Brazilians named Grael top day at Bacardi Cup

Miami, FL (March 4, 2015) – It’s hot, hot, hot in Miami for the third day of Star racing in the 88th Bacardi Cup and it is the last day the Stars will be alone on the bay, as tomorrow the remaining classes, J/70, M32, Viper 640 and VX One, will begin racing in the 6th BACARDI Miami Sailing Week presented by EFG Bank.

Great sailing conditions continue with wind out of the SE and blowing about 15 knots. After 2 postponements, caused by the pin boat’s anchor dragging and a major wind shift, a general recall, and another postponement, the Stars finally got a start off at 12:46 p.m., with the Black Flag flying.

After a 2.4 mile upwind leg, it is Paul Cayard and Brian Terhaar (USA) in first, Alberto Zanetti and Brian Fatih (ARG) in second, and Torben S. Grael and Guilherme de Almeida (BRA) in third. But at the bottom gate it was Grael/ de Almeida in the lead, with brother Lars Grael and Samuel Gonçlaves (BRA) in second, and Cayard/ Terhaar in third. The only change at the second weather mark is Lars Grael swapping places with Paul Cayard, while Torben S. Grael still leads.

Grael/ de Almeida hold onto their lead to finish 1st, followed by brother Grael/ Gonçlaves in 2nd and Augie Diaz and Arnis Baltins (USA) finishing 3rd.

“It’s nice to see both brothers on top,” admitted Lars Grael. “Torben had a very good race from the beginning excellent first downwind. So he took the lead with a good gap.”

Grael/ de Almeida now puts them in 4th overall. “We had a good start and played the middle right; that worked okay,” said Torben. “Once around the windward mark, a lot of people jibed, but we went straight and gained a good distance. On the second beat we played the shifts a little bit, it was a little unstable, then it went light at the end of the race, so the last run was a little shaky. I guess we had a little bit of a margin and were able to hold on. It’s always difficult and fun to sail here. It’s a very good place for sailing, the temperature couldn’t be any better in the winter.”

Grael/ Gonçlaves are now in 3rd overall. “We were fighting at the top of the fleet since the beginning, rounding the first mark in 4th, finishing downwind in 3rd,” said Lars. “Then, we went left believing that it could be better, but it didn’t pay that much. However, we were happy to round the mark still in 3rd. The last downwind there was big competition between ourselves, Augie Diaz, Paul Cayard and at the end we caught some good waves to finish second. So it’s good for the overall standings. Now the gap is closer between the front boats and it is going to be a very good competition until the end.”

Diaz/ Baltins are now in 5th overall. “We had great luck,” admitted Augie. “Really on the first weather leg we were pretty fortunate because we didn’t have such a great start and then we caught a couple of nice shifts and went left. Despite the fact that we over stood, again on the left side, it was so favored that on the approach we did really well on the Starboard boats. I had to duck a bunch of boats because there was a wall. That was actually a good thing because when those boats rounded the offset they stayed high and we were able to dive down with no one behind us and get left, which was key; We had a great first downwind leg. We had a pretty good second upwind and we were close to the 2nd and 3rd place boats. At one point we got into second, but we lost Lars coming into the finish.”

Report by event media. Photos by Cory Silken.

Day 3 Standings (Top 10 of 57; 3 races)
1. Jorge Joao Zarif / Bruno Prada , BRA – 2 -1 -8 ; 11
2. Mark Reynolds / Magnus Liljedahl , USA – 5 -4 -6 ; 15
3. Lars Grael / Samuel Gonçalves , BRA – 4 -10 -2 ; 16
4. Torben S. Grael / Guilherme de Almeida , BRA – 6 -13 -1 ; 20
5. Augie Diaz / Arnis Baltins , USA – 8 -11 -3 ; 22
6. Peter Vessella / Phil Trinter , USA – 14 -3 -9 ; 26
7. Brian Ledbetter / Josh Revkin , USA – 10 -8 -13 ; 31
8. Arthur Anosov / Andrey Shafranuk , USA – 3 -14 -17 ; 34
9. Paul Cayard / Brian Terhaar , USA – 7 -23 -4 ; 34
10. Larry Whipple / Austin Sperry , USA – 1 -31 -5 ; 37

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.