Bliksem to defend title at Miami Winter Series 2021
by M32 Class 21 Jan 2021 06:40 PST
5-7 February 2021
The M32 fleet in Miami February 2020 before the pandemic struck and the final event was cancelled. 2021 4 events will be held in Miami © M32World / Felipe Juncadella
The M32 fleet is back racing in Miami after the season was cut short last year. Bliksem with skipper Pieter Taselaar showed some spectacular performance last winter.
Going into the last day of racing Convexity with skipper Don Wilson, reigning World Champion, had a comfortable lead in the event and the series but had a really bad day ending with an unrepresentative capsize in the last race.
Bliksem had a solid day playing it safe and getting top three scores in all races. With one single point team Bliksem won the series and received the much sought after M32 Miami Rooster which they will defend in the upcoming winter series. 16 teams participated in the 2020 Miami winter series and the full results can be found at the M32 World website.
Team Bliksem is sailing under Dutch colours with Skipper Pieter Taselaar and crew Keith Swinton, Rhys Mara, Julius Hallstrom and Paul Atkins.
Peter comments: "We were very pleased with winning the Miami series last year. Unfortunately, the last event was cancelled due to covid but all other racing weekends provided perfect sailing conditions with wind in the mid-teens and sunny skies. We look forward to defending the Winter Series title this year in beautiful Biscayne Bay."
The team plans to sail with the same crew this year although the travel restrictions may force some temporary changes.
Miami Winter Series 2021
The 2021 winter series is this year four events that have been clustered together into two periods to make it easier for teams' logistics and travels. The events are February 5-7, 12-14 and March 5-7, 19-21. Full schedule can be found here.
International sailing is still plagued by travel and event restrictions but the M32 fleet have been able to host local and regional events in a safe and compliant way throughout 2020.
"Our setup is very digital from the beginning so with very few changes we can make everything pre-and post-racing on line and meet up on the water for racing" says Class Manager and PRO Mattias Dahlstrom and adds "Of course we miss the social side of things but safety is paramount and as restrictions ease we will get back to the new normal"
Dave Doucett, M32 North America Director comments on the challenges of running events in a pandemic: "The M32 Miami winter series is working with the City of Miami and Shake-A-Leg sailing centre to run a safe event. We have been modelling our COVID 19 procedures from successful local and World Sailing events. All teams will be required to produce a negative covid test. We really look at the M 32 fleet as one big sailing family and we are working together as a group to produce a safe event that people are looking forward to getting back on the water and getting some close competition".
Teams getting ready for the 2021 Miami Winter Series:
- Convexity, Don Wilson
- Catapult, Joel Ronning
- Rule#1, Jerry Kirby
- Midtown, Larry Phillips
- Bliksem, Peter Taselaar
- Surge, Ryan McKillen
- Extreme2, Dan Cheresh
- Gorilla Rigging / Skiff Foundation, Cameron Beil
- Argo, Jason Caroll
The 2021 Season
The Season will go ahead in both North America in Europe throughout the summer ending with the World Championship in Miami in November. To make logistics and travels easier in the current covid situation several events will be run in the same location. Nevertheless, the class will be back in favourite venues such as Newport, RI, USA and Riva del Garda, Italy.
The perfect introduction - M32 Demo Boat
The M32 Demo Boat is the perfect way to get introduced to M32 racing in a way that is tailored to your background in racing and other classes. Maybe you have your own racing team and just need a few hints on M32 specifics, or maybe you need help with setting up an M32 experienced crew and start from the beginning with multihull racing.
This is the way most of our class members got introduced to the boat. The most common answer to the question "Why did you start racing the M32?" has always been, "I tried it, and then I was hooked."
The demo boat will be available on most regattas to give you a chance to join the fun.