Le Yacht Club + Hotel Rock Eden / St.Barthélemy

Categories Destinations, Hotels2 Comments

Different strokes for different folks. House & Hotel Magazine was at St. Barth.

The Rock Eden has a special unique loction: built on a rocky promontory thrust into the sea at St. Jean Beach and surrounded by twin crescents of sandy beach, facing a coral reef.

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Just cool overlooking the coral reefs, between the white sands and crystal clear waters of Saint Jean Bay, this group of villas stands on the foundations of the former property of the aviator Rémy de Haenen, the first to land a plane on the island back in the 1940’s. Jane and David Matthews have created the contemporary and eclectic interiors of the themed suites: the new Rockstar with recording studio and the new Nina with own art gallery, the “Fregate” with its own spa pool, the “Howard Hughes”.

The hotel is an ideal place for soaking up the sun of St Barths, lazing on the beach and exploring the dazzling undersea world.
Take a bit of luxury and meet and greet probably a few celebrities or even better: The week of Les Voiles de Saint-Barth.

A quietly glamorous regatta that takes place every April. It brings sailors from all over the Caribbean and beyond to enjoy the end-of-season sense of relaxation, renew friendships with other sailors, and compete fiercely on the water.

It’s a very different St. Barts from the Beyoncé-on-the-beach place so beloved by the paparazzi.

The regatta was established by sailing friends who live here. Patrick Demarchelier, who owns a house on the island and a gorgeous 53ft Swan yacht called Puffy. #2 Jim Swartz, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and owner of Vesper, which swept the board this year, it’s a non-nego.
For others who turn up, the prize for the winner in each class is a week’s stay in a villa on the island.

Les Voiles signed up the watchmaker Richard Mille as principal sponsor from the start, which was a wise move. The regatta organisers and Mille’s management are determined to keep the event relaxed and paparazzi-free.

Most people think of St Barts as a luxury playground for the wealthy. And, like St Tropez, St Barts has morphed over the years from barefoot hideaway to winter-season celebrity favourite. It even has a branch of Nikki Beach. That St Barts, as portrayed in the gossip magazines, is show-off central: there go Mariah Carey, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Donatella Versace and so on.

But, in truth, even during those three intense months of winter, there’s a quiet life going on here. The genuine A-listers — Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, George Lucas — stay well under the radar, tucked away in secluded villas.
You might fleetingly spot one in the supermarket, but you won’t see them in the clubs and bars.

To most of the locals, the stars are little more than a mild curiosity anyway. When you live all year round in paradise, you’re hard to impress. They are fond of relating how the obsessively private Steve Martin, when he first came to the island many years ago, would disguise himself with cap and sunglasses – until he realised that nobody cared who he was.

And, for the locals, Les Voiles marks the return of the island to the pace of life they prefer. Not so much St Tropez, more the French smell of freshly baked baguettes in the morning. Actually, the sea is all of those – and every other tone between pale aquamarine and deep indigo. The hills are dotted with the sloping red roofs of traditional villas, the odd burst of bougainvillea, and dark green tropical trees. It’s just enough to tame the rocky island’s rawness.

Despite the island’s tiny size, each of its 17 beaches has its own character. Corossol, for example, is a step back in time – this is where some of the oldest St Barts families still live. Flamands, on the north-western peninsula – is a surfer’s hang-out fringed by sun-faded cottages.

This is where David Rockefeller owned land for many years. Last year his sprawling villa was bought by Roman Abramovich – who has been showing up on one or other of his yachts for the past few years, and hosting a lavish New Year’s Eve party rivalled only by that held by Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, on his yacht.

The hills above Colombier are home to some of the island’s most desirable properties, although a drive-by won’t reveal much. You won’t see any Hollywood Hills-style electric gates. Houses here are relatively isolated, in breeze-catching locations with fabulous views.

The same goes for Pointe Milou, the island’s north-eastern tip. On one side, villas spill down the hillside to Marigot Bay – its seclusion and tiny size making it, in effect, a private beach – and on the other, they face Lorient Bay and a string of offshore islets. The beauty is that many of these houses are available to rent; villas make up more than 60 per cent of the island’s holiday accommodation. The hotels, too, are little bigger than villas – the largest has 76 rooms and the smallest a mere eight. For some people, Les Voiles is business. Les Voiles brings its own mood to St Barts. On the regatta’s official mid-week day off, a six-hour, rosé-drenched lunch at Nikki Beach culminated in dancing on the tables, with crew members and yacht owners all joining in and nobody giving a fig about how cool they looked. The “crew” barbecue at the toes-in-the-sand Dó Brasil bar-restaurant on Shell Beach was equally relaxed and democratic.

This inclusive style is the real appeal of Les Voiles. It embraces large and small yachts, world-class sailors and those who just love the buzz of being on the water. It’s fine, too, if you simply want to watch from the beach as the fleet sails by out on the water, the race organisation is superb; courses are enjoyable for amateurs and pros

And here’s the thing: when the season ends, it’s not that the money leaves St Barts along with the celebrities; it’s just that a different kind of takes its place the human beings.

Its worth it.

Living in style.

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