Penultimate day on Biscayne Bay

Miami, FL (March 6, 2015) – Today was the second day of the 6th BACARDI Miami Sailing Week (BMSW) presented by EFG Bank for the J/70, M32, Viper 640 and VX One classes, and the fifth day of the 88th BACARDI Cup for the Stars. All race courses started at their allotted time, 11:55 for the Stars and 10:55 for all other classes, except the M32s, whose start was postponed until 11:30 a.m. Miami has given us another picture perfect day, however, the winds are a bit lighter, between 5-10 knots, out of the South East.

After a general recall, the Stars started under a black flag with two Stars being called over, bow 21, Giovanni Coppo and Giovanni Bradanini (USA), along with bow 12, Terry Line and Larry Scott (CAN). Winning today’s race is Arthur Anosov and Andrey Shafranuk (USA), followed by Alessandro Pascolato and Henry Boening (BRA) in 2nd and Douglas Schofield and Robert Schofield (USA) in 3rd.

Even with a tough race finishing 33rd, Jorge Joao Zarif and Bruno Prada (BRA) were able to hold onto their lead by 3 points. In 2nd overall, we have last year’s Bacardi Cup winners, Lars Grael and Samuel Gonçlaves (BRA), followed by Mark Reynolds and Magnus Lilhedahl (USA), who are 7 points out of 1st.

Arthur Anosov comments on today’s win saying, “We are very happy, this is the first time we have won a race in the Bacardi Cup after 15 years competing. It feels great, especially for my crew, who is sailing Stars for the first time. Today’s conditions were light and shifty, and we tried not to tack too much, while sailing from pressure to pressure. Our objective for the event is to finish in the top 5 and to go to the BACARDI bar and celebrate the win.”

Tomorrow morning, the start time for the Stars shifts an hour earlier, instead of 11:55, their warning signal will be at 10:55.

The Viper 640’s completed 2 additional races today, which gives them a total of 6 races thus far. The 1st and 3rd place finishers from yesterday swapped places, while the 2nd place boat held onto his position. The top 3 boats are all within 1 point of each other, with the 2nd and 3rd place boats tied with 14 points each. After today, Brad Boston on Jackpot (Point Edward, CAN) leads, followed by Geoffrey Ewenson on Terminally Pretty (Annapolis, MD) in 2nd and Lawrence Crispin on Bubbles (Chelmsford, UK) in 3rd.

Brad Boston on Jackpot, recapped his day, saying, “The first race of the day didn’t go that well because we were over and had to restart. Then we made a mistake on the downwind leg and was not aggressive enough coming to the finish, which caused us to finish 7th. The 2nd race was mistake free and with the lighter winds and current, I was able to get back to the top.”

Also completing 2 additional races today are the VX One’s. Holding onto their lead from yesterday is Phillip Norris on Flash Rider (Plymouth, MA), who are only one point ahead of 2nd place boat Kill Bill with skipper William Griffin (Stonington, CT), and they are only one point ahead of 3rd place skipper Phip Hallowell on Chuck Wagon (Middletown, RI).

After a tough last race, finishing 21, Phillip Norris said, “I am just hoping for a throwout tomorrow. We had a good 1st race today, finished 4th, so we are happy with that. Obviously, the last race wasn’t what we were looking for. Going into tomorrow we are looking to keep up what we had earlier in the regatta and get our throwout, so we can get that bad result off our score sheet.”

J/70’s finished 3 races today, giving them a total of 6 races. In the lead we have Carlo Alberini on Calvi Network (Pesaro, ITA) with 14 points, followed by Mauricio Santa Cruz on Bruschetta (Rio de Janeiro, BRA) with 19 points and then Julian Fernandez on Flojito Y Cooperando (Mexico City, MEX) with 20 points.

“Today 6 knots of shifty wind and high temperatures made racing very difficult,” said Carlo Alberini. “Today’s was a tactician day and ours made the difference. Competition between Mauricio Santa Cruz, Julian Fernandez and us is always very close and it seems to be a continuation of our Key West battles. In reality the top ten boats are all very competitive. For tomorrow I hope in stronger winds in order to take home Miami!”

The M32s completed 4 races today and Taylor Canfield on US One (Miami, FL) holds onto his lead by 2 points over Rasmus Kostner on Trifork (USA) and by 12 points over Michael Dominguez on Bronco (Barrington, RI).

“Today was really challenging for our boats with light and shifty winds,” says Taylor Canfield. “With our catamarans it’s extremely difficult to judge lay lines so we decided to run at our own pace and just do our best. It’s always a tight race and I like the consistency of our results”.

All racing concludes on Saturday, March 7.

Report by event media. Photo by John Payne.

Complete results – Event directory – BACARDI Miami Sailing Week – BACARDI Cup

Background: The 88th Bacardi Cup for the Star Class is March 2-7, while racing for the 6th BACARDI Miami Sailing Week is March 5-7 for the J/70, Viper 640, VX One and M32 classes. On the water activities are coordinated by Coral Reef Yacht Club in collaboration with the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club and with the help of the U.S. Sailing Center and Shake-A-Leg Miami.