Hurricane Irene hasn’t even made landfall in the United States, but the threat she poses has already caused the cancellation of the Newport Bucket Regatta.
Nineteen megayachts had been set to go head to head this weekend in New England, but Wednesday evening the captains and organizers reluctantly and unanimously cancelled the race. As Jeene Kleene, the Bucket Regattas event manager, put it quite succinctly via phone shortly after the meeting, “To go from racing mode to storm mode is not a trivial thing.” However, since several megayachts had already made their way to the region and others were en route, “the spirit of the Bucket will live on,” Kleene added. The special Bucket Rendezvous planned for Thursday is still being held, and the gala dinner originally planned for Saturday evening will instead be held on Friday.
The schedule change is a way to make the best of a difficult situation. Plans had been in place for some time to celebrate two major milestones this weekend. The Newport race is in its ninth year, and the Bucket Regatta overall is celebrating its 25th anniversary. In August 1986, a race was held in Nantucket to coincide with the birthday of Nelson Doubleday, the owner of the 92-foot sloop Mandalay. Termed the Nantucket Bucket, the race attracted a handful of competitors, who reportedly had so much fun that rum flowed in the evenings as smoothly as their yachts parted the waters. (A quote from the organizers: “Recollections are hazy as to exactly which yacht won, but records clearly indicate that no yacht finished worse than seventh.”) The owners and organizers decided to hold regattas each of the subsequent summers, adding the St. Barths Bucket (pictured) for the winter season starting in 2005. Summertime Buckets switched to Newport, Rhode Island, in 2002.
To celebrate the storied history this weekend, the Newport Bucket kicks off Thursday in Martha’s Vineyard, with the Bucket Rendezvous. It includes a golf match and a lobster bake. On Friday, the megayachts will venture from Vineyard Sound to Newport, though at their own pace and not in the originally scheduled Feeder Race. It’s a shame, as the Feeder Race participants included the 121-foot (37-meter) Fitzroy-built Moonbird, the 97-foot (29.5-meter) Hodgdon-built Windcrest, the classic 95-foot (29-meter) Fife-built Altair, and the 75-foot (23-meter) W Class sisterships Wild Horses and White Wings. The latter two were also going to concurrently compete in a new Bucket Demi Class, for yachts from 76 to 99 feet LOA. (Traditional Bucket rules for many years have required competitors to be at least 100 feet LOA. This year, organizers decided to invite smaller megayachts, since some were originally permitted to enter the race all those years ago.)
Even with the shortened and rearranged activity schedule, organizers and captains alike are keeping a watchful eye on the weather. As of Thursday morning, Hurricane Irene was expected to cross the Outer Banks of North Carolina as a Category 3 storm on Saturday afternoon, with 115-mph maximum winds. Between Saturday evening and Sunday morning, the forecast calls for Hurricane Irene becoming a Category 2 storm just south of Long Island, New York, with 100-mph winds; storm surges and high winds will affect Newport and the rest of New England. They’ll continue to have an effect on the region on Monday, with the storm being a Category 1 with 80-mph maximum winds.
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