Owner insight: How Gelliceaux’s dramatic 2024 St Barths Bucket win went from near disaster to triumph

Elaine Bunting gets the insiders’ perspective on Southern Wind Shipyard's 35.4-metre yacht Gelliceaux’s bucket victory in 2024 – from almost abandoning the final race to a masterful sailing performance and regatta win. 

When a new superyacht goes to a regatta as hard-fought as the St Barths Bucket and wins the overall trophy in its first year of sailing, you know it must be something special.

Gelliceaux is hull No 1 of Southern Wind’s SW108 hybrid and “smart custom” version. It was commissioned for London-based owners and is the couple’s first superyacht. They have both sailed extensively since childhood and were looking for a modern, high-tech performance cruiser that would give them a feel for the wind and a connection with the sea.

“I evaluated Southern Wind against a few options for a Baltic custom build,” the owner says. An engineer and analytical by nature, he created a spreadsheet mapping the characteristics of nearly 100 comparable performance yachts. “We were very clear we were looking for something that wasn’t specifically designed for racing but was very fast and agile. We didn’t go down the path of trying to optimise against ratings, but wanted to make good, sensible choices to build an ocean-going yacht that was a lot of fun to sail.”

Gelliceaux is a powerful, striking yacht designed by Nauta and Farr Yacht Design. It is a full-carbon build with a lifting keel, twin rudders, carbon rigging and titanium deck fittings. At under 80 tonnes displacement and with eight per cent more sail area than the standard SW108, it’s a swift cruising yacht that’s weaponised for racing.

The 2024 St Barths Bucket was an opportunity to see how Gelliceaux measured up in competition. The owners entered the Corinthian Class, which precludes spinnakers and so requires fewer crew to race. They assembled a group that had been involved with the project since inception, including designer Massimo Gino from Nauta Yachts, naval architect Jim Schmicker from Farr Yacht Design, build project manager Sebastian Allebrodt and Andrea Micheli and Jeremy Peek from the Southern Wind shipyard.

“We had gotten to know each other well during the build phase, and the idea of doing this first regatta together just felt right. We didn’t know what to expect, but everyone knew the boat well and had worked together as a team. It was soon clear that this also translated onto the water and that we were doing really well,” the owner says.

On the final race round the island, however, things went wrong. During a gybe, Gelliceaux’s Code Zero got tangled up into “a real bird’s nest”.

“We had everyone up on the foredeck trying to get it untangled but couldn’t, so we had to take it down,” the owner says. By the time they turned the island’s northern corner, they had fallen behind.

“We tried to pull ourselves together and decided to stay a bit closer to the island in the hope of finding more wind there – a Hail Mary tactic, you might say, but it worked beautifully. We got into a squall, won a tacking duel with Zemi and Perseverance [boats in a different class], and then another with [our rivals] Vijonara and Inukshuk. We managed to build up a good lead, which carried us through the downwind leg without the Code Zero. That was amazing; we had come from a position where we thought we might as well abandon the race.”

Captain Clive Walker says that the last mile-and-a-half downwind to the finish line, when they were sailing with just the main and jib, was “one of the most stressful legs I’ve had in my time. We were thinking: just keep her rolling, keep  the boat rolling… and we snuck over that finish line just ahead of Vijonara. That sealed the deal.”

When they learned they had won their class and the overall prize as well – the Bucket trophy – everyone was ecstatic. “I started racing the Bucket 22 years ago, racing on boats at the very top of the profession, but I’d never won it,” Walker says.

“It was a huge joy to experience this with such a nice group of people who are also consummate professionals,” says the owner. “The overall trophy definitely involves a bit of luck. You could be at the top of your game for many years and not win the trophy if your class does not score as the most competitive. It was a nerve-wracking but unforgettable experience. I think we all like to keep reliving that third race.”

Gelliceaux’s owners found the races close to the island “spectacular”. “We thought it was beautiful. Also the organisation and the social programme were outstanding. We both really enjoyed connecting with the owners and crew of the other yachts. It’s an event that allows you to easily meet people and make friends.”

Gelliceaux is currently in Palma undergoing work and will not be at the 2025 Bucket, but the owners have plans to return and hope to graduate from the Corinthian class to the performance division, where they can try to repeat their winning streak.

First published in the March 2025 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.