Germans maintain lead at Bacardi Cup

Miami, FL (March 9, 2016) – It’s windy in Miami for the third day of Star racing in the 89th Bacardi Cup and it is the last day the Stars will be alone on the bay, as tomorrow the remaining classes, the J/70, Viper 640, VX One and A-Cat classes, will begin racing in the 7th BACARDI Miami Sailing Week presented by EFG.

Today great sailing conditions continued with wind out of the east-southeast and blowing over 15 knots. Today’s distance was five 2.0nm legs for a total of 10 nautical miles. Following a general restart and then a black flag start, race 3 began at 12:14 with 62 boats checked in.

After a 2.0 mile upwind leg, it was Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada (USA) in first, Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen (GER) in second, and Paul Cayard with Brian Fatih (USA) third. Positions didn’t change at both the windward and leeward marks with the trio that seemed to be untouchable by the rest of the field. In a tight battle to the finish line Stanjek and Kleen finished in front of Diaz/Prada and Cayard/Faith.

“We had an excellent start,” said Augie Diaz from Miami, Florida. “We had a good first leg, but we’re slower on upwind and Robert (Stanjek) did a really nice job passing us on the second upwind leg. We tried our best to take the lead back, but we also had to protect our second place from Paul (Cayard) because he is really fast and sails extremely well.”

“We have a new sail design by Fritz Sails,” said winner Frithjof Kleen. “Yes, we are performing well on the upwind legs, but we need to improve downwind. We’ve not been sailing competitively in 8 months and we still need to learn a few things in order to take it home. We are enjoying our time here at the Bacardi Cup and we’re still taking it day-by-day; a six point lead is not enough in such a competitive regatta.”

Third place today and fourth in the overall standings after Stanjekd/Kleen (GER), Diaz/Prada (USA) and Negri/Lambertenghi (ITA) is Paul Cayard from San Francisco, California. Cayard said, “Beautiful Biscayne Bay day, a true classic Bacardi Cup day! Very tough competition, it was an all-daylong fight, very physical and it doesn’t get easier with age… but old people like Augie (Diaz) and myself are well representing our generation.”

“I don’t know what Paul (Cayard) is saying. He is in a very good physical shape and he is a special man! Not only he displays a great sportsmanship, but he is a great tactician and has an extensive knowledge of sailing second to none,” said Diaz with a smile on his face.

Camaraderie aside, Paul Cayard has a plan in order to move up the standings: “We need a perfect race, we need a win and we definitely need to start much better and round the first mark in first place. If we do that we have a chance to keep the lead because we’re pretty fast.”

Diego Negri and Sergio Lambertenghi (ITA) posted a fourth place today and consolidated themselves in third overall. “Beautiful sailing day and we’re happy to have had another great result. We’ll keep pushing even if Robert Stanjek was able to stretch his lead,” said Negri.

This afternoon, EFG offered a welcome cocktail to the remaining classes at the BACARDI Village hospitality in Kennedy Park, followed by BMSW mid-week party where sailors enjoyed great food, exceptional drinks and played casino style games to benefit Shake A Leg Miami, Team Paradise and Sailing Heals.

The seventh annual running of BACARDI Miami Sailing Week (BMSW) presented by EFG will run through March 12, 2016. Regatta headquarters are at Kennedy Park in Coconut Grove. The Star class, whose teams are competing in the 89th Bacardi Cup, headlines the six day BMSW racing schedule. Over the last four days of the regatta, competitors in the J/70, Viper 640, VX One and A-Cat classes will join the Stars on Biscayne Bay.

Details: BACARDI Miami Sailing Week – 89th BACARDI Cup – Event details – Facebook

Report by event media.