SUPERSAIL WORLD 26 APRIL-JUNE 2018
H
ang around the inset mark, laid in
the horseshoe bay of St Jean, on the
final day of the St Barth’s Bucket and
you are guaranteed one of the most
spectacular sights in yachting.
This is a course mark that brings
the mountains to Muhammad, forcing
a superyacht fleet inshore to tack in
the shallower waters off a beach. Picture clear blue seas with
a backdrop of white sands and red-roofed villas set into lush
green peaks. On the water, the assembled powerboats carry
photographers jostling for the best ringside view.
The scene was particularly impressive this year as it
featured the incomparable M5 (formerly Mirabella), the
largest single-masted yacht ever built, racing for the first time.
Should this 78m (256ft) leviathan somehow sneak up on you
on her approach to the mark, her presence will be announced
by the mechanical whirr of powered furlers working overtime
to douse her foresails – tacking the genoa, the world’s largest
sail at approximately 1,833m^2 (19,730ft^2 ), involves major
planning. This yacht requires a serious runway.
A helicopter swoops into the mix, hovering above the mark
with yet more photographers shooting from its side door. This
is the glamour end of the sport epitomised.
But wait a minute, isn’t this the same St Barth that was
decimated by Hurricane Irma, the strongest hurricane ever to
hit the French Antilles, just six months previously? In a year
when logistics could have proved extra complicated – even
housing crew in the depleted number of villas and hotels
available – it would be reasonable to assume the 2018 Bucket
might have been a limp or even a cancelled edition.
It was quite the opposite.
The Bucket is a social, non-commercial event at heart, with
many yachts and owners returning year after year, forming
close bonds with the island and islanders. It was the Bucket’s
spirit of camaraderie that prevailed above all this year to help
the island get back on its feet.CALL TO ARMS
A collection of 26 of the world’s finest sailing superyachts
would make for a spectacle anywhere. To have such a fleet
racing around its shores and moor stern-to in Gustavia
harbour was the tonic the island needed. It gave an incentive
to get the hotels, villas and restaurants open and, as oneClaire MatchesCarlo Borlenghi