Star Bacardi Cup: Day Five

2005 Star North American champ and Quantum Sails rep George Szabo files the following report today from the Bacardi Cup in Miami, FL:

(Thursday, March 9) Most fantastic sailing conditions on the water yet. Mostly warm, not to shifty, and a very fun 15 knots of breeze. This is the reason that we keep coming back sailing here.

Out on the water, you can tell that the end of the regatta is near. There were more spectator boats than ever, a few large ones, and more press boats too. Lots of action on the water at the marks

Our boat was fast today. Tighter shrouds, more rake, and life was really good. We started near the boat end of the line and were going high and fast. Higher than Horton who was next to us. About 4+ minutes into the race we were leading the fleet. Definitely ahead of the pack to the right, and would be able to cross the boats on the left. Then trauma stuck again! A RIB was coming at us at high speed. Normally a cause for concern, and this one was from the RC and it was flying the checkered b/w abandonment flag. This was going to be bad. It ended up that there was confusion over the RC radios, and the pin end put up the General Recall flag while the Weather end boat Individual Recall flag. The race was abandoned, and restarted a little bit later.

From there, events began the downhill slide that seems to be typical for the week. If you have ever been racing, and thought “this only happens to me,” whatever that was has likely happened to us this week. For the second start of the same race, after we finally got away from the boat to weather of us who draped his mainsail all over our rig, we started, and had one of those starts that looked really, really good. We were well ahead, and it was looking like it might be one of THOSE starts (you know what I’m talking about).

Well, . . . . . . . got to the weather mark, and were just shy of layline when a port tacker came at us thinking they might want to cross, but we wanted them to tack so we could get back up to the layline. Yada yada yada – as we crash tack to avoid a collision, my crew Eric was stuck in the straps and the jib was still cleated after the boat tacked. A witness of the event called it a ghost ship. No one on the weather side, and the keel out of the water. Eric was gargling on the leeward side. Once that one was sorted out, we got back going with a bit of a loss only to find out that we, and the guy who was on port that we had to avoid moments before – were the only two over early boats in the whole fleet.

Enough about sailing. Wildlife report: no sightings on at Coral Reef YC, or on the race course, but two Manatees were reported to be seen near the hoist of the sailing center. Sorry no photos.

The great thing about this event is not just the sailing, but also the people. Making new friends and seeing old friend from all over the world is a fantastic part of the trip. On that tangent, I’d like to check back in on Christian Finnsgard’s tan report. Remember at the beginning of the week, Christian was pasty white, and coming from 30” of snow. Now he is beet red, and still as happy as ever – we’re just not allowed to touch a few red parts (see photo below).

The parking lot is getting more full of junk daily as well. With the wind picking up, we are starting to see very odd breakdowns- some blocks and other items breaking from corrosion and everything else in very odd ways. Only a hand full of broken masts this trip, but a large amount of bondo is being applied to keels.

It used to be pretty easy to find your way in and out through the tricky part of the mooring area, which could save a few minutes to the race course. Unfortunately, with the past few hurricanes here, many of the moored boats sunk, and are still under water – and unmarked. The tide moves them around from time to time, and it seems to be Miss or Hit going through the zone. Unfortunately, Augie Diaz tapped one yesterday, another sailor just two days ago hit one so hard that a pint of bondo was required, and today Mark Reynolds found one of the sunken boats. Mark hit hard enough that his crew, Christian Finnsgard, remarked that the gelcoat from the sunken boat was still on their keel.

I thought that was going to be all of the excitement for the day, but my crew Eric keeps telling me that he is seeing celebrities here in Miami. Last time I picked him up at the airport, he swore he saw Evander Holyfield (the boxer) – he told me that his ear was missing a piece and everything. I said yeah right. Well tonight at the grocery store buying food he swears that he saw the basketball player, Glenn Rice. I said yeah right again. Well, as I went in search of food down another aisle, he came back with this picture (below). So if anyone can identify this person as someone else, please let me know. Keep in mind, my crew, Eric is 6’ 4”!
Last race scheduled for tomorrow. Same forecast as today. Should be fun. - George Szabo

Click here for results. Photos below by Alex Gort.

Two-time Bacardi Cup Champion Peter Bromby (left, back), sailing this week with crew Bill McNiven, of Bermuda rounded all four marks ahead of the rest of the fleet and won the fifth race of the 79th Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta on Thursday, March 9, 2006. He climbs to fourth in the overall standings with one race to go. The father and son-in-law tandem of John Dane (right, back) and Austin Sperry of Gulfport, Mississippi, round the third mark on their way to a sixth place finish on day five of sailing Thursday, March 9, 2006, at the 79th Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta on the waters of Biscayne Bay near Miami. The finish assures them the overall lead by eight points ahead of their nearest competitors heading into the sixth and final race.

Day One - Day Two - Day Three - Day Four - Day Five - Day Six