Father and son-in-law take Bacardi Cup Race 4

by Janet Maizner on 8 Mar 2007
The father and son-in-law tandem of John Dane and crew Austin Sperry, the defending 2006 Bacardi Cup and 2006 Star Class Western Hemisphere champions, won the fourth race of the 2007 Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta off the coast of Miami Wednesday.

With the victory, they climb to 14th in the overall standings heading into the final two races of the regatta.

Poland’s Mateusz Kusznierewics, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist in the Finn Class, and crew Dominik Zycki finished second Wednesday, followed by seven-time Bacardi Cup Champion Mark Reynolds and crew Hal Haenel in third. Rounding up the top five were Norway’s Eivind Melleby with crew Petter Pedersen and two-time Bacardi Cup Champion Peter Bromby of Bermuda with crew Bill McNiven.

Dane and Sperry showed good speed off the starting line and rounded each of the first two marks in the top 10, while Reynolds and Haenel built a commanding early lead. Dane and Sperry held the left side and manufactured consistent gains throughout the race. A wind shift on the final downwind leg helped them to overtake Reynolds and Haenel and take a clear lane to the finish.

'On the second beat, we started protecting the right side – that’s how we got the good early lead,' said Reynolds. 'But the attack came from the left. Then on the final leg, we were reaching coming up to the finish. The winds shifted in our favor, but just a little too much. Downwind, we just weren’t as fast; and you can’t cover Dane, Bromby, and Kusznierewicz all at the same time.'

The reigning World and North American Star Class Champion Hamish Pepper of New Zealand and his crew David Giles of Australia finished 16th, dropping to a tie with Kusznierewicz and Zycki for the overall lead. Australia’s Iain Murray with crew Andrew Palfrey finished eighth today and remains in third overall. Beginning Thursday, sailors drop their worst of six finishes to determine the overall leaders.

'We were having a lot more fun last year,' said Sperry, who with Dane held the overall lead at the midway point of the 2006 Bacardi Cup Regatta. 'We can only drop one of our two bad races this week, so we’re out of the title hunt this year; but with a couple of big races tomorrow and Friday, we can finish in the top 10.'

Star

Place	Boat	Skipper	Crew	Sail #:	Fleet	1	2	3	4	Total
1	NZL 8187	PEPPER Hamish	Giles David	8187	ISOL	2.0	3.0	1.0	16.0	22
2	POL 8170	Kusznierewicz Mateusz	Zycki Dominik	8170	ISOL	4.0	9.0	7.0	2.0	22.0001
3	AUS 7836	Murray Ian	Palfrey Andrew	7836	LMac	6.0	5.0	6.0	8.0	25
4	SWE 8256	Loof Fredrik	Ekstrom Anders	8256	SC	8.0	2.0	2.0	18.0	30
5	BER 8044	Bromby Peter	McNiven Bill	8044	ISOL	5.0	11.0	10.0	5.0	31
6	GER 7991	Miller Matthias	Voight Manuel	7991	UB	7.0	7.0	17.0	11.0	42
7	NOR 8186	Melleby Eivind	Pedersen Petter Morland	8186	NOR	12.0	14.0	20.0	4.0	50
8	USA 8273	Szabo George	Liljedahl Magnus	8273	SDB	15.0	15.0	4.0	19.0	53
9	AUT 8226	Spitzauer Hans	Nehammer Christian	8226	H	14.3 [AVG]	17.0	11.0	15.0	57.3
10	ITA 8281	Modena Luca	Marchesini Michele	8281	NG	11.0	18.0	31.0	6.0	66
11	USA 8129	Reynolds Mark	Haenel Hal	8129	SDB.	24.0	21.0	24.0	3.0	72
12	CRO 7955	Lovrovic Marin	Mikulicic Sinisa	7955	ISOL	19.0	12.0	13.0	28.0	72.0001
13	GER 8213	Pickel Marc	BORKOWSKI Ingo	8213	Brm	10.0	48.0	8.0	10.0	76
14	USA 8268	DANE John	Sperry Austin	8268	MoB	9.0	41.0	30.0	1.0	81
15	SUI 8232	Dannesboe Henrik	HEINONEN Eki	8232	TB	20.0	46.0	5.0	14.0	85
16	USA 8132	Brun Vince	Brophy Doug	8132	SDB	31.0	13.0	28.0	22.0	94
17	ARG 7907	MAC GOWAN FABIAN	ENGELHARD Federico	7907	OL	28.0	34.0	9.0	24.0	95
18	NZL 8061	Lord Rohan	Addy Miles	8061	ISOL	22.0	35.0	14.0	25.0	96
19	USA 8286	Anderson Karl	Morey Edward	8286	BH	35.0	16.0	26.0	20.0	97
20	USA 8043	Kohlhas Jock	Scott Larry	8043	BisB	23.0	1.0	44.0	32.0	100
21	SWE 8238	Lofstedt Tom	Larsson Martin	8238	RS	27.0	10.0	47.0	17.0	101
22	USA 8095	Weissenberger Gunti	Wagner Will	8095	NCB	32.0	33.0	18.0	26.0	109
23	USA 8195	Maccausland John	Schofield Bob	8195	CR	76.0 [BFD]	6.0	21.0	7.0	110
24	CAN 8143	Cramer Brian	Bjorn Tyler	8143	LOC	29.0	40.0	22.0	21.0	112
25	USA 8250	Macdonald Andy	Fatih Brian	8250	NH	17.0	69.0	15.0	12.0	113
26	POR 8145	Domingos Afonso	Santos Bernardo	8145	CP	76.0 [BFD]	28.0	3.0	9.0	116
27	NED 8263	Jorissen Sander	Veldhuizen Erik	8263	Med	33.0	27.0	46.0	13.0	119
28	SUI 8138	Marazzi Flavio	Hofer Donat	8138	TB	14.0	4.0	27.0	76.0 [DNS]	121
29	USA 8059	Hovey Bear	Dayton Lee	8059	Mid	30.0	39.0	23.0	34.0	126
30	HUN 8166	Tenke Tibor	Bendicsek Jozsef	8166	Ore	25.0	31.0	25.0	54.0	135
31	GER 7971	Stanjek Robert	Kleen Frithjof	7971	BF	3.0	76.0 [DNF]	34.0	30.0	143
32	SUI 8009	Gautschi Christoph	Konig Jurg	8009	Bod	13.0	57.0	55.0	23.0	148
33	IRL 8028	O'Connell Maurice	Cooke Ben	8028	ISOL	1.0	56.0	19.0	76.0 [DNF]	152
34	GBR 7601	Hicks Michael	Hicks Patrick	7601	Sol	41.0	51.0	16.0	46.0	154
35	SUI 8085	Zimmermann Lorenz	Furer Andreas	8085	LUV	26.0	25.0	42.0	61.0	154
36	CHI 8181	Zuazola Rodrigo	Fuentes Marcos	8181	Val	18.0	63.0	39.0	35.0	155
37	UKR 8157	Anosov Arthur	Dolan Mark	8157	SL	34.0	19.0	76.0 [DNS]	27.0	156
38	HUN 7900	Forintos Robert	Komm Andras	7900	Ore	40.0	30.0	52.0	36.0	158
39	UKR 8247	GUREYEV Vasyl	KOROTKOV Volodymyr	8247	Ukr	16.0	61.0	38.0	44.0	159
40	ITA 8277	Irrera Renato	Cristaldini Corrado	8277	Pal	21.0	32.0	45.0	62.0	160
41	USA 8231	Museler Chris	Lidecis Erik	8231		43.0	8.0	64.0	47.0	162
42	USA 8222	Merriman Rick	Munroe Eric	8222	SDB	76.0 [BFD]	44.0	12.0	31.0	163
43	USA 8111	Brethorst Rick	Nielson Chris	8111	LS	39.0	29.0	41.0	56.0	165
44	CAN 6756	Hendershot Will	Vranderick Alain	6756	Q	37.0	38.0	33.0	59.0	167
45	GER 7545	Hampe Alex	Conrads Chris	7545	ZuW	38.0	67.0	29.0	37.0	171
46	ESP 7581	Bermudez Roberto	Arrarte Pablo	7581	Barc	76.0 [BFD]	23.0	35.0	50.0	184
47	USA 8072	Smith Doug	Moore Mike	8072	SBC	76.0 [BFD]	22.0	37.0	51.0	186
48	GER 7865	Lehnert Stefan	Menning Peter	7865	Bre	45.0	49.0	53.0	45.0	192
49	ITA 8183	Tamburini Antonio	Ricci Renzo	8183	SI	76.0 [BFD]	36.0	43.0	40.0	195
50	USA 8215	Allen Bill	Hatfield Bruce	8215	WH	42.0	62.0	32.0	60.0	196
51	USA 8128	Culberson Bill	Cruthirds Troy	8128	MoB	76.0 [BFD]	26.0	50.0	49.0	201
52	USA 7866	Manderson John	Semler Matt	7866	Mid	36.0	47.0	76.0 [OCS]	42.0	201
53	USA 8083	Chiarella John	Carlson Bob	8083	Sun	47.0	42.0	59.0	53.0	201
54	GER 7816	Girr Fritz	HASCHE Marko	7816	AM	76.0 [BFD]	20.0	48.0	58.0	202
55	ITA 8291	Veggetti Andrea	Coppa Franco	8291	FdAL	76.0 [BFD]	24.0	76.0 [OCS]	29.0	205
56	ITA 7227	Lillia Stefano	Canali Cicio	7227	Mu	46.0	54.0	36.0	72.0	208
57	USA 8245	Zambella Joe	Davidson Jeremy	8245	BH	76.0 [BFD]	55.0	40.0	43.0	214
58	GER 7863	Meyer Klaus	Struve Dirk	7863	Brm	76.0 [BFD]	43.0	62.0	41.0	222
59	USA 7814	Donald Keith	Carlson Michael	7814	AN	49.0	50.0	68.0	55.0	222
60	USA 7370	Emmet Rob	Avellon Guy	7370	AN	76.0 [BFD]	70.0	49.0	38.0	233
61	USA 7934	Von Schwarz Karl	Wharton Rich	7934	AN	44.0	52.0	66.0	71.0	233
62	SUI 7645	Wyss Daniel	Stegmeier Beat	7645	ZU	76.0 [BFD]	65.0	54.0	39.0	234
63	USA 8000	Walker Harry	Jensen Darin	8000	BisB	48.0	76.0 [DNS]	58.0	57.0	239
64	USA 8069	Mueller Fritz	Weinstein Bob	8069	BisB	76.0 [DNF]	37.0	76.0 [DSQ]	52.0	241
65	USA 7579	Seeling Timothy	Rogers Chris	7579	CD	52.0	58.0	65.0	68.0	243
66	USA 81	Bingham Julian	Clark Buddy	81	MoB	76.0 [BFD]	64.0	56.0	48.0	244
67	CHN 7784	Li Hongquan	Wang He	7784	ISOL	51.0	68.0	60.0	69.0	248
68	GER 8016	Rauch Hubert	Schappeler Ingo	8016	And	76.0 [DSQ]	71.0	57.0	48.0 [ZFP]	252
69	USA 8084	Teitge Bob	Koresjka Adam	8084	BisB	76.0 [BFD]	59.0	51.0	66.0	252
70	GER 823	Thomsen Dierk	Thomsen Lars	823	Glu	50.0	66.0	67.0	70.0	253
71	USA 8067	Oti Jose	May Henry	8067	GBT	76.0 [BFD]	53.0	61.0	64.0	254
72	ARG 8239	Pendola Martin	SIMONET ARIEL	8239	BA	76.0 [BFD]	45.0	76.0 [OCS]	63.0	260
73	USA 7970	Hopkins Sam	Pytlak John	7970	AN	53.0	72.0	69.0	73.0	267
74	USA 7567	Buckley Davis	Hardin Chris	7567	AN	76.0 [DNF]	60.0	76.0 [DNF]	67.0	279
75	USA 7434	Parks Bill	Anderson Clark	7434	WH	76.0 [DNF]	76.0 [DNS]	63.0	65.0	280