2018 Bacardi Cup
The Bacardi Cup is a cherished tradition that in 2018 will celebrates its 91st birthday, and for 56 straight years has called the beautiful waters of Biscayne Bay home. Started as a regatta for Star boats in Havana, Cuba in 1927, the Bacardi Cup has continued to evolve and change with the times, giving it continued growth and popularity in a sport that has seen numerous regattas come and go. Seventy-six teams from 17 nations are competing: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Ukraine and United States.
Day One
The 91st edition of the Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta starts today with 82 boats on the line ready to battle it out to conquer the prestigious trophy who was first held in Cuba in 1927. This year this epic race begins with a much deserved tribute to one of the heroes of this legendary class, a man who wrote history for his Country and for the sailing world: Sir Durward Knowles passed away at age 100 on February 24th at Doctors Hospital in Nassau, Bahamas. Today the whole Bacardi Cup Fleet saluted him with a special memorial.
The Star sailors opened their assault on the 91st Bacardi Cup in a breeze of 12 knots and flat sea, under the beautiful Coconut Grove skies and stunning Miami city backdrop. Before heading to the race track, the sailors paid tribute to one of the Star greats, Sir Durward Knowles (BAH) who passed away aged 100 years on February 24, 2018. Paul Cayard led the dedication and paying of respect by the Star Class family at 09:00 hours in Miami, ahead of Sir Durward’s funeral a few hours later in Nassau, Bahamas. Star Class President Hubert Merkelbach hoisted the Star Class flag joined by past Presidents Lars Grael and Jack Rickard, followed by Mark Reynolds hoisting the Bahamian flag, before lowering it to half-mast. Sailors then signed a photo of Sir Durward’s Star which will be presented to his family. Impressively, before his passing, Sir Durward was the oldest living Olympic Gold Medalist, securing gold at the 1964 Olympics.
Then, it was all about the race track battle. After a postponement due to the shifty breeze, the first start got underway, albeit abandoned as a big right hand shift hit the track. Soon conditions stabilized and the fleet got off in 10-12 knots. Racing one long race a day, the Star Class fleet is packed with the sport’s big names, and with so much depth in performance, there is simply no room to make a mistake, as there is no opportunity for a comeback.
The 2016 Star Class World Champions Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada took the opening day victory in a closely fought duel with the Norwegian team. The pair battled through on the final leg to overtake reigning Star Class World Champions, Eivind Melleby /Joshua Revkin (NOR) who had controlled the fleet for most of the race. Diaz / Prada have partnered for the past nine years, and are hugely experienced with the trickery of the Miami race track, so whilst a win doesn’t come easy in such a world class fleet, there was no surprise to see them out front.
“Today was really a hard day on the water”, grinned Diaz back ashore. “I think it was a hard day for everybody including the Race Committee. The Race Committee did a really nice job of waiting for the wind to settle. It was a really difficult race as the wind was still changing back and forth quite a bit.” Reflecting on their performance, Diaz explained, “We were very fortunate to have a pretty good first weather leg and we arrived at the mark in like seventh or eighth and we thought that was a good situation given how hard the race course was today. We then had a really good downwind leg and we were able to round the right hand gate mark and that gave us a really nice position to go up the second leg.”
Hunting down Melleby / Revkin, Diaz / Prada rounded the weather mark in second and then made their move, clawing past the Norwegians to take the lead in the final downwind leg. Third to Italy’s three-time Olympian Diego Negri racing with Sergio Lambertenghi. Compared to much of the fleet, the pair is considered a relatively new partnership, but have enjoyed plenty of success, winning the 2014 Star European Championship not long after they partnered up, and following up with a silver medal at the Star Worlds the same year.
Day Two
A keen Star Class fleet pushed the starting line, forcing the Race Committee to signal two general recalls before race day 2 at the 91st Bacardi Cup got underway on Biscayne Bay today. Superb weather conditions in a breeze up to 15 knots kept the frontrunners close together, with intense head to head fights concluding in a virtual photo finish between the leading three boats. On the first upwind leg, the majority opted to take the left side of the track which paid off particularly well for Italy’s Diego Negri / Sergio Lambertenghi who claimed the mark rounding first, chased by a rowdy fleet crowding around the mark behind.
The Italians held their position in the leading pack for the next legs, almost keeping their advantage to the finish line, as a battle of wills unfolded. Three boats crossed within moments of each other with the advantage going to the Norwegian pair of Eivind Melleby / Joshua Revkin. A reversal of fortune compared to yesterday when they lost their lead in the final leg, but today they accelerated ahead of the Italians to take the win by half a boat length. A scorecard of 2,1 now puts Melleby/Revkin in the overall lead, sitting 2 points ahead of Negri/ Lambertenghi in second overall. "It’s good to be here at the Bacardi Cup,” grinned Melleby, the reigning Star Class World Champion. “The Bacardi Cup 2018 is a great show here this year with all the best guys. We also have Iain Percy here and it will be great to race him again as I haven’t seen him in a Star for a while".
"It’s tough to race out there with all these good guys, so you have to be really careful about your risk taking. With the long line and big fleet, you are running a lot of risk if you are out on the side and it is very hard to catch up if you make a mistake at the beginning. So that is what we are trying to focus on, cut down the risk a little bit and hopefully, we can be consistently up in the top ten. Hopefully, that will get us up to the podium and hopefully win in the end I guess!” concluded Melleby sharing his mission for the week. “This early in the regatta it is impossible to say you are trying to cover or look after any one person,” added Revkin on their focus for the first half of the Bacardi Cup. “We are just trying to sail our fastest race and get single digit finishes.”
Diego Negri sealed the 2014 Star Class Worlds silver medal on the same waters, so is massively familiar with the weather characteristics of Biscayne Bay. Negri reflected on his day, “Today has been a great race. We were leading at the top mark, at the downwind mark we were leading again but just in front of Melleby, and it was a kind of photo finish at the end. He was crossing on starboard, we were on port so I had to pass behind him and on the finishing line, I think we were less than half a boat length behind".
"But anyway, it was a good way to start and yesterday we were third in a light breeze and today medium breeze and we were second and it was very shifty. I feel confident when it is shifty like this and I am happy with the conditions and the results so far. We keep going like this and let’s see at the end who is the best! This is the Star fleet we have a lot of Champions -World, European, Olympic- and this is the Bacardi Cup with almost 80 boats on the starting line and long courses. This is the game and that’s what we like. We like to compete in a high level fleet and we like to sail our nice boats.” Just behind, Robert Scheidt / Brian Fatih (BRA) wrapped up a third place finish, and moved up to third on the leaderboard.
Great Britain’s Iain Percy made his first appearance on the race track today with Anders Ekstrom, scoring an 8th place. Although set against not racing on day 1, the pair sits down the pegging in 44th. Percy knows extremely well what it takes to win, counting in his trophy cabinet Gold and Silver Olympic medals in the Star, Olympic Gold in the Finn Class as well as two Star Class World Championship titles and multiple silver and bronze medals - to name just a few titles. Maintain today’s form and when the race discard comes into play after race 5, we can expect to see this pair popping up to the front of the scoreboard. Overnight leaders, Augie Diaz / Bruno Prada (USA) lost some pace today, finishing 10th and dropping down to fifth overall.
Day Three
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 tranquility to ferocity in moments here in Miami. Carl Schellbach, the Principal Race Officer, explained the situation he faced in making the call to cancel racing, “The incoming weather was borderline dangerous especially coming from the direction it was coming in. 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 race schedule, the Race Committee know they can catch up on today’s race in much better conditions and give more fair racing to the sailors, which is what the Bacardi Cup is all about. “We want to give the best sailors in the world the best racing possible. Biscayne Bay can do that, just not today. I would rather be safe up here on the beach than sorry on the water”, surmised Schellbach.
Day Four
Race Day 4 at the Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta featured the Star fleet on the race track, in a breeze gusting up to 20 knots across Biscayne Bay, Miami. The puffy conditions saw plenty of thrills and spills, although the heavier breeze eased to lighter shiftier conditions as the day progressed.
Two races completed for the Star Class saw no change in the leader board top three, just an opening up of the points margins between series leaders Eivind Melleby / Joshua Revkin (NOR) over Diego Negri / Sergio Lambertenghi (ITA) and Robert Scheidt / Brian Fatih (BRA). Scheidt / Fatih won race 3 and closed the points gap but followed up with a 15th to put them back where they were before. “It was a bit of an up and down day for us,” reflected Brazilian sailing legend Scheidt. “The first race was really nice, and we managed to lead the race from mark 1 until the finishing line with a nice gap. We felt very confident going into the second race, because we knew we had good speed, but we didn’t have a good start and got a bit out of pace with the shifts. And you know with this level of fleet, if you don’t get a good start, it makes your life very hard".
“We managed to catch up a little bit, but it wasn’t a good race for us.” Looking ahead to the final two races of the series, Scheidt continued, “You know we need to keep working on what we are doing and keep doing the same things and hopefully we will good starts and a top ten at least at the top mark. If we managed to be top ten, then we can use our downwind speed and catch up”. A regular figure at the Bacardi Cup, Scheidt is a huge fan, commenting, “I think it is one of the most traditional regattas in the world. I mean, a regatta that has 91 years that is very special. I am very happy that I was able to come, as I enjoy it a lot and hopefully will have many more years of this great regatta ahead”. Scheidt announced his retirement from Olympic sailing last year, after notching up one of the most successful Olympic careers in history, winning a total of five medals in the Laser and Star Classes - two gold, two silver and one bronze, as well as multiple World Championship titles.
Race 4 victory went to Jack Jennings / Frithjof Kleen fresh off a black flag penalty from race 3 to sit in 22nd overall. Predicting the leader board gains likely tomorrow when the discard comes into play after race 5, the finger points to Lars Grael / Samuel Gonçalves (BRA). Aside from their opening race score of 37, the pair has remained consistent, taking out 4,4,5 to sit in 9th overall. More of the same, and the race discard will see them accelerate up the leader board. Grael / Gonçalves won the Bacardi Cup in both 2014 and 2015, so will be chasing for name back on the trophy. There is of course the small matter of the reigning Star Class World Champions Melleby / Revkin to overcome.
Day Five
Another day of perfect conditions, but a few upsets on the leader board as the overnight leaders in both fleets were knocked down the pegging. So far, Biscayne Bay has thrown up a complete mix of weather conditions, pushing teams to deliver their best across light to strong breeze and under a scorching sun to cloud cover. No day has been the same and so far no one team has dominated.
All change in the Star Class as Italy’s Diego Negri / Sergio Lambertenghi leap to the top of the leader board at the 91st Bacardi Cup. With the discard kicking in after race 5, their 11th place in race 3 is wiped out and scorecard boosted by a 2nd place in today’s race. The pair has overtaken defending World Champions Eivind Melleby / Joshua Revkin who drop to second overall and sit neck and neck on a tiebreak of 14 points with Robert Scheidt / Brian Fatih in third and Lars Grael / Samuel Gonçalves in fourth. Nail bitingly close, as these renowned sailors dig deep to deliver their optimum performances. The world’s best are racing in the Star Class, and today’s race track belonged to Lars Grael / Samuel Gonclaves, Bacardi Cup winners in 2014 and 2015, whose phenomenal boat speed pushed them to the first mark with massive gains over the rest of the fleet.
“Today was a very happy day for us in terms of results, because we managed to start on the windward side of the starting line, so we wanted to go right since the beginning”, commented Grael on the pair’s race strategy. “So, we had a good start, we could clear very fast and after the start I think we had very good boat speed and were pointing very high, and we managed to get some good puffs from right and a few ones from the left. Once you are first at the first mark of course the race gets much easier, because you sail clean”.The Italian partnership of Negri / Lambertenghi applied pressure to the Brazilians on the first downwind leg, and again attacked on the second downwind forcing the two teams into an upwind battle, with Negri / Lambertenghi tacking on the Brazilians at every opportunity.
Grael recounted the final stages of the race, saying, “At the end we got some pressure on the left, so of course once we were sailing in front the race gets much easier! We always try to win, but the problem is not only ourselves, but everyone is trying to. But we have to do the best race we can”, continued Grael in reference to Saturday’s decider, “But of course Diego is protecting a 4 point lead which is strategically good for him, and he has been sailing very consistent this regatta. Robert Scheidt and Eivind Melleby of course are big challengers for the title. We have to do our best considering we have a 37th in the first race, so we cannot afford to have too much risk so we fall too many positions”.
Of note, each of the wins from the five races has been claimed by a different team, as every partnership finds their particular groove in the varying conditions. In theory, going into Saturday’s podium deciding race, any of the top seven teams has a punt at the medals. In practice, it is likely to be a battle royal between the top four teams, as 2nd through to 4th are tied on points, with the leaders holding a narrow 4 point advantage.
Day Six
An up and down breeze of 10-15 knots in a choppy sea and tropical temperatures on Biscayne Bay, Miami presented a whole new set of race conditions on the final day. In the seventy-six boat Star fleet, Diego Negri / Sergio Lambertenghi managed to maintain the lead they opened the day with, retaining pole position as the battle heated up behind, with three teams neck and neck on 14 points apiece.
Robert Scheidt (BRA) / Brian Fatih (USA) led the final race off the starting line, with Negri / Lambertenghi languishing back around 7th place at the first mark - giving the title to Scheidt at that point in the race. A determined fightback unfolded from Negri / Lambertenghi, accelerating in the first downwind to 3rd and ultimately crossing the finish line in 4th, whilst Scheidt / Fatih lost ground and dropped back to 2nd in the final leg; in an unbelievably close finish to the 91st Bacardi Cup. Negri / Lambertenghi make history by becoming the first ever Italian team to win, with Negri’s name added to the list of sailing icons on the Bacardi Cup Trophy, and Lambertenghi added to the crew names on the Tito Bacardi Cup. Scheidt / Fatih upgraded to second, with Melleby / Revkin picking up third over Lars Grael / Samuel Goncalves (BRA) in fourth.
“Today has been a great race”, said an overjoyed Negri. “It has been perfect conditions up to 15 knots. We had a good start, played the left and some other boats played the right. We were very close with another three boats for winning the Bacardi Cup, so we were sailing close to Melleby, and we knew that Scheidt and Grael were windward to us, so we were playing leeward side of them, and arrived at the top mark not far from them. We arrived at the top mark around 7th to 8th but with a good call of judgement soon after the windward mark we succeed to recover in the first downwind, and rounded in 3rd so pretty safe for us, as we just needed to be in the top four”. The pair held their position and could afford to be overtaken by Paul Cayard / Mark Strube in the final downwind leg, knowing they had victory in the bag.
“It is a very good result and an amazing week and consistent, and I think we did a great job together,” said the super-talented Negri who, together with Lambertenghi, has claimed medals at each of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Star World Championships. But it has taken thirteen years of competing at the Bacardi Cup since 2016, for Negri to climb the mountain to victory. “The fleet was amazing and we won. It is a good feeling and will be a good memory for all our life, that is for sure. Maybe there will be a next one in the future but this 91st edition is to us”, Negri laughed. “Winning the Bacardi, for me at least, I came here the first time in 1995 so more than twenty years ago, I have always been dreaming to win it,” said a delighted Lambertenghi. “Being able to do it, thanks to my helmsman Diego, is super, super, super satisfying. The last leg until the end was just shaking, looking at the wind, looking at the other boats”.
Great Britain’s Iain Percy and his Swedish crew Anders Ekstrom made their mark known by winning the final race, to finish in 7th overall. A formidable partnership, with three Star Class Olympic medals between them, the pair didn’t compete in race 1, then a non-fault collision and virtual sinking forced them out of races 3 and 4, before claiming the race victory their pedigrees would predict.
Prizes were also presented to winners in the Master’s (skippers age 50 through 59), Grand Masters (skippers age 60 and above), and Exalted Grand Masters (skippers age 70 and above) divisions, which went to Arthur Anosov / David Caesar (USA), Augie Diaz (USA) / Bruno Prada (BRA) and Alessandro Pascolato / Henry Boening (BRA) respectively. The Tammy Rubin Rice Trophy was presented to Eric Doyle / Payson Infelise (USA).
Results
