A legend in the making

The first ever Bucket regatta was organised in Nantucket in August 1986 by a group of owners as a birthday celebration. Seven top sailing yachts raced around a fifteen mile course in Nantucket Sound and a new sport was born.
 

Over the next 15 years the Nantucket Bucket grew into a premier yachting event that saw owners and crews from the world’s largest sailing yachts sailing to peak performance in a safe venue and in a spirit of wholesome competition. The concept of pursuit racing was introduced, with each yacht given its own start time on a clear starting line for safety and the start time calibrated to induce the yacht’s speed handicap. The first yacht to cross the finish line wins!
 

In 2002 the Nantucket Bucket switched to Newport, RI, where the event has since been well hosted by the Newport Shipyard. Meanwhile, the first St. Barths Bucket was sailed in 1995 with a fleet of four yachts. It was a mostly informal event for the first few years, with fishing playing a big part of the first races. Over the last decade, however, the St. Barths Bucket has expanded beyond all reasonable expectations and has been full every year since 2005. 
 

As the Bucket Regattas have evolved, the organizers have kept a tight focus on maintaining the original, non-commercial flavour of the event. Sponsorship is funded exclusively from the marine industry and there is a clear understanding between the Bucket Race Committee and sponsors that the event is a magnificent opportunity for networking within the fleet. They are explicitly not an opportunity for overt marketing and the instruction to sponsors is that if they need to explain the difference to their representatives, then they are sending the wrong people.