Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta - Day 1
by Icarus Sports 6 Mar 2018 04:28 PST
4-10 March 2018
Bacardi Cup - Day 1 © Tim Wilkes /
www.timwilkes.com
Celebrating over nine decades of competition, the 91st Bacardi Cup hosted in Miami, USA, continues to attract the legends of sailing in the Star Class and J/70 fleets.
The 91st Bacardi Cup is taking place from 4-10 March and features the cream of world sailing talent, who are looking to maximize their performance across the six races for the Star fleet and nine races for the J/70 fleet. Racing from the Coral Reef Yacht Club on Biscayne Bay is extraordinary, with sun-kissed turquoise waters, a laid back fun vibe, warm sunshine, and water, delivering outstanding racing against the impressive backdrop of Miami.
The Bacardi Cup ranks as one of the sports premier events, and racing for the Star Class kicked off today featuring a fleet of seventy-six boats including eleven World Champions and multiple Olympic medallists. Racing one long race a day, with so much depth in performance, there is simply no room to make a mistake.
The 2016 Star Class World Champions Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada (USA) took the opening day victory in a closely fought duel with the Norwegian team of Eivind Melleby /Joshua Revkin (NOR), the reigning 2017 Star Class World Champions. The Norwegians controlled the fleet for most of the race before Diaz / Prada made their move to victory in the final leg. Third to Italy's three-time Olympian Diego Negri racing with Sergio Lambertenghi.
Race two for the Star Class is scheduled to start at 11:55 hours on Tuesday, March 6th. Racing for the J/70 Class starts on Thursday, March 8th with nine races scheduled across three days.
Teams from across the USA are joined by an international line-up from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Ukraine.