The St. Barth's Bucket is probably the biggest superyacht regatta of the Caribbean Season (actually I can't really think of any bigger regatta's anywhere in the world to be honest). We we one of the 48 boats to take part in it this year and it was definitely a highlight of my time on the boat so far! The regatta is held over three days, with one race each day, roughly 23-26nm in length. Once again it was a handicap start, and we were unlucky enough to be one of the last boats to start each day (usually over an hour after the first boat had started!).
Each day the course was different, the three courses being, "Around the Island", "Other way around the Island" and the "Wiggly Course" which took us winding around a number of offshore rocks and reefs just north of St. Barth's.
Once again was a trimmer and I definitely enjoyed every minute of it, even if it was a bit full on at times! There was one run we did off the start line on the second day with the Genoa up for 20 or so minutes where we averaged well over 16kn on the leg. It was especially cool having Josh to call my trim for this leg, the two of us being the only people on the leeward side of the boat while she punched through the water at mach 10.
Overall it was an awesome week of sailing, with steady breeze between 12 and 20+ knots, some good close racing and plenty of smiles.
I was planning on making a video of the week, and had some awesome footage thanks to Mark, Alexis, Cam et al. However a little accident with my hard drive hitting the floor has pretty much meant that footage is no more, at least until I get somewhere a bit more technically advanced than Antigua. So for now some photos will have to do.
Ears: The Mountain Goats
Really impressive clip I think.
Thanks to Hannah who did take most of these photos......
Casper, Willsy, Fede, Mario and myself.
The view I had on said 16kn reach.
Jim
Afterguard
Rail
Marie crossing ahead, just.
Mark of the course
Kite hoist
Paolo calling kite trim
Hurry up!
Me on layline trim....... Tony overseeing?
Simone.
Alexis at home
Grande Lexi!
Gordon and Casper
zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Casper in action
Salperton
Federico
Josh
Line-up, when you think that the average size of these boats would be over 140ft it is quite impressive.
Kite drop = game faces
Our navigator Prof in the office.
Federico
Yours truly
Simone
Foredeck
Crew Photo: Made up of Italians, Kiwi's, Poms, Aussies, French and a Uruguayan!
The British Virgin Islands Superyacht Regatta was the first regatta we did. A fleet of 13 boats made for some quite good racing, however as every race was a pursuit race, we always seemed to be starting last and hence chasing the fleet. Nevertheless there was some good racing and I enjoyed spending time at the back of the boat as a headsail trimmer (which meant I was busy upwind, and also free downwind to help out the guys on foredeck with the kite!).
Overall it was a good lead up to the Bucket, and plenty of fun was had!
Ears: German Error Message
This little guy hung out on the boat for a whole race.
Mark and the beginning of a film clip I will be working on when I get a new hard drive.
