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District 20 Regatta Report | Sun Mar 6th, 2005 through Fri Mar 11th, 2005 |
Mark Mendelblatt and Mark Strube with the Bacardi Cup; photo by Jan Walker |
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Reports by Janet Maizner of the Bacardi Cup website More Bacardi Photos by Jan Walker of Regatta Active Images
Bacardi Cup Trophies:
Mendelblatt/Strube Win 2005 BACARDI Cup Friday, Mar. 11 – Floridians Mark Mendelblatt and crew Mark Strube won the 2005 BACARDI Cup, a six-race series sailed annually in Biscayne Bay since 1962. Howie Shiebler of San Francisco, CA and crew Anson Stookey of Middletown, RI won today’s Day Six race and keep their second place overall standing from yesterday. Two-time Bacardi Cup winner Peter Bromby and crew Rick Peters came in a disappointing eighth today, moving them down from first to third place overall. Defending Bacardi Cup champions Afonso Domingos and Bernardo Santos from Portugal keep their ninth place overall with a finish in 20th place today. "It feels great to win especially after the stress of our OCS (false start) yesterday," said Mendelblatt of St. Petersburg, FL. "Our strategy was to start close to Peter, but when we saw that Howie was ahead we quickly adjusted and stuck close to him." And follow they did throughout most of the course to take second place in the Day Six race. "To beat Peter is an extra bonus in this regatta," said Mendelblatt. Strube and Mendelblatt first sailed together in the 2003 America’s Cup in New Zealand on One World and this is only their second time together in a Star Class regatta. Both admit that their ultimate goal is the 2008 Beijing Olympics in Star Class. According to Domingos, “The competition at the Bacardi Cup is always very good. I’ve done well in light winds this year, but you never know in America.".Rick Merriman of San Diego, CA and crew Brad Nichol of Lake Sunapee, NH took third today and fourth place overall. Californians Erick Lidecis and crew Michael Marzahl took fourth and 16th overall. Andy Beadsworth of Great Britain and crew David Carr finished Day Six in fifth place moving them up to 11th overall. Unlike the last three days of racing, there was little wind on the Bay for the 70 boats representing 10 countries. With a one-hour delay on the start, the fleet finally seized the five-knot gusts coming out of the south. The 10.5-mile course was changed slightly to take advantage of the wind shift to the SE and increase to 10-15 knots. Mar.10, 2005 – Olympian Peter Bromby of Bermuda and crew Rick Peters of Venice Beach, CA had a neck and neck race from the start to finish line with Howie Shiebler of San Francisco, CA and crew Anson Stookey of Middletown, RI in Day 4 of the prestigious BACARDI Cup. Two-time Bacardi Cup champion Bromby won it and is now in first place overall. “Good things happened to us today,” said Bromby. “We had a good lead on most of the fleet from the start and at the windward mark we were pleasantly surprised to see two of our closest competitors on the board, ” he said. Both Mark Mendelblatt and Vince Brun, who were first and second place overall on Day 3, were disqualified for false starts today. Mendelblatt drops to 2nd overall and Brun, who was in 2nd, drops to 7th overall. “I felt it was pretty darn close, but I was called at the line. We had a good first beat, but then they told us about the OCS and we had to drop out, ” said Brun. According to Shiebler who finished in the number two spot today, “We caught Peter on the run and got even halfway up the beat. I thought we had him at the end, but he had more pressure left of us. We tried to play the averages, but it didn’t work out, ” he explained. Shiebler moves up from 17 overall to 3rd. George Szabo of San Diego and crew Christian Finnsgard of Goteborg, Sweden finished in 3rd place today and held onto their 9th position overall. John MacCausland of Medford, NJ and crew Brian Fatih of Miami, FL came in fourth in today’s race and are in 4th overall jumping up from 18th overall. Andy Macdonald and crew Austin Sperry took 5th today and are in 8th position overall. Predicting what may happen on Day 6, Shiebler said it best - "Tomorrow will be refreshing; no one can afford a throw out and Peter and Mark will have the advantage." March 9 - Mark Mendelblatt of St. Petersburg, FL and crew Mark Strube of West Palm Beach, FL have moved into first place overall after finishing first and fourth in today's back to back races at the 2005 BACARDI Cup. Day 3 of racing was cancelled because of small craft warnings and the race was made up today. "It was shift, windy and crazy out there today," said Mendelblatt. "Stars are a lot more complicated than Lasers," said Mendelblatt, who sailed a Laser in the 2004 Olympics and took Silver at the World Laser Championships. "Today we were in the right place and had a bit of luck." Mendelblatt admitted that the best sailors in the world are in Stars. Vince Brun of San Diego, CA and crew Doug Brophy of Rowley, MA placed fourth and 18, and slipped from first to second overall in a day of wet and windy racing on Biscayne Bay. Bermuda ace sailor Peter Bromby and crew Rick Peters of Venice Beach, CA jumped to third place overall with second and sixth place finishes in today's races. Rick Merriman of San Diego, CA and Brad Nichol of Lake Sunapee, NH held their fourth position overall. Merriman said it was harder to see the pops on the water in the rain and "it was hard today to look upward when the rain hits right in the face." Bromby is a two-time winner of the BACARDI Cup and said, "We've been the comeback kid so far and we'll do better tomorrow, if we get off the starting line better." Defending champions Afonso Domingos and crew Bernardo Santos of Portugual are in fifth place overall followed by Miamian Augie Diaz and crew Bob Schofield of Annapolis, MD in sixth place. Domingos said he had a very good upwind in the second race today and felt more comfortable with more wind in the downwind when he passed quite a few boats. "Water was warm out there because we were so cold, " he said. Temperatures in Miami were unseasonably cool today in the low 50's. March 8: No race was completed. The forecast was for a major front to move through around noon, with winds around 30 mph. The race committee called an hour's postponement of the start, thinking that the weather would pass through. After the hour elapsed, the radar was still showing the front coming but it had slowed. Just before noon, The race committee made the decision to cancel for the day.
Vince Brun Wins Bacardi Cup Day Two Race Six-time Bacardi Cup winner, Vince Brun of San Diego and crew Doug Brophy of Rowley, MA were the first to catch a breeze and they never let it go winning the second day race. The California skipper is now in first place overall. Brun was the first around all three marks leading up until the 4th leg where Miamian Augie Diaz and crew Bob Schofield of Annapolis, Md. made a valiant attempt to catch him but ended up in second place. "Vince dominated right from the start," said Diaz. "On a day like today, you have to have speed, luck and you have to do things right. Vince had speed and smarts," he added. Rick Merriman of San Diego, CA and crew Brad Nichol of Lake Sunapee, NH, sailing a brand new Star boat, took third trailed by Arthur Anosov of St. Petersburg, FL and crew David Caesar of Toronto, Canada in fourth. Anosov said this is his 8th Bacardi Cup race and it is his best yet, "even though it was a tough and slow start." For Merriman, all of his gains were made on the first beat by jibing early. "At the second and third marks, we closed up on Augie and Vince," he said. Floridians Mark Mendleblatt of St. Petersburg, and crew Mark Strube of West Palm Beach, finished in fifth place. This is Mendleblatt's first Bacardi Cup. First day top five finishers skippers Howie Shiebler and Peter Bromby were stuck in the middle of the pack for most of the race, with the Portuguese team of Afonso Domingos and Bernardo Santos even further back. Bromby stands in 6th place overall with Domingos holding 10th overall. Racing continues through Friday, Mar. 11th.
Three BACARDI Cup Champions Place in Top 5 Howie Shiebler of California and crew Anson Stookey took first place followed by Floridians Mark Mendelblatt of St. Petersburg and crew Mark Strube of West Palm in second place. Two-time Bacardi champion Peter Bromby of Bermuda placed third with crew Rick Peters and six-time Bacardi Cup winner Vince Brun of California and crew Doug Brophy took fourth place. After pulling into the U.S. Sailing Center dock, the 35-year-old Domingos said “After such a clean start, I’m disappointed with my 5th place finish. Unfortunately we had some problems with our hiking strap.” Domingos held third position from the start through the third turn and then lost downwind to push him into fifth place. He added, “ Vince Brun was one of the toughest competitors today.” As for Brun, he’s happy with his finish too despite a few mistakes. “We went long on the leeward mark and gave up quite of bit of distance. Then we spent the rest of the race trying to hold them back,” he said. Bromby was at the middle of the pack after the start and according to Rick Peters, they made huge gains. “We went flying downwind after the first turn and we passed almost 20 boats,” he said. One thing noticeable in today’s race were the number of boats displaying a large ‘Z” on their sails as a tribute to long-time Star Class sailor Frank Zagarino of Miami who died yesterday. According to several competitors, “Zag” as he was affectionately called, was known as the guy who helped out everyone who ever came to Miami to sail. |
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