The 90th Bacardi Cup kicks off the eighth Bacardi Miami Sailing Week

by Icarus Sports on 2 Mar 2017 It’s an anniversary year for the Bacardi Cup, and it’s a big one. For the 90th time, 55 in Coconut Grove, this marquee event for the Star Class begins on Monday March 5th until the 11th. On Thursday March 9th other 8 one-design classes will compete in the eighth annual BACARDI Miami Sailing Week event presented by EFG.

Looking forward to warm weather and great sailing conditions, 190 one-design sailing boats will compete in five different circles on Biscayne Bay extending from Vizcaya Museum to Cutler Bay. This year’s on the water activities are coordinated by Coral Reef Yacht Club in collaboration with the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club and with the help of the U.S. Sailing Center and Shake-A-Leg Miami. Coconut Grove will host 700 sailors from 20 different Countries including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Ukraine, Uruguay, Sweden and Switzerland.

The Star Class, consisting of 75+ entrants, will compete in the highly competitive Bacardi Cup, which takes places over six days. Star Class World Champion Augie Diaz (Miami, FL), 2014-15 back to back champions Lars Grael / Samuel Goncalves (Rio de Janeiro, BRA) and 2012 winner Xavier Rohart (Martigues, FRA) will have to look out for other world-class sailors racing in their class including, Fabio Prada / Cristiano Ruschmann (Sao Paulo, BRA) and 2013 Cup winner Mark Mendelblatt (Miami, FL). The 2017 Bacardi Cup will also be a regatta that is part of the Star Sailors League Championship.

The even more popular J/70 Fleet continues to be the second largest class of BMSW with 35+ boats, which include Vincenzo Onorato’s Mascalzane Latino (Milan, Italy), Will Welles’ Scamp (Portsmouth, RI) and Peter Duncan’s Relative Obscurity (Rye, NY).

With 25 boats registered, the Viper 640’s are competing not only for the BMSW title, but also in their final event of the EFG Pan-American Championship. This year long event culminates in the Championship Regatta during BMSW. Tight racing as always for this fleet that in the past 18 months staged numerous outstanding local, regional, and national regattas. BMSW enjoys hosting the Vipers for 8 consecutive years!

Returning for their fourth appearance at BMSW is the VX One, racing this year with 20 entrants including the VX Evo boats. 2016 runner-up and 2015 BMSW winner John Potter (Beaufort, SC) will have to work hard to defend their previous results as some other great sailors have been added to the mix, including longtime VX One sailor Timothy Pitts and Wild Deuces’ Paul Currie from Toronto, Canada.

Making their second appearance in the BMSW is the A-Cat class. With 10 entrants expected to be on the starting line, the A-Cat catamaran is the most actively raced high performance single-handed boat in North America and capable of reaching speeds over 22 knots in 12 knots breeze. New for 2017 is the Flying Tiger 7.5 Class with 10 boats expected along with returning Melges 24 Class. Part of BMSW racing activities will be the super fast and competitive M32 catamarans, which will compete on Biscayne Bay from Friday March 10th to Sunday the 12th.

BACARDI Miami Sailing Week is not only for the competition, but also the charity aspect of sailing, which is demonstrated in the fifth Pro-Am Regatta and Gala, both benefiting Shake-A-Leg Miami, Team Paradise and Sailing Heals. The Pro-Am Gala, which will take place on Saturday, March 4th, 2017, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., will feature an Havana Night inspired atmosphere, food, music, plenty of BACARDI Rum and a Casino party. The following day (Sunday March 6, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.) will be the Pro-Am Regatta, which offers people from the local community the opportunity to sail the Sonar 23’ and the fast M32’s.

Similar to year’s past, the BACARDI Village hospitality for BACARDI Miami Sailing Week will be set up for the first time at Regatta Park, where sailors will enjoy BACARDI Rum, food and music. One special art exhibits, will be set up in CocoWalk and open everyday along with a “Music in the Park” concert featuring Havoc 305 that will take place on Wednesday March 8th at Regatta Park from 7:00-10:00PM.