Who says you have to own a sailing yacht to be competitive in a major regatta?


This weekend at the St. Barth's Bucket, charter yachts took the top two spots among overall winners. First place went to the 136-foot, J-Class sailing yacht Ranger, while second place went to the 154-foot Perini Navi Andromeda la Dea.


Ranger is part of the Northrop and Johnson charter fleet, with a lowest weekly base rate of $90,000 for eight to 10 guests. Andromeda la Dea is part of the Churchill Yacht Partners charter fleet and is offering a reduced weekly base rate of $115,000 for eight or nine guests through the remainder of the Caribbean season.


Lots of fantastic photos from this weekend's event are posted in this section of the official St. Barth's Bucket website. (Could photographers Onne van der Wal and Billy Black be any more talented? Wow!) I unfortunately didn't have a chance to attend the regatta myself, but I did have the pleasure of a day sail a few months ago aboard the big winner, Ranger, after a gourmet luncheon aboard her owner's 150-foot Trinity motoryacht, Vita. I had my video camera in hand that day, so you can get a feel for what it's like to sail aboard Ranger by watching the second half of this video:









If the video helps you catch the bug for chartering a yacht in a regatta, then also be sure to check out this interview with broker Carolyn Titus that I posted earlier this month, just after she and her friends took first place in their class aboard a chartered yacht at the Heineken Regatta. One of Titus' specialties at Northrop and Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters is arranging charter vacations for people specifically interested in regatta sailing. As she discusses in the interview, a good number of opportunities are coming up this spring and summer, and lots of great charter yachts are still available for racing.


Editor's note: Northrop and Johnson, as well as Northrop and Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters, are  sponsors of CharterWave.

Written by: Kim Kavin
Kim Kavin is an award-winning writer, editor and photographer who specializes in marine travel. She is the author of 10 books including Dream Cruises: The Insider’s Guide to Private Yacht Vacations, and is editor of the online yacht vacation magazine www.CharterWave.com.