Wicked forecast sidelines Bacardi Cup

Miami, FL (March 7, 2018) – Tough call for the Race Committee on day 3 at the Bacardi Cup as an incoming thunderstorm was looming on the periphery of the race track; weather conditions that can turn tranquillity to ferocity in moments on Biscayne Bay.

“The incoming weather was borderline dangerous especially coming from the direction it was coming in,” explained Carl Schellbach, Principal Race Officer. “Forecast is for thunderstorms arriving sometime between 1300-1400 hours with very gusty and very shifty winds thereafter.

“This time of the regatta we have two good races in and the fear is we will witness bad weather out there and we will have destruction of property and potential for injured sailors which obviously we don’t want.”

With three days remaining on the schedule, the forecast beyond today bodes well to get caught up on today missed race.

“We want to give the best sailors in the world the best racing possible,” added Schellbach. “Biscayne Bay can do that, just not today. I would rather be safe up here on the beach than sorry on the water.”

Reflecting the every growing youth contingent in the Star Class, one of the relative newcomers to the Bacardi Cup is the USA’s Luke Lawrence racing with Pedro Trouche. Lawrence, a past Finn Junior World Champion and J/24 World Champion, was taken out in a Star for the first time by Augie Diaz back in 2014, and is now a committed fan of the Bacardi Cup experience.

“Everything that goes on here at the Bacardi Cup has been a lot of fun over the years, and I have been doing it now for most probably the 3rd or 4th year,” noted Lawrence, who is currently in 11th. “The event has been around forever and historically it has always been a great party and Bacardi does a really nice job of living up to that expectation. There is something cool about the Star Class in general as well and the Bacardi Cup in particular.”

The Star Class uniquely offers the opportunity to compete against the sport’s legends, such as Paul Cayard, Robert Scheidt, Diego Negri, Lars Grael, Iain Percy, as well as fellow Olympians from other classes who know each other, but have never competed against each other, as Lawrence enthused.

“Having all these people here, like for me and a lot of kids, these are the people we grew up watching on TV and on the internet and in magazines and throughout our entire lives,” added Lawrence. “To be able to be walking around here and shaking hands with these people, there’s not really any other place in the world or fleet like it. The combined collection of all of their trophies; the list is massive here.”

The Star Class will resume racing tomorrow while the J/70 Class will start their schedule for the 47 entrants representing eight nations.

Day Three Results (Top 10 of 72; 2 races)
1. Eivind Melleby / Joshua Revkin , NOR – 2 -1 ; 3
2. Diego Negri / Sergio Lambertenghi , ITA – 3 -2 ; 5
3. Robert Scheidt / Brian Fatih , BRA – 7 -3 ; 10
4. Paul Cayard / Mark Strube , USA – 4 -6 ; 10
5. Augie Diaz / Bruno Prada , USA – 1 -10 ; 11
6. Eric Doyle / Payson Infelise , USA – 5 -11 ; 16
7. Arthur Anosov / David Caesar , USA – 16 -5 ; 21
8. Peter O’Leary / Robert O’Leary , IRL – 6 -15 ; 21
9. Xavier Rohart / Sebastien Guidoux , FRA – 19 -7 ; 26
10. Peter Vessella / Phil Trinter , USA – 9 -20 ; 29

Event information – Racing details – Results – Facebook

The Star Class will have a 6-race series on March 5 to 10 and the J/70 Class will have an 8-race series on March 8 to 10.

Source: Bacardi Cup