Star Champion Hamish Pepper extends at Bacardi

by Janet Maizner on 9 Mar 2007 Poland’s Mateusz Kusznierewicz, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist in the Finn Class, and crew Dominik Zycki won day five at the 2007 Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta on the waters of Biscayne Bay Thursday. They finished only two boat lengths ahead of new Zealand’s Hamish Pepper, the reigning World and North American Star Class champion, who finished second today with crew and coach David Giles of Australia.

The two teams had been tied for the overall lead heading into Thursday’s race. However, because sailors drop their worst of five finishes today, the victory assures Kusznierewicz and Zycki second in the overall standings, six points behind Pepper and Giles. Today was Pepper’s only finish out of the top three this week.

Sweden’s Fredrik Loof and crew Anders Ekstrom, the 2007 Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta champions, finished third today and climb to third overall, only one point behind Kusznierewicz and Zycki.

'We’re just gonna go for it tomorrow,' said Loof. 'We hope the two top teams are so occupied with each other that we can surprise them both.'

Meanwhile, Australia’s Iain Murray and crew Andrew Palfrey were disqualified for an early start Thursday and fall to fourth overall. Bermuda’s Peter Bromby, a two-time Bacardi Cup champion who sails this week with crew Bill McNiven, also was disqualified for an early start and remains in fifth overall.

Pepper and Giles showed good speed off the starting line and rounded the first mark in the lead, just ahead of Kusznierewicz and Zycki. The Polish team proved faster downwind today and would round the remaining three marks ahead of Pepper and Giles.

With a commanding lead heading into the final leg, Kusznierewicz and Zycki protected well against an aggressive attack from Pepper and Giles, who made substantial gains upwind, but could not overtake the Polish team for the win.

'We’re faster than Pepper downwind, but he’s faster upwind,' said Kusznierewicz. 'When there are no big winds and no big waves, like today, we can maintain good speed upwind. But it was the small things that played in our favor today; we were very tactical and our technique was sound.'

'I think we’ve secured a top three, but we want to win,' he added. Both [Pepper] and [Loof] have a bad discard, so we have to be prepared for a good fight tomorrow. At least no one can sit out the final race.'

Two American teams are in the top overalls today with 49 points each: John Dane and Austin Sperry in 10th place and George Szabo and Magnus Liljedahl in 11th place.

More than 75 teams representing 23 countries are competing in the 80th Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta, one of the most competitive and highly anticipated Star Class events in the world.

The Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta is co-hosted by the Coral Reef Yacht Club and the U.S. Sailing Center, both based in Coconut Grove, and is sponsored by BACARDI U.S.A., Inc.

All participants compete aboard 22-foot Olympic-class Star sloops, and race teams comprise two members: a skipper and crew. Bacardi Cup participants sail one race per day from Sunday through Friday on a 10.5-mile course in Biscayne Bay. Sailors are allowed to drop their worst performance of the six races in the regatta.

 

1	NZL 8187	PEPPER Hamish	Giles David	8187	ISOL	2.0	3.0	1.0	16.0	2.0	8
2	POL 8170	Kusznierewicz Mateusz	Zycki Dominik	8170	ISOL	4.0	9.0	7.0	2.0	1.0	14
3	SWE 8256	Loof Fredrik	Ekstrom Anders	8256	SC	8.0	2.0	2.0	18.0	3.0	15
4	AUS 7836	Murray Ian	Palfrey Andrew	7836	LMac	6.0	5.0	6.0	8.0	76.0 [OCS]	25
5	BER 8044	Bromby Peter	McNiven Bill	8044	ISOL	5.0	11.0	10.0	5.0	76.0 [OCS]	31
6	GER 8213	Pickel Marc	BORKOWSKI Ingo	8213	Brm	10.0	48.0	8.0	10.0	6.0	34
7	GER 7991	Miller Matthias	Voight Manuel	7991	UB	7.0	7.0	17.0	11.0	11.0	36
8	NOR 8186	Melleby Eivind	Pedersen Petter Morland	8186	NOR	12.0	14.0	20.0	4.0	10.0	40
9	SUI 8232	Dannesboe Henrik	HEINONEN Eki	8232	TB	20.0	46.0	5.0	14.0	5.0	44
10	USA 8268	DANE John	Sperry Austin	8268	MoB	9.0	41.0	30.0	1.0	9.0	49
11	USA 8273	Szabo George	Liljedahl Magnus	8273	SDB	15.0	15.0	4.0	19.0	15.0	49.0001
12	USA 8195	Maccausland John	Schofield Bob	8195	CR	76.0 [BFD]	6.0	21.0	7.0	16.0	50
13	AUT 8226	Spitzauer Hans	Nehammer Christian	8226	H	13.8 [AVG]	17.0	11.0	15.0	12.0	51.8
14	SUI 8138	Marazzi Flavio	Hofer Donat	8138	TB	14.0	4.0	27.0	76.0 [DNS]	7.0	52
15	ITA 8281	Modena Luca	Marchesini Michele	8281	NG	11.0	18.0	31.0	6.0	19.0	54
16	POR 8145	Domingos Afonso	Santos Bernardo	8145	CP	76.0 [BFD]	28.0	3.0	9.0	17.0	57
17	CRO 7955	Lovrovic Marin	Mikulicic Sinisa	7955	ISOL	19.0	12.0	13.0	28.0	20.0	64
18	USA 8250	Macdonald Andy	Fatih Brian	8250	NH	17.0	69.0	15.0	12.0	24.0	68
19	GER 7971	Stanjek Robert	Kleen Frithjof	7971	BF	3.0	76.0 [DNF]	34.0	30.0	4.0	71
20	USA 8129	Reynolds Mark	Haenel Hal	8129	SDB.	24.0	21.0	24.0	3.0	76.0 [DNF]	72
21	USA 8132	Brun Vince	Brophy Doug	8132	SDB	31.0	13.0	28.0	22.0	14.0	77
22	USA 8286	Anderson Karl	Morey Edward	8286	BH	35.0	16.0	26.0	20.0	18.0	80
23	ARG 7907	MAC GOWAN FABIAN	ENGELHARD Federico	7907	OL	28.0	34.0	9.0	24.0	22.0	83
24	NED 8263	Jorissen Sander	Veldhuizen Erik	8263	Med	33.0	27.0	46.0	13.0	13.0	86
25	NZL 8061	Lord Rohan	Addy Miles	8061	ISOL	22.0	35.0	14.0	25.0	26.0	87
26	HUN 8166	Tenke Tibor	Bendicsek Jozsef	8166	Ore	25.0	31.0	25.0	53.0	8.0	89
27	SWE 8238	Lofstedt Tom	Larsson Martin	8238	RS	27.0	10.0	47.0	17.0	38.0	92
28	CAN 8143	Cramer Brian	Bjorn Tyler	8143	LOC	29.0	40.0	22.0	21.0	25.0	97
29	USA 8043	Kohlhas Jock	Scott Larry	8043	BisB	23.0	1.0	44.0	32.0	51.0	100
30	USA 8222	Merriman Rick	Munroe Eric	8222	SDB	76.0 [BFD]	44.0	12.0	31.0	21.0	108
31	USA 8095	Weissenberger Gunti	Wagner Will	8095	NCB	32.0	33.0	18.0	26.0	76.0 [DNF]	109
32	UKR 8157	Anosov Arthur	Dolan Mark	8157	SL	34.0	19.0	76.0 [DNS]	27.0	31.0	111
33	SUI 8009	Gautschi Christoph	Konig Jurg	8009	Bod	13.0	57.0	55.0	23.0	23.0	114
34	USA 8059	Hovey Bear	Dayton Lee	8059	Mid	30.0	39.0	23.0	33.0	76.0 [OCS]	125
35	UKR 8247	GUREYEV Vasyl	KOROTKOV Volodymyr	8247	Ukr	16.0	61.0	38.0	43.0	32.0	129
36	GBR 7601	Hicks Michael	Hicks Patrick	7601	Sol	41.0	51.0	16.0	45.0	33.0	135
37	USA 8072	Smith Doug	Moore Mike	8072	SBC	76.0 [BFD]	22.0	37.0	50.0	29.0	138
38	SUI 8085	Zimmermann Lorenz	Furer Andreas	8085	LUV	26.0	25.0	42.0	60.0	47.0	140
39	HUN 7900	Forintos Robert	Komm Andras	7900	Ore	40.0	30.0	52.0	35.0	35.0	140
40	ITA 8277	Irrera Renato	Cristaldini Corrado	8277	Pal	21.0	32.0	45.0	61.0	46.0	144
41	GER 7545	Hampe Alex	Conrads Chris	7545	ZuW	38.0	67.0	29.0	36.0	43.0	146
42	USA 8111	Brethorst Rick	Nielson Chris	8111	LS	39.0	29.0	41.0	55.0	37.0	146
43	IRL 8028	O'Connell Maurice	Cooke Ben	8028	ISOL	1.0	56.0	19.0	76.0 [DNS]	76.0 [DNS]	152
44	CHI 8181	Zuazola Rodrigo	Fuentes Marcos	8181	Val	18.0	63.0	39.0	34.0	76.0 [DNF]	154
45	ITA 8291	Veggetti Andrea	Coppa Franco	8291	FdAL	76.0 [BFD]	24.0	76.0 [OCS]	29.0	30.0	159
46	USA 8215	Allen Bill	Hatfield Bruce	8215	WH	42.0	62.0	32.0	59.0	27.0	160
47	USA 8231	Museler Chris	Lidecis Erik	8231		43.0	8.0	64.0	46.0	76.0 [OCS]	161
48	CAN 6756	Hendershot Will	Vranderick Alain	6756	Q	37.0	38.0	33.0	58.0	53.0	161
49	USA 7866	Manderson John	Semler Matt	7866	Mid	36.0	47.0	76.0 [OCS]	41.0	40.0	164
50	USA 8245	Zambella Joe	Davidson Jeremy	8245	BH	76.0 [BFD]	55.0	40.0	42.0	28.0	165
51	GER 7816	Girr Fritz	HASCHE Marko	7816	AM	76.0 [BFD]	20.0	48.0	57.0	44.0	169
52	GER 7865	Lehnert Stefan	Menning Peter	7865	Bre	45.0	49.0	53.0	44.0	36.0	174
53	ITA 7227	Lillia Stefano	Canali Cicio	7227	Mu	46.0	54.0	36.0	71.0	39.0	175
54	ESP 8212	Bermudez Roberto	Arrarte Pablo	7581	Barc	76.0 [BFD]	23.0	35.0	49.0	76.0 [DNF]	183
55	GER 7863	Meyer Klaus	Struve Dirk	7863	Brm	76.0 [BFD]	43.0	62.0	40.0	41.0	186
56	SUI 7645	Wyss Daniel	Stegmeier Beat	7645	ZU	76.0 [BFD]	65.0	54.0	38.0	34.0	191
57	ITA 8183	Tamburini Antonio	Ricci Renzo	8183	SI	76.0 [BFD]	36.0	43.0	39.0	76.0 [DNF]	194
58	USA 8083	Chiarella John	Carlson Bob	8083	Sun	47.0	42.0	59.0	52.0	55.0	196
59	USA 8128	Culberson Bill	Cruthirds Troy	8128	MoB	76.0 [BFD]	26.0	50.0	48.0	76.0 [OCS]	200
60	USA 7370	Emmet Rob	Avellon Guy	7370	AN	76.0 [BFD]	70.0	49.0	37.0	54.0	210
61	USA 8069	Mueller Fritz	Weinstein Bob	8069	BisB	76.0 [DNF]	37.0	76.0 [DSQ]	51.0	48.0	212
62	USA 7814	Donald Keith	Carlson Michael	7814	AN	49.0	50.0	68.0	54.0	61.0	214
63	USA 81	Bingham Julian	Clark Buddy	81	MoB	76.0 [BFD]	64.0	56.0	47.0	49.0	216
64	USA 8000	Walker Harry	Jensen Darin	8000	BisB	48.0	76.0 [DNS]	58.0	56.0	56.0	218
65	CHN 7784	Li Hongquan	Wang He	7784	ISOL	51.0	68.0	60.0	68.0	42.0	221
66	USA 7934	Von Schwarz Karl	Wharton Rich	7934	AN	44.0	52.0	66.0	70.0	60.0	222
67	USA 8084	Teitge Bob	Koresjka Adam	8084	BisB	76.0 [BFD]	59.0	51.0	65.0	52.0	227
68	ARG 8239	Pendola Martin	SIMONET ARIEL	8239	BA	76.0 [BFD]	45.0	76.0 [OCS]	62.0	45.0	228
69	USA 7579	Seeling Timothy	Rogers Chris	7579	CD	52.0	58.0	65.0	67.0	57.0	232
70	USA 8067	Oti Jose	May Henry	8067	GBT	76.0 [BFD]	53.0	61.0	63.0	58.0	235
71	GER 823	Thomsen Dierk	Thomsen Lars	823	Glu	50.0	66.0	67.0	69.0	76.0 [DNF]	252
72	GER 8016	Rauch Hubert	Schappeler Ingo	8016	And	76.0 [DSQ]	71.0	57.0	76.0 [OCS,ZFP]	50.0	254
73	USA 7970	Hopkins Sam	Pytlak John	7970	AN	53.0	72.0	69.0	72.0	62.0	256
74	USA 7434	Parks Bill	Anderson Clark	7434	WH	76.0 [DNF]	76.0 [DNS]	63.0	64.0	59.0	262
75	USA 7567	Buckley Davis	Hardin Chris	7567	AN	76.0 [DNF]	60.0	76.0 [DNF]	66.0	76.0 [DNS]	278