Peter Craig

“In the world of conventional yacht racing, everything is buttoned up tight – the Notice of Race and the Sailing Instructions are legal documents, and in some of the regattas I have run you have the world’s very best sailors. But the first time I went down to St Barths for the annual Bucket regatta – an event that was specifically for superyachts – it was like the wild, wild west! It was also growing rapidly, and I was asked, with my company Premiere Racing, to jump into the superyacht world and run the racing for St Barths. It was around the financial crisis of 2008 and I had poked my head up and seen the writing on the wall for keelboat racing in the US. And boy, was St Barths a real eye-opener!

“I grew up in New England away from the coast, but I was fortunate enough that my father loved cruising and had a 26-foot catamaran. I came from a family of six and it was tough to get six kids and two parents on the cat and go off for a weekend, but we did! Then he bought a 36-foot wooden schooner which I spent my summers sailing on from the age of 10 until I went off to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. So I grew up with a real joy for sailing and cruising.”

“I graduated the Academy in 1978 and spent nine years in the Navy, then tried to get back into the real world through real estate right during a major recession – great timing Peter! So I decided that maybe sailing was something I wanted to pursue – I had been on the Navy offshore racing team – so I tried out for the 1992 America’s Cup team and spent the best part of 18 months sailing professionally in San Diego with America3, which successfully defended the Cup in 1992.

“After that I worked for the US governing body for sailing before setting up Premiere Racing, thinking I could make a living running regattas in the US, which I was told wasn’t achievable. But I’m not very bright and went forward with it anyway! We ran the Yachting Key West Race Week for two decades, which became one of the largest regattas in the world with more than 300 entrants each year. It was from there that I moved into superyacht racing following the invitation to run the St Barths Bucket at the end of the Noughties.”

“I think it was my second year down at the St Barths Bucket that I had an epiphany – there were 47 superyachts racing in the Bucket, and there was a handicap rule in place that meant the racing mysteriously got closer each and every day. At that point it was one big pursuit race – the slowest rated boat would start first, and the fastest boat last, with the fleet hypothetically crossing the finish line at the same time. That’s fine with eight or nine yachts, but as the racing got closer there was a sight I don’t ever want to see again, coming over the top of the island two miles from the finish line – at one point you could see 25 or 30 superyachts charging for the finish line, which was about half a mile too narrow for 30 superyachts line abreast!

“It was an accident waiting to happen, although fortunately nothing happened that year – and the following year the fleet was smaller and I think what transpired that day scared a few owners away. It was clear something needed to be done, and we went right to work on that with the first thing being to keep the boats apart. We worked closely with World Sailing to change the racing rules specific to superyachts, which is like moving mountains, and the result was what is known as Appendix SY, which is a part of the Racing Rules of Sailing specific to superyachts. That includes a 40-metre exclusion zone around each yacht and the allowing of radio contact between boats during racing on a safety channel. A close call these days is 25 or 50 metres, not 15 centimetres!

“At around the same time, the late, great superyacht designer Ed Dubois instigated discussions to set up the Superyacht Racing Association (SYRA) after an individual was seriously injured when a jib sheet parted on a yacht. It took a while and Dubois really rolled his sleeves up to get people on board, along with superyacht owner Barry Houghton. Ed was a consummate salesman and he convinced people to write cheques, and in May 2011 we were off to the races, so to speak! I was – and still am – Executive Director of the Association.”

“There are now several superyacht regattas each year that we are involved in. I think the biggest appeal of superyacht racing is that it presents another very intriguing and interesting use of an owner’s asset that’s typically built for cruising. And it’s not just the owners themselves – it’s the owner’s wife or husband, and their guests. Superyacht racing is not like the Farr 40s or the TP52s or other small boat classes where the whole crew is purely racing. On a superyacht you have your permanent crew, then maybe two to 10 racing crew for the regatta, and you can have half a dozen or more of your friends along as well to enjoy the ride.

“It’s really enjoyable to see people come off the water and to talk to some of these owners and guests at the social events and see how thrilled they are. For many people it’s a first-time introduction to the sport of sailing, and it’s really a different part of the sport of sailing. It’s pretty thrilling to see three, four or five 40-metre sailboats in the same picture frame as you get past in the staggered-start pursuit format during a 30-mile race – it can be a really exciting day on the water. It’s also rewarding to see owners who are still so thrilled to be a part of it, and we hope we can build on that going forward.”