Star Bacardi Cup Regatta at Miami, Florida - Day 2

Jock Kohlhaus & Larry Scott win on day two of the 80th Bacardi Cup Star regatta © Alex Gort

Kohlhaus & Scott win Day Two at 2007 Bacardi Cup Regatta

Star Class World Champions Hamish Pepper & David Giles take overall lead

Miamian Jock Kohlhaus, former executive director of the U.S. Sailing Center in Miami, and crew Larry Scott from Canada won Monday’s race at the second day of the 2007 Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta. The victory catapults them into eighth in the overall standings.

Kohlhaus and Scott held a comfortable 20-second lead over Sweden’s Fredrik Loof and crew Anders Ekstrom, the defending Rolex Miami OCR champions, at the fourth and final mark. Loof and Ekstrom tacked aggressively during the final leg and were within striking distance, when Kohlhaus and Scott slipped upwind of them. Kohlhaus and Scott rode a strong northern wind to the finish line, edging the Swedish duo by less than half a boat length.

“We went the right way from the start and on the second beat we picked up the wind shift and then hung on,” said Kohlhaus who is competing in his 15th BACARDI Cup regatta.

Defending Star Class World and North American Champions Hamish Pepper and crew David Giles of New Zealand finished third today and take the overall lead following a second place finish in Sunday’s first race.

Loof and Ekstrom move to second in the overall standings. Americas Cup veteran Iain Murray and crew Andrew Palfrey of Australia finished fifth Monday and sixth Sunday, moving to third place overall.

“To date in my Star Class campaign, the smartest thing I’ve done is to get the best people around me; and having a veteran crew like David Giles has been huge for me,” said Pepper, who made his Star Class debut just over a year ago at the 2006 Bob Levin Memorial in Miami. “We’ve had two good results, but it’s a strong fleet, and we have four important races to go. One slip-up and we can be at the back of the pack.”

Defending Bacardi Cup Champions John Dane and Austin Sperry, sailing out of Gulfport, Mississippi, are currently 16th in the overall standings.

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.

Results after Day 2: