Bacardi Cup - Lars Grael and Samuel Goncalves win today’s light day

by Star Sailors on 10 Mar 2017 Race Day 4 of the 90th Bacardi Cup Regatta and Race Day 1 of the eighth Annual Bacardi Miami Sailing Week presented by EFG got off to a slow start today for the Stars, but racing was on and then off for the J/70, Viper 640, VX One, VX Evo, A-Cat, Flying Tiger and M24 Classes.

Around 2:00PM the Star Class was set to go, but RC called three general recalls following a two hours holding pattern. Five boats were black flagged while racing resumed also for the other three circles on an average of seven knots from the east. At the Star top mark Grael/Goncalves (BRA) rounded first followed by Szabo/Natucci and Della Torre/Sacrpatti (ARG) with leaderboard French duo Rohart/Ponsot in seventh. With a steady breeze and on the rise all circles were in full race mode it was a beautiful sight to see over 150 boats racing.

With two legs to go it’s a phenomenal battle for first between Grael/Goncalves and Szabo/Natucci with Diaz/Prada in third and Rohart/Ponsot in sixth. In the final upwind leg the Brazilian team will be protecting the lead by keeping the boat speed, while Szabo/Natucci tried to catch-up trying different strategies, but wasn’t enough. Behind them solid run of Diaz/Prada (USA).

“The waiting period prior to the start created anticipations to get going, but RC made a good call in holding the start.” Commented Lars Grael. “It would have been a lottery race, but luckily it wasn’t… it was light but fair.” Concluded today’s winner. In the overall we now have Mark Mandelblatt/Liljedahl followed by Xavier Rohart/Ponsot and Augie Diaz/Prada jumping to third.

Live streaming of the event is provided on StarSailors.com while full results and more information on the Bacardi Miami Sailing Week and the 90th Bacardi Cup are available at www.MiamiSailingWeek.com, www.BacardiCup.com and www.starsailors.com.