Peter Craig from Marblehead, USA. Peter has a huge wealth of experience with top-level international regattas, including the Bucket Regattas and the Perini Navi Cup, the Maxi Rolex World Cup, the Swan World Championships and the Volvo Ocean Race. Peter understands the need for adapting the racing approach for superyachts, and his knowledge and expertise will be invaluable in moving forward the new Superyacht Racing protocol; the aim of which is to provide the best possible format for safe and exciting racing for large yachts with very different design and manoeuvrability characteristics. “I had a great time competing in the Superyacht Cup Palma on the schooner Meteor back in 2007,” said Craig. “I’m really pleased to be back in the capacity of PRO and look forward to being a part of this renowned superyacht event.”

Gliss (Photo by Rawphoto.co.uk)

Among the fleet this June will be the winner of The Superyacht Cup in 2009, Gliss. The bright turquoise 32m sloop, designed by Philippe Briand and built by Royal Huisman, made her racing debut at The Superyacht Cup in 2006, soon after being launched in Holland and has been racing successfully ever since. Konkordia (formerly Kokomo), the Dubois designed sloop built by Alloy Yachts in New Zealand in 2006, has arrived back in Palma from the Caribbean and will take part in their first regatta with the new owner this June. A new comer to this year’s event is Saudade, an elegant and powerful yacht, designed by Tripp and built by Wally Yachts. Saudade recently took part in the St Barth’s Bucket and is currently heading to the Mediterranean for the summer season.

In the past few days, Palma has seen a huge influx of yachts returning from Antigua and other parts of the Caribbean. As the docks fill up, and the contractors enter their busiest month of the year, everyone knows it is approaching Superyacht Cup time. All of the yachts are undergoing refit work, general repairs and maintenance and preparing for the season ahead.

Cosworth At Guard (Photo by Claire Matches)

 LIST OF ENTRIES

Hyperion (Photo by Rawphoto.co.uk)

 For more information about the Palma Superyacht Cup 2010 click HERE

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Perseus In Perini Navi Cup 2009 (Photo by Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi)

What’s better than champagne sailing? Well if you’re one of the select few sailing in the Perini Navi Cup off the Costa Smeralda, it was certainly more like Bellini sailing – 30+ knots from the west which provided spectacular conditions for the 18-boat fleet.

Racing started pursuit style with the smallest yacht in the fleet, Elettra starting first at 1205; thereafter the yachts started every two minutes, with the last yacht off the line, the 184-foot sloop-rigged Salute.

The YCCS race committee sent the fleet on a 25 nautical mile course that featured mostly reaching: from the start off Porto Cervo, it was a beat up to Monaci island, once around a reach down to the rocky islet of Mortoriotto, then back on the wind again, though almost a fetch to the finish off the entrance to Porto Cervo.

While the pursuit start sent the boats on a bit of a parade up to Monaci, once around the reach to the leeward mark saw the fleet compress, making for an exciting leeward mark rounding at Motoriotto.

On board Perseus, Bill Lynn, a guest helmsmen, reveled in the conditions, saying “We saw 40 knots a little while before the start, but it was great — these boats handle just fine in that much wind, you just make the sails a little smaller and tell people to hang on a little tighter, and off you go. It’s a totally different beast to sail, everything happens that much slower, but then you get down to that leeward turning mark and there’s eight boats in a pretty small patch of water with rocks to the right, and rocks to the left, and you start getting a little nervous.”

Electra In The First Day Of Perini Navi Cup (Photo by Rolex / Carlo Borlingi)

The fresh conditions took their toll with some breakages. On Perseus, the port mainsheet winch failed, preventing the crew from trimming the main on most of the last beat, but they managed with a jury-rig and will work to rebuild the winch for tomorrows race.

While Perinis are massive yachts, under cruising conditions they don’t require a large number of crew to sail. But in racing mode, the crew numbers easily grow to 25 or so. Lynn explained, “We have the regular crew, the race crew which is about six or seven of us, guys that are here to race the boat, the owner and five or six of his friends, and a few other guests — I’m not sure if they snuck on.I never saw them before!”

Even a sailmaker can venture a huge smile after a spirited day of racing in big breeze on big yachts, such as the 174-foot Atmosphere. Robbie Doyle, had first sailed Perinis years ago onboard the newly-launched Andromedea La Dea, and in the 2006 Perini Navi Cup on Maltese Falcon — but he had never sailed the yachts in the strong conditions of today. Doyle said, “It was a testament to Perini that the boats all held together as well as they did. To sail in 30-35 knots and have as little damage done, well it’s big change from five to ten years ago. In general, super yachts when they go racing, you sheet everything in that much harder, and that’s when you break things. They’ve really resolved these systems very well.”

Doyle had high praise for the crew, “The owners son drove, he’s a tremendous sailor — a Melges 24 champion, so it’s a little different sailing this boat, but he did an excellent job. But we were grateful we didn’t have to put a spinnaker up today, since we haven’t practiced it.

The 164-foot ketch Baracuda stood out with their dark carbon hull and lavender-colored sails a striking sight against the emerald water. Former America’s Cup skipper Mauro Pelaschier helmsman onboard, said, “We sailed three days before the race, but in very light winds, so it was very exciting today, but difficult too as it’s not easy to trim the sails in the strong breeze.”

Baracuda was one of the last to start, and was several minutes late at that when another yacht crossed their anchor delaying their arrival on the race course. But they gained around the course and had a strong last beat, Pelaschier said, “We’re training the crew, they’re doing a great job. We know the boat a little better in strong breeze, so we do something better tomorrow.

Top five finishers today were: Maltese Falcon, Felicita West, Antara, Andromeda La Dea, Perseus.

Heritage In First Day Of Perini Navi Cup (Photo by Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi)

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