Light winds day at Miami Sailing Week

Miami, FL (March 10, 2017) – Race Day 5 of the 90th Bacardi Cup Regatta and Race Day 2 of the eighth Annual BACARDI Miami Sailing Week presented by EFG got off to a slow start today with an onshore postponement for every class. “Light wind, no wind, too much wind is always a great day in Miami,” commented Will Welles from Portsmouth, RI sailing Scamp in the J/70 class.

Once racing got underway, a southeasterly breeze started at 8 knots around 1:30PM and kept steady the entire afternoon. The Vipers were the first boats to start their race 5, followed by the VX One and Evo. All five BMSW circles were racing this afternoon.

Star – Key day for the Bacardi Cup leaderboard, it was important to have as much advantage as possible in view of tomorrow’s final day. With consistent 8 knots wind, boats were off at 2:15 with a pin start as today’s favorite. Diaz/Prada were black-flagged and it was a great disappointment for the World Champion and third placeholder coming in today’s regatta.

At the weather mark Doyle/Infelise round first followed by Vessella/Trinter and Merkelbach/Lambertenghi in third. At the second gate for the second upwind leg U.S.A. MacCausland/Cheer round first followed by Brazilian Demaison/Lopes and Swiss Dannesboe/Bonhoeffer with Frenchmen Rohart/Ponsot on the rise. The currents played a big role and the teams that better understood them were able to make gains. MacCausland/Cheer were able to hold on to first followed by Doyle/Infelise, Buckingham/Sperry and you guess it, Mendelblatt/Liljedah, Grael/Gnclaves and Rohart/Ponsot in fifth.

Once in the cone of the last gate tactics played a big role with an eye on today’s race and an eye on the bigger prize. MacCausland/Cheer rounded first while Mendelblatt/Liljedah, Grael/Gnclaves and Rohart/Ponsot were looking at the bigger picture. With a drag racing to the finish line Charlie Buckingham and Austin Sperry take the gun followed by MacCausland/Cheer, Rohart/Ponsot in third that came up from the mid 20’s earlier in the race.

“Our boat was perfectly set-up today, clean lines and we kept boat moving nicely,” said Buckingham. Added Sperry, “We pointed well, we were just fast!”

As far as the overall standing Mendelblatt/Liljedah are leading with 13 points followed by Rohart/Ponsot with 15 and Szabo/Natucci with 18.

J/70 – After five races with 12 points Midlife Crises of Bruce Golison (Rossmoor, CA) is on top of the chart. Second place for Peter Duncan (Rye, NY). “Great sailing conditions today, a little light but coming from NY I have no complains,” Said Duncan. “On race one we stayed out of trouble and held on to first while on race two we fought back from 5th or 6th and finished second. We’re looking forward to a great day tomorrow.” In third confirming yesterday’s result John Baxter (Riverside, CT) on Team Vineyard Vines.

Viper 640 – Three races were completed on the Viper 640/VX course today. On top we find, with two first and a 17th, Terminally Pretty of Geoff Ewenson (Annapolis, MD) followed by John Dane III (Gulfport, MS) on Colonel Rebel and by William Abbott (Sarnia, ON) on Jackpot 8 and 17 points behind.

VX One – As for the VX One fleet, Christopher Alexander (Ocean Springs, MS) on Isabelita con Queso reaching the top of the chart with a first, a second and a forth. Second place for John Potter (Savanna, GA) on VX One followed by Tim Pitts (Newport, RI) on Cruzan Rhode 6 and 5 points behind.

VX Evo – Five boats were racing with Hayden Bennett on VX Racing Racing (Portsmouth, RI) posting two firsts and a second and is now in the lead. Brian Bennett on Bennett Racing is second and Jim Myers (Warwick, RI) on Satisfaction is third.

A-Cat – The A-Cats began the day postponed on shore but finally made it out to the race course around 1 pm to sail with a bigger fleet. Carla Schiefer on Marstrom leads the leaderboard followed by Chris Bolton on Drifter and Gordon Isco on Schuerer. With more racing tomorrow, the top two sailors will fight the overall win.

Flying Tiger 7.5 – This new class for BMSW completed six races and Javier Siro (Oakville, ON) extended the lead over Tom Bolland (Oakville, ON) and over Richard Griffin (Oakville, ON). With their colored spinnaker, the class lighted up the bay and had a lot of fun.

Melges 24 – After seven races, Kevin Welch (Anacortes, WA) is a close first over Bruce Ayres (Newport Beach, CA) and over John Brown (Philadelphia, PA) on Blind Squirrel.

Event details – Scoreboard – Live streaming – Facebook

 

 
Background: The 90th anniversary of the Bacardi Cup for the Star Class will hold 6 races on March 5-11. On Thursday March 9, eight other one-design classes will compete in the 8th annual BACARDI Miami Sailing Week event presented by EFG. Competitors will represent 20 different countries including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Ukraine, Uruguay, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Source: STUDIOMILANO