Jean-Pierre Conte’s 60-meter Perini Navi, Perseus^3, won the Les Grande Dames des Mers class at the 2026 St. Barths Bucket Regatta. Racing ran March 12 through 15 off the French Caribbean island of St. Barthélemy, with final standings locked after two completed official races when high winds forced cancellation of the last scheduled event. Jean-Pierre Conte collected his class trophy at the closing awards ceremony at the Collectivité on the evening of March 15.
What Is the St. Barths Bucket Regatta?
The St. Barths Bucket is among the world’s most prominent annual gatherings of large sailing yachts, operating for over three decades off the island of St. Barthélemy each March. Competition runs under a pursuit format, and class wins accumulate across the official race series, rewarding consistency over single-race performance.
The event pairs its competitive program with a well-established social calendar. Owners, captains, and crew gather each evening at shoreside events that have become as recognized a part of the Bucket’s identity as the racing itself.
How Large Was the 2026 Fleet?
According to the St. Barths Bucket Regatta, over 30 yachts competed in the 2026 edition. Nine classes participated, including a debut Les Goelettes division featuring three schooners.
What Class Did Perseus^3 Compete In?
Les Grande Dames des Mers groups the larger sailing yachts at the upper end of the Bucket fleet. Winning the class requires consistent performance across multiple race legs, rewarding precision at the start and sustained pace management through the course.
Jean-Pierre Conte and Perseus^3 participated in the optional Thursday race on March 12, then competed in Race 1 on March 13 and Race 2 on March 14. The accumulated results from those two official races secured the Les Grande Dames title before Sunday’s cancellation made it final.
How Did Jean-Pierre Conte Come to Own Perseus^3?
Jean-Pierre Conte’s relationship with sailing began at 13, when his father bought the family a 22-foot O’Day sloop. “I frequently sailed around New Jersey and even solo from New Jersey to New York City. It was a huge adventure,” he shared in a first-person account published in the spring 2026 edition of Edmiston Intelligence. Years in business shifted his focus, until a motor yacht charter off the Amalfi coast changed his thinking about what a vessel could be.
“One year, we were on the Amalfi coast when a big sailing yacht came and anchored nearby,” Jean-Pierre Conte shared. “I thought it was the most beautiful yacht I had ever seen. The lines, the colour — I had never seen a mast that tall. I was completely transfixed and asked a crew member to find out the yacht’s name. Perseus^3.”
He arranged a Caribbean charter not long after, and purchased the vessel when it came available. “When Perseus^3 became available for purchase, I took the opportunity without hesitation. It was the start of my new ocean adventures.”
Perseus^3 carries a mast measuring 76 meters — a specification that closes off the Panama Canal, the Golden Gate Bridge, and effectively every bridged passage in the world. “I knew full well that with a mast of 76 metres, Perseus^3 was way too tall to go through the Panama Canal, under the Golden Gate Bridge, or under any other bridge for that matter,” Jean-Pierre Conte shared in the Edmiston Intelligence profile.
He built the yacht’s program around deep-ocean passages as a direct result. The yacht has completed a Cape Horn rounding, a full Pacific crossing through Polynesia, Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia, and further passages through Southeast Asia and along the east coast of Africa.
“For me, the difference is that a motor yacht is all about reaching the destination. On a sailing yacht, it is all about the journey,” Jean-Pierre Conte shared. That distinction shapes a program built around ocean crossings rather than port-to-port coastal runs.
Away from the water, Jean-Pierre Conte serves as managing partner of Lupine Crest Capital, his family office. His philanthropic commitments include a $25 million gift to Colgate University for a new campus social center and a $5 million donation to UCSF for Parkinson’s and neurodegenerative disease research.
Click here to learn more about Jean-Pierre Conte.
