Here’s some footage of J Boats sailing at this year’s St. Barth’s Bucket. Makes a nice counterpoint to the nautical train wreck ripping up the waters of San Francisco Bay.
Onne van der Wal writes… I was asked by the J Class association to film the J Class sloops racing during the St.Barths Bucket this past winter. This was a historic event for the class as they had not had so many J’s race together in decades. A J class yacht is roughly 140 ft long, has a mast height of about 170ft and takes a crew of 30 to push these 150 ton yachts around the track. It was quite a sight to see these boats racing together off St.Barths.
We chartered a chase boat for two of the four racing days, spent one day filming on board Rainbow (bedankt Chris) and shot from the air on the last and breeziest day of the event.
We had great conditions to shoot the event and enjoyed filming the action of such amazing boats sailing in one of the best events anywhere. Looking forward to the 2014 St.Barths Bucket and hoping for a few more J’s!
Onne van der Wal is a professional commercial photographer specializing in sailboats, power boats, and ships, and has been at it since 1987.
You can see his site here at www.vanderwal.com
Terry Giffen says:
Hi Bill,
Just became a member of Off Center Harbor and love it! Hope you are well and that I’ll see you in Maine in June to celebrate the life of Bill E. All the best, —Terry
Ralph Wernett says:
are the chase boats for the MOBs?
Robert Nash says:
Thanks! Would love to the J boats return to race for the America’s Cup.
Roger Lyon says:
Awesome boats. Fantastic video.
Chad Brown says:
I am with you Bill as to your preference to witnessing mono hull racing over the AC 72.Thank you Onne, and thank you Bill for posting such an absolutely spectacular event! For all of us who would never get a chance to see not one but five of these magnificent vessels sailing together. Who said watching mono racing was like watching paint dry??
David Carper says:
That was very enjoyable to watch:)