Irish win Day 1 Day 2007 Bacardi Cup Regatta

by Event Media on 5 Mar 2007 The Irish sailing team of Maurice O’Connell and crew Ben Cooke finished first in day one of sailing in the 80th Annual Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta.

The Irish team finished 10 seconds ahead of New Zealand’s Hamish Pepper, the reigning World and North American Star Class champion, who sails this week with his crew and coach David Giles. Germany’s Robert Stanjek, the 2005 Star Eastern Hemisphere champion, and his crew Frithjof Kleen, finished third. Australians Iain Murray and Andrew Palfrey were sixth.

A total of 20 teams, nearly a quarter of the fleet, were black-flagged and disqualified for early starts in shifty winds that forced two course changes throughout the day. O’Connell and Cooke were among only a handful of boats that chose the right side of the course at the start. An early tack proved to be difference as the Irish duo led at every mark.

'We saw a big, black cloud forming on the right side and wanted to go right on the first beat,' said O’Connell. 'As soon as we had the opportunity, we tacked. We were fortunate that many of the boats closest to us were black-flagged, giving us a little breathing space. Everything looked rosy from there. We were very surprised that most of the other boats chose the left side.'

More than 80 teams representing 23 countries are competing in the six-day regatta, which is widely regarded as one of the best and most competitive Star Class events in the world.

'The Bacardi Cup just has an iconic prestige – this cache – that everybody wants to win it. This regatta brings out the best Star sailors in the world,' added O’Connell.

The Irish duo bested a fleet that included Peter Bromby, one of most acclaimed Bermudian sailors of all-time and a two-time Bacardi Cup champion; George Szabo, former North American champion in both the Star and Laser classes; and 2004 World Star Champion Fredrik Loof. Defending Bacardi Cup Champions John Dane and crew Austin Sperry finished ninth Sunday with five races to go in the regatta.

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.

Star

Place	Boat	Skipper	Crew	Sail #:	Fleet	1	Total
1	IRL	O'Connell Maurice	Cooke Ben	8028	Dublin, IRL	1.0	1
2	NZL	PEPPER Hamish	Giles David	8187	Auckland, NZL	2.0	2
3	GER	Stanjek Robert	Kleen Frithjof	7971	Berlin, GER	3.0	3
4	POL	Kusznierewicz Mateusz	Zycki Dominik	8170	Warsaw, POL	4.0	4
5	BER	Bromby Peter	McNiven Bill	8044	Sandys, BER	5.0	5
6	AUS	Murray Ian	Palfrey Andrew	7836	Clareville, AUS	6.0	6
7	GER	Miller Matthias	Voigt Manuel	7991	Rostock, GER	7.0	7
8	SWE	Loof Fredrik	Ekstrom Anders	8256	Csanta Cruz, CA	8.0	8
9	USA	DANE John	Sperry Austin	8268	Gulfport,MS	9.0	9
10	GER	Pickel Marc	BORKOWSKI Ingo	8213	Kiel, GER	10.0	10
11	ITA	Modena Luca	Marchesini Michele	8281	Verona, ITA	11.0	11
12	NOR	Melleby Eivind	Pedersen Petter Morland	8183	Oslo, NOR	12.0	12
13	SUI	Gautschi Christoph	Konig Jurg	8009	St. Margrethen, SUI	13.0	13
14	SUI	Marazzi Flavio	Hofer Donat	8138	Bern, SUI	14.0	14
15	USA	Szabo George	Liljedahl Magnus	8273	San Diego, CA.	15.0	15
16	UKR	GUREYEV Vasyl	KOROTKOV Volodymyr	8247	Kiev, UKR	16.0	16
17	USA	Macdonald Andy	Fatih Brian	8250	Laguna Beach, CA	17.0	17
18	CHI	Zuazola Rodrigo	Fuentes Marcos	8181	Santiago, CHI	18.0	18
19	CRO	Lovrovic Marin	Mikulicic Sinisa	7955	Rijena, CRO	19.0	19
20	SUI	Dannesboe Henrik	HEINONEN Eki	8232	Thun, SUI	20.0	20
21	ITA	Irrera Renato	Cristaldini Corrado	8277	Messina, ITA	21.0	21
22	NZL	Lord Rohan	Addy Miles	8061	Auckland, NZL	22.0	22
23	USA	Kohlhas Jock	Scott Larry	8043	BBSF	23.0	23
24	USA	Reynolds Mark	Haenel Hal	8129	San Diego, CA.	24.0	24
25	HUN	Tenke Tibor	Bendicsek Jozsef	8166	Budapest, HUN	25.0	25
26	SUI	Zimmermann Lorenz	Furer Andreas	8085	Lucerne, SUI	26.0	26
27	SWE	Lofstedt Tom	Larsson Martin	8238	Zug, SWE	27.0	27
28	ARG	MacGowan Fabian	ENGELHARD Federico	7907	Buenos Aires, ARG	28.0	28
29	CAN	Cramer Brian	Bjorn Tyler	8143	Ontario, CAN	29.0	29
30	USA	Hovey Bear	Dayton Lee	8059	Milford, CT.	30.0	30
31	USA	Brun Vince	Brophy Doug	8132	San Diego, CA.	31.0	31
32	USA	Weissenberger Gunti	Wagner Will	8095	King of Prussia, PA	32.0	32
33	NED	Jorissen Sander	Veldhuizen Erik	8263	Laren, NED	33.0	33
34	UKR	Anosov Arthur	Dolan Mark	8157	Ruskin, FL	34.0	34
35	USA	Anderson Karl	Morey Edward	8286	Harwich,MA	35.0	35
36	USA	Manderson John	Semler Matt	7866	Highlands, NJ	36.0	36
37	CAN	Hendershot Will	Vranderick Alain	6756	Quebec, CAN	37.0	37
38	GER	Hampe Alex	Conrads Chris	7545	Tutzig, GER	38.0	38
39	USA	Brethorst Rick	Nielson Chris	8111	Springfield, IL	39.0	39
40	HUN	Forintos Robert	Komm Andras	7900	Munka'csy, HUN	40.0	40
41	GBR	Hicks Michael	Hicks Patrick	7601	London, GBR	41.0	41
42	USA	Allen Bill	Hatfield Bruce	8215	Highwood, IL	42.0	42
43	USA	Museler Chris	Lidecis Erik	8231	Portsmouth, RI	43.0	43
44	USA	Von Schwarz Karl	Wharton Rich	7934	Annapolis, MD	44.0	44
45	GER	Lehnert Stefan	Menning Peter	7865	Bremen, GER	45.0	45
46	GER	Rauch Hubert	Schappeler Ingo	8016	Diessen, GER	46.0	46
47	ITA	Lillia Stefano	Canali Cicio	7227	Musso, ITA	47.0	47
48	USA	Chiarella John	Carlson Bob	8083	Sunapee, NH	48.0	48
49	USA	Walker Harry	Jensen Darin	8000	BBSF	49.0	49
50	USA	Donald Keith	Carlson Michael	7814	Bethlehem, PA	50.0	50
51	GER	Thomsen Dierk	Thomsen Lars	823	Kiel, GER	51.0	51
52	CHN	Li Hongquan	Wang He	7784	Beijing, CHN	52.0	52
53	USA	Seeling Timothy	Rogers Chris	7579	Breckenridge, CO	53.0	53
54	USA	Hopkins Sam	Pytlak John	7970	Philadelphia, PA	54.0	54
55	GER	Girr Fritz	HASCHE Marko	7816	Hamburg, GER	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	GER	Meyer Klaus	Struve Dirk	7863	Bremenhaven,GER	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	ARG	Pendola Martin	SIMONET ARIEL	8239	Buenos Aires, ARG	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	USA	Emmet Rob	Avellon Guy	7370	Stevensville, MD	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	AUT	Spitzauer Hans	Nehammer Christian	8226	Vienna, AUT	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	USA	Teitge Bob	Koresjka Adam	8084	Grosse Pointe, MI	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	USA	Oti Jose	May Henry	8067	Houston, TX	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	USA	Culberson Bill	Clark Buddy	81	Mobile, AL	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	POR	Domingos Afonso	Santos Bernardo	8145	Cascais, POR	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	ITA	Tamburini Antonio	Ricci Rento	8183	Firnze, ITA	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	USA	Maccausland John	Schofield Bob	8195	Medford, NJ	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	ESP	Bermudez Roberto	Arrarte Pablo	7581	Cantabria, ESP	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	USA	Mueller Fritz	Weinstein Bob	8069	BBSF	78.0 [DNF]	78
55	USA	Merriman Rick	Munroe Eric	8222	San Diego, CA.	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	ITA	Veggetti Andrea	Coppo Franco	8291	Milan, ITA	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	USA	Zambella Joe	Davidson Jeremy	8245	Winthrop, MA	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	USA	Herrmann Tony	Tbd	7956	Racine, WI	78.0 [DNS]	78
55	USA	Parks Bill	Anderson Clark	7434	Tavernier, FL	78.0 [DNF]	78
55	USA	Bingham Julian	Cruthirds Troy	8128	Mobile, AL	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	USA	Bonanni Claude	Burgess Rick	8279	Tampa, FL	78.0 [DNS]	78
55	USA	Smith Doug	Moore Mike	8072	Piedmont, CA	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	SUI	Wyss Daniel	Stegmeier Beat	7645	Zurich, SUI	78.0 [BFD]	78
55	USA	Buckley Davis	Hardin Chris	7567	Washington, DC	78.0 [DNF]	78