##SpinSheet’s St Barths reporter Dick Franyo (far left), Donald Tofias, Georgie Franyo, and Andy Green during practice day on Wild Horses.
The St Barth Bucket Regatta… It’s My Job! by Dick Franyo
A
major reason I started the Boatyard Bar & Grill was that I leverage my job into a “need” to be in St Barths each March for the Bucket Regatta. About 40 magnificent megayacht sloops, schooners, and ketches from 23 to 90 meters in length and between 23 to 550 metric tons in displacement compete in three pursuit start races—and then party. Over the three days they sail around the island, the wrong way around the island, and a “not so wiggley”course. Peter Craig chairs the regatta, which always seems to have perfect weather. We ran into Annapolis’s own Mark Myers and Jim Capron who serve on Peter’s race committee at a reception on the quay. Nice job, gentlemen! We also saw Annapolitans Greg Gendell, Ian Gordon, Joe Gibson, Mike Beasley, and Kate Chaney. Greg and Ian were on Zenji, a ketch at 56 meters. I heard that Greg was on bow handling a 17,000-square-foot spinnaker. Dude! Joe, Mike, and Kate were on Cavallo, a 43-meter sloop. We did get out on the beautiful sleek sloop, Wild Horses, owned by our friend Follow us!
Donald Tofias who had Andy Green as tactician. We remember Andy from his time commentating with Tucker Thompson in two America’s Cups. We especially enjoy the Yacht Hop, where a crowd goes from yacht to yacht Med-moored on the quay. We partied
mainly on Perseus 3, a beautiful Ron Holland Design Perini Navi 59-meter sloop. They had great music with a sax man wailing away, and everyone seemed to “think” they were amazing dancers, even me. Oh, Sting was on the island. I saw photos of him all around but had no personal
sightings. I had my Sting approach line all practiced up since we saw him in his Broadway play “The Last Ship” last year, which we loved (but it didn’t last too long, which we could never understand). While dining at Eddys, Jimmy Buffett’s and other locals’ favorite restaurant, we had a good talk with the owner, Eddy. His father started Le Select where JB wrote Cheeseburger in Paradise long ago when he first sailed into St Barths in the late 70s (Road Town, Tortola, BVI also claims the honor, but who knows, and who cares?). Eddy introduced us to artist and song writer David Wegman. We visited his studio the next day, where we bought a neat sculpture of a mermaid and several other paintings to be hung in the Boatyard. (Where is there space you ask?—I have no idea!) We were flattered that he had been to the Boatyard once when passing through Annapolis after he heard that we already had had one of his paintings here. He sang us a few of his songs with a guitar he claims dates back to the Civil War. And yes, we signed up to be at the Bucket again next year. It’s my job! # spinsheet.com May 2016 91