Home»Nautical and Marine Stock Photography»Nautical images , Sailing Photography and Boating Stock Photo Galleries»2014 St Barths Bucket Regatta

Stock Images of Super yachts sailing in and around the island of St Barths, French West Indies. Stock Nautical and Marine images specialising in commissioned and stock photos for the marine industry.
Between 1986 and 2001, the Nantucket Bucket flourished, becoming a premier Mega Yacht Regatta that invited owners and crews of the world’s largest sailing yachts to sail to peak performance in a safe venue, in the spirit of wholesome competition. The concept of pursuit racing was brought to life by the Bucket, with each Yacht assigned its own start time on a clear starting line for safety, and the start time calibrated to induce the yacht’s speed handicap. Consequently, the first yacht to cross the finish line, wins.
Following the announcement that 2001 was to be the last Nantucket Bucket, the founders passed the torch to the present Bucket Race Committee; Hank Halsted, Ian Craddock and Timothy Laughridge. The summer venue was shifted in 2002, to Newport, RI, where the event has since been well hosted by the Newport Shipyard.
The first St. Barths Bucket was sailed in 1995 with a fleet of 4 yachts; SARIYAH, the 131’ S & S ketch, Tom Taylor’s 108’ Ron Holland ketch, GLEAM, Nelson Doubleday’s 130’ Palmer Johnson ketch, MANDALAY and PARLAY, the Alden design 127’ Ketch.
The turning point came during the year of the famous LeMans start - Surely a first in any kind of yacht racing. With the fleet at anchor in Colombier, one crew member was required to drink a daiquiri then take a high speed tender ride out to their vessel. The yachts were required to sail off their anchor (no engines) then at the end of the race sail onto their anchor for another high speed tender ride to the beach. For obvious safety reasons this was the first and last time the “LeMans” start/finish was attempted.

Within a decade, the St. Barths Bucket expanded beyond all reasonable expectations. With a limit of 30 yachts required by the local Authorities to keep a handle on the event, the Bucket has been all but full every year since 2005. In recent years, the fleet has overflowed with applicants even before the Notice of Race is published!
As the Bucket Regattas have evolved, the organisers have kept a tight focus on maintaining the original, non-commercial flavour of the event. Sponsorship is funded exclusively from the Marine Industry. The major shipyards, Perini Navi, Royal Huisman Shipyard, Alloy Yachts, Holland Jachtbouw and Vitter’s Shipyard have been particularly generous in their sponsorship of the event. The clear understanding between the Bucket Race Committee and all sponsors is that these Regattas present a magnificent opportunity for networking within the fleet. They are explicitly not, an opportunity for overt marketing. The instruction to the sponsors is that if they need to explain the difference to their representatives, then they are sending the wrong people.
The primary reason for the success of the Bucket Regattas is that the emphasis is more upon wholesome fun than about winning. The stated goal is to “win the party”. The omnipresent, over riding conundrum for the Bucket Raced Committee is to convince the most competitive owners on planet (demonstrated by the fact that they own these things in the first place) that winning isn’t important!