Dane and Sperry retake lead at Star Bacardi Cup

by Event media on 10 Mar 2006 The father and son-in-law tandem of John Dane and Austin Sperry (USA), won Wednesday’s fourth race at the 2006 Barcardi Cup Star Class Regatta on the waters of Biscayne Bay.

With many of the overall leaders faltering on day four, Dane and Sperry regain the overall lead heading into the final two races of the regatta.

They had lost the overall lead yesterday with a 17th place finish, and hope to be able to drop that race in their quest for what would be the first Bacardi Cup for both sailors.

Dane and Sperry were among a large group of boats that elected to attack the left side of the course on today’s first run. Shifty 18-20 mile-per-hour winds and choppy waters carried the duo to an early lead rounding the windward mark.

Once out in front, Dane and Sperry leveraged strong winds again on the left side to build a commanding 10-boat-length lead at the second mark, substantially ahead of their nearest competitors, Poland’s Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominick Zycki, who finished fourth Wednesday and climb to third in the overall standings, and the Brazilian team of Robert Scheidt, who has dominated Laser Class sailing for more than a decade, and his crew Bruno Prada.

On the final run, the Brazilian pair led a group of three boats to within two boat lengths of Dane and Sperry, and finished second, moving them to fourth overall. They now have a chance of the overall lead as nobody has managed to stay in single figures in every race. With the potential discard they are only five points off Dane and Sperry with two races to sail.

Three-time Olympian Jali Makila and crew Erkki Heinonen of Finland finished third as the Polish team dropped to a fourth place finish.

Briton's Andy Beadsworth and Dave Carr finished 16th after yesterdays win and move to tenth overall.

Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Mark Reynolds of San Diego and crew Christian Finnsgard, the overall leaders going into the fourth race, finished 27th today and fall to fifth overall, while the Portuguese team of Afonso Domingos and Bernardo Santos, the 2004 Bacardi Cup champions, finished 9th today and climb to second overall.

Overall Standings After Four of Six Races:
1 John Dane/Austin Sperry MS 3 1 17 1 22.00pts
2 Afonso Domingos/ Bernardo Santos POR 10 9 10 9 38.00
3 Mateusz Kusznierewicz/ Dominick Zycki POL 6 25 6 4 41.00
4 Robert Scheidt/ Bruno Prada BRA 34 4 4 2 44.00
5 Mark Reynolds/Christian Finnsgard CA 1 5 12 27 45.00
6 Mark Mendelblatt/ Mark Strube FL 24 11 8 6 49.00
7 Iain Murray/Andrew Palfrey AUS 5 28 9 8 50.00
8 Rick Merriman/Rick Peters CA 7 10 15 31 63.00
9 Peter Vessella/Darrell Hiatt CA 26 14 14 10 64.00
10 Andy Beadsworth/David Carr GBR 43 19 1 16 79.00

Additional regatta information can be found online at www.starclass.org. Archival information and photos can be found at www.bacardicup.com