As children, this peer group played in little leagues where there were no winners or losers, or rather, all winners. Raised by doting parents, these kids were told they were special. High self-esteem was deemed to be of paramount importance. It was more vital to boost your kid’s ego than to instill the drive to be competitive.

Whether you are a parent, grandparent or family friend, you have, no doubt, been to a youth soccer game where everyone gets a prize. Trophies are handed out for best head pass, best footwork, most improved player and best team spirit. Short of winning for best snacks, everyone, it appears, is a winner.

Photograph by Jeff Clarke. (Click image to enlarge)

---

I don’t think competition is unhealthy. Clearly, the desire to win is not just an issue relegated to kids. The drive to win permeates everyday life. At the St. Barth’s Bucket superyacht sailing regatta in March, there were plenty of sailors who were quite keen on winning the three-day "fun event." Touted as a gentleman’s regatta, this sailing race is not the SORC, nor the Fastnet, nor the America’s Cup, but I guarantee the participants take it just as seriously.

Sailboat racing under any moniker or guise is about winning. At this year’s Bucket, there was a spontaneous live auction to benefit the St. Barth’s hospital, held at La Marine restaurant during the yacht owners cocktail party. One of the items for auction was "three minutes off your finish time," good for one race. In the name of a good cause, the item went for $10,000 to Chris Maybury—all in good humor, of course—who chartered the 152-foot Holland Jachtbouw Windrose. As it turned out, Windrose placed first in her class, without needing the bonus three minutes. Granted, the Bucket is trying to maintain the spirit of good, clean fun, but that doesn’t stop people from protesting, complaining about ratings or yelling "starboard" as all racers do. In a regatta like the Bucket, no yacht racer worth his salt will claim he doesn’t live to get the gun and cross the finish line first.

We undoubtedly want to endow the next generation with the competitive spirit. I would like my teenage daughter to live life to the fullest, to succeed in school, in whatever profession she chooses and in her personal life. If she wins a sailing regatta, so much the better. If she can lose with grace and good humor, better still.

In this issue, we reveal the winners of our 18th annual ShowBoats International Awards. They are not based on the millennials mentality where there are no losers. ShowBoats has been judging new yachts with an eye to the best-ofs for 18 years, and it’s no easy task. It’s true in this case that all the nominees are "winners," even if they don’t receive one of our coveted trophies. But given the expertise of our staff and the effort we put into seeing every new yacht of significance launched in any given year, we feel we are well-equipped to declare some of them better executed than others.

Each year, we modify some of our categories to better reflect trends in the yachting industry, such as the boom in series or semi-custom builds. We do not alter them to please advertisers or favor friends. We do it to ensure they continue to compare apples to apples.

Not everyone can be a winner. But when the winners are chosen as best in their category of best-ofs, winning is all the sweeter.