The St. Barths Bucket is an extraordinary event. Forty Superyachts, all over 100 feet, crewed by some of the sports leading figures and leaders in all the associated industries. A real gathering of talent, and incredibly nice, large, yachts.

The format is three days of racing around St. Barths. Pursuit racing, with the first start at noon, slowest boats first, the fastest starting last. Fleet divided into two groups- the Grand Dames (classics, huge Parini Navi’s, etc.), and the Gazelles (performance cruisers, J boats, etc).

The delema the organizers are having is that these owners of Superyachts are getting more serious about wining, and the organizers are scared @#%*less about a crash. So they are playing with different courses and a “racing protocol” that introduces rules to keep it safe. Great intentions, but honestly, each boat is crewed by racers and we know how to sail to the international rules, but have no clew half the time what to do under their protocol. Thank heavens we played it safe on my boat and avoided any sitchies, but several crews had some very tense moments not knowing who was to avoid who!

I race on one of the fastest yachts, P2, a Briand 125. For us it is some of the toughest racing you can have anywhere in the world. The reason is that you must overtake the entire fleet in front of you, which means finding clear lanes, anticipating the performance of other boats to accurately select these lanes for clear air, not get locked in below a slower boat, slow down at times to achieve this, etc. It is one very complex game, constantly evolving and changing. And to do all of this with a crew of 30, where each maneuver takes minutes of preparation, is no easy feat.

But we had a great regatta. We managed all of this quite well, and finished 2^nd to the J boat Ranger. We avoided any majors, performed all our maneuvers well, sailed hard and fast, and had a great time. A testament to a great team, and a great boat.