Star Class Honoring the Past, Leading the Future
Miami, USA turned on another beautiful sailing day – brilliant breeze, sparkling turquoise waters and warm weather – as the Star Class was joined by the full line-up of one-design classes at the Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta on Thursday, March 10.
Biscayne Bay was a spectacular vista, packed with boats who have converged on Miami from around the world. The Star contested the traditional one race, with three races wrapped up for each of the J/70, Melges 24, Viper 640 and VX One. The 69F, which made its BCIR debut, completed six races.
Across the race courses, the breeze tracked from 10-18 knots, with the overcast morning giving way to sunshine. The forecast has so far delivered perfect race conditions and looks set to remain game on for Friday, March 11.
Post-race another keenly anticipated Bacardi happy hour got underway at Shake-A-Leg Miami, giving the perfect atmosphere to unwind and enjoy a glass of rum.
Racing got underway in a 10 knot breeze and very similar conditions to Wednesday. A couple of rain showers either side of the course for the second windward leg yanked the breeze, forcing a change of course.
Jack Jennings (USA) and Pedro Trouche (BRA) got to work straight away on ‘Pied Piper’, conjuring up more of yesterday’s magic to call the race track tune, lead from start to finish and claim another win. They shift up to leader board 4th and sit just one point adrift of Diego Negri/Sergio Lambertenghi, who finished the race immediately behind and retain 3rd overall.
“I feel really glad with the way we are sailing,” said Trouche. “We are feeling good with our routine. Every day in the morning we have breakfast together, briefing for the day and then we go out as early as we can, doing some practice. So it is working out, yeh.”
Defending Bacardi Cup Champions Mateusz Kusznierewicz/Bruno Prada hold firm as series leaders, but again struggled further back in the pack. Unlike yesterday, they couldn’t chip through and had to settle for a 6th place finish. Eric Doyle/Payson Infelise crossed the line in 4th place and hold firm in 2nd overall.
The race discard kicked in which, though not impacting the order of the top three, has shuffled places behind and compressed the points a little closer, making tomorrow’s race a challenge for control of the podium places ahead of Saturday’s concluding race.
Provisional Top 5 Results – after 4 races
1. Mateusz Kusznierewicz / Bruno Prada (POL 8548) - 4 pts
2. Eric Doyle / Payson Infelise (USA 8423) - 8 pts
3. Diego Negri / Sergio Lambertenghi (ITA 8567) - 10 pts
4. Jack Jennings / Pedro Trouche (USA 8464) - 11 pts
5. Peter O'Leary / Robert O'Leary (IRL 8465) - 14 pts
