Bacardi Miami Sailing Week - Overall report

by Icarus Sailing on 10 Mar 2015 Miami gave us great sailing conditions for all six days of the sixth Bacardi Miami Sailing Week (BMSW) presented by EFG Bank that includes its celebrated event the 88th Bacardi Cup. The Star, J/70, Viper 640, VX One and M32 classes all took part in this year’s event with 164 teams racing. Thank you to all of our Race Committee, Regatta Staff, and competitors for a great event!

The BMSW kicked off with the Pro-Am Gala and Regatta, which took place on Saturday, February 28th and Sunday, March 1st, respectively. Both events were a great success raising over $10,000 in support of Shake-A-Leg-Miami (Salm), Sailing Heals, and Team Paradise. The Pro-Am Gala dinner sold out with over 120 guests in attendance. Guests were treated to free-flowing Bacardi Rum, delicious food, great music, and a live auction. At the Pro-Am Regatta, 20 amateurs sailed with Star pro-sailors on Sonars and 15 guests raced on the M32 catamarans, in the Pro-Am Regatta. Sailing Heals brought cancer patients from Miami’s Children Hospital to sail on three sailing vessels generously offered by volunteers.

Also on Sunday, a special art exhibit, Sailing Dreams by Vicki DaSilva, was set up in CocoWalk until March 7th, along with a pop-up store inside Unit 115. DaSilva exhibited 10 light paintings (made by moving a hand-held light source while taking a long exposure photograph) that presented to the community how she interprets the beautiful sport of sailing into art.

Every night throughout the week there was an event at the Bacardi Hospitality Village, located in Kennedy Park (The Welcome Cocktail Event, the Bacardi Mid-Week Party, Bacardi Happy Hour and the Awards Party and Dinner). All events featured music, food, Bacardi Rum and great people.

Saturday night March 7th, over 600 people attended the Awards Dinner and Ceremony, where plenty of food and Bacardi Rum was served. All classes received awards for the top three finishers along with some special awards.

Racing for the 88th Bacardi Cup began on Monday for the Stars and continuing on till Saturday, March 7th. One race was completed for everyday of the six-day event. Lars Grael and Samuel Gonclaves defended their Bacardi Cup title from 2014. Also receiving trophies at the Awards Ceremony were the second place team of Jorge Joao Zarif and Bruno Prada, the third place team of Mark Reynolds and Magnus Liljedahl, the fourth place team of Alessandro Pascolato and Henry Boening, and the fifth place team of Augie Diaz and Arnis Baltins .The Star class also gave awards for the first place boat in the Masters Division (skippers age 50 through 59), received by Lars Grael, for the first place boat in the Grand Masters Division (skippers age 60 through 59), received by Augie Diaz and the Exalted Grand Masters (skippers age 70 and above), received by Alessanrdo Pascolato.

The J/70s completed eifgt races over the three-day BMSW event. Finishing first in the 46 boat fleet we had Mauricio Santa Cruz and his crew Sergio Almeira, Maxim Weergert and Daniel Glomb on Bruschetta. Finishing second was Julian Fernandez, Neckleman, William Hardesty, Willian Van, and Erik Brockhann on Flojito Y Cooperando, and third we had Calvi Network with Carlo Alberini, Branko Brcin, Karlo Hmeljak, and Sergio Blossi.

Nine races were completed on the Viper 640 course with 32 teams competing. Winning the BMSW was Brad Boston, Lee Shuckerow, and Nick Loundsbury on Jackpot. Peter Beardsley, Steve Keen and Patrick Slattery, on Ghost Panda, followed them in second, and then Geoffrey Ewenson, Peter O’Leary and Lara Dallman-Weiss, on Terminally Pretty, in third.

With 22 competing teams, the VX One also raced nine races in the BMSW. Team VX1 won their class with skipper John Potter and crew David Guggenheim, John Parker and Walter Gnann. Finishing second was Flash Rider with skipper Phillip Norris and crew Chris Norris and Brenna Paes, followed by Chuck Wagon with Phip Hallowell and Chuck Brown in third.

Making their BMSW premiere, the M32s sailed 14 races with seven competing boats. Winning the events was US One with Taylor Canfield, Hayden Goodrick, Luke Molloy, Ricky McGarvie and Josh McCaffrey. In second was Bronco with Michael Dominguez, Tripp Burd, Jonny Goldsberg, Anthony Kotoun and Tom Loughborough, and in third was Escape Velocity with Ron O’Hanley, Schreyer Stan and Sam Loughboro.

Everyone is already looking forward to the 2016 regatta that will take place in Coconut Grove and Biscayne Bay from March 5th to the 12th and we look forward to seeing you all then.