Bacardi shaken and refreshing

Miami, FL (January 29, 2022) – Day 2 at Bacardi Winter Series dawned as forecast with a big breeze of 27+ knots and gusts up to 39 on Biscayne Bay, forcing the three fleets – J/70, Melges 24, and 69F – to be postponed ashore.

Four hours after the scheduled 1100 hours start time, the wind eased and at 1500 hours and teams took to the track for two races in the J/70 and Melges 24 and four races for the 69F. The leader board remains open going into the decider tomorrow in what is forecast to be a 12-16 knot breeze.

J/70
In the opening race Victor Cribb on Victory controlled the fleet at the windward mark, chased by David Jannetti on Very Odd just 4 seconds behind. Staying on the plane downwind in the easing breeze was a challenge though and the tables turned. Al Minella on Level 5 sailed through to rack up a win in the opening race, follow up with a 16th, to shift them up to 8th overall.

Michael Ilbruck, Commodore of Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, followed up his 4th place in the first race to seal the second race win with his crew on Pinta, pushed hard by Richard Witzel’s Rowdy in 2nd and Charles Thompson’s Brutus III in third. Ilbruck’s reward, a climb to 5th place on the leader board.

“It is an incredibly competitive fleet,” reflected Illbruck, who has long-standing sailing partner John Kostecki on board. “We have been racing the J/70 in Europe and it is tough here. This is what we want and we are trying to get better. Yesterday was a difficult day for us, but we learned a lot as we always do. Mistakes make us better. Today we were the last boat at the first top mark rounding, but we had good runs.

“In the second race we had again a terrible start, and we couldn’t get going and then John, obviously, got us out of trouble and we somehow had a better feel for the boat going upwind and we had the right shifts. We had a very, very good first run, and then another good beat. I love this, I love this racing. Tomorrow is another day.”

Overnight leader, Bobby Julien on Dingbat scored 6,6 and ends his day tied on 29 points with Richard Witzel’s Rowdy team, who hold the advantage to lead on countback, from their 9.2 scorecard.

A key element of success in today’s racing were the choices made at the windward mark. As the fleet split and teams gybed out, those ahead saw their advantage decimated by the teams behind who had better pressure. The gains were made by looking behind for the puffs and gybing at the right moment to score the puff.

MELGES 24
Michael Goldfarb and team on WarCanoe checked out with the win from the first race of the day and advanced to 2nd overall, but not for long as their 4th place in the second race propelled them into pole position.

Climbs for some, drops for others and a big change for Peter Duncan’s Rasta Mixta who unsettled their scorecard with a UFD penalty in the second race and crashed to 4th from first overall at the start of the day.

In the opening race, things were looking good for Duncan and Bora Gulari on New England Ropes, as the two teams won the pin end and took flight in a close fight to the windward mark. But, a big left shift unsettled the train and saw many over stand on the port tack lay line, which made for some interesting port/starboard challenges at the mark. The outcome, Duncan and Gulari lost their lead.

In the second race, the breeze delivered less consistency across the track with lots of isolated puffs and shifty conditions. The race belonged to Gulari, who knew he had to redeem his 10th place in the day’s opening race to stay in podium contention. Finding his groove, he led the fleet around the windward mark, with seconds between the top few boats, and kept control to race glory.

Peter McClennen on Gamecock had his eyes on Gulari, hunting him down and rounded the second windward mark in first, going on to play the left side downwind and seal 2nd place. McClennen’s best finish of the series so far pushed him from 12th overall at the start of the day to 5th at the end.

“Breezy, shifty, gusty conditions,” commented
McClennen. “The key was staying in phase at all times, and staying fast all the time downwind. We got onto the right side and we probably spent 80% of the race on one tack downwind. Super fun, super-fast, Miami super delivered and the Melges 24 is wonderful!”

In tomorrow’s two races anything can happen amongst the top three teams with just 4 points separating them, and then a small gap to the chasing pack.

Series information – Race details – Facebook

Day Two Results – Top Five

J/70 (25 Boats)
1. Rowdy, Richard Witzel / Tomas Dietrich / Carlos Robles / Jud Smith , USA – 14 -3 -1 -9 -2 ; 29
2. Dingbat, Bobby Julien / Thomas Barrows / Alec Anderson / Chris Watters , USA – 11 -2 -4 -6 -6 ; 29
3. Very Odd, David Jannetti / Travis Odenbach / Andy Horton / Kris Warner , USA – 4 -10 -8 -5 -11 ; 38
4. Bazinga!, Daniel Goldberg / Tomas Hornos / Lucas Calabrese / Ian Coleman , USA – 5 -7 -10 -7 -13 ; 42
5. Pinta, Michael Illbruck / John Kostecki / Patrick Wilson / Will Felder , USA – 19 -6 -13 -4 -1 ; 43

Melges 24 (20 Boats)
1. WarCanoe, Michael Goldfarb / Jonny Goldsberry / Morten Henriksen / Matteo Ramian / Emory Williams , USA – 4 -3 -8 -1 -4 ; 20
2. Talisman, John Bailey / Mike Buckley / John Bowden / Beth Whitener / Bear , USA – 6 -4 -3 -5 -5 ; 23
3. New England Ropes, Bora Gulari / Kyle Navin / Norman Berge / Ian Liberty / Dave Hughes , USA – 5 -2 -6 -9 -7 ; 29
4. Raza Mixta, Peter Duncan / Victor Diaz de Leon / Matt Pitsay / Erik Shampain / Morgan Trubovick , USA – 2 -1 -4 -4 -21 ; 32
5. Gamecock, Peter McClennen / Mike Marshall / Zeke Horowitz / Allie Grey / Wilson Stout , USA – 7 -9 -15 -3 -2 ; 36

The 2021-22 Bacardi Invitational Winter Series is held for J/70 and the Melges 24 fleets on December 18-19 and January 28-30 (along with Persico 69F) with the finale on March 9-12. Also racing in March are the VX One, Viper 640, and Persico 69F classes. Additionally, the Star Class will headline the historic Bacardi Cup, one of the world’s oldest sailing events, which celebrates its 95th anniversary on March 6-12, 2022. – Details

Source: Bacardi