Star Bacardi Cup: Day Three

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

(Tuesday, March 7) Once again, perfect Miami weather. We got to the club early as usual, put the boat in the water early, and sat down for breakfast. As breakfast progressed and we talked to the coach about mast trim and sail trim, we found out that in the mix of mast and sail shots, our coach had found time to take 30 pictures of dolphins!

I didn’t realize there were so many dolphins in the bay here. Now I can understand one or two photos, but he swears that they were surrounding him, and swimming all around. Send over the wildlife. I hope he doesn’t go home tonight and use dartfish – like the overlay of the skiers in the Olympics - to figure out which one was swimming faster. As we discussed the topic, we heard of a turtle sighting on the water yesterday as well, but we don’t have any turtle pictures as of yet.

The sail out was in 15-knot breeze coming off the shore, and some shifts to go with it. All was well for the first hour. We had a few good line-ups with our tuning partner, and the speed looked good. It took three attempts at starting to get the sailors off the line. The RC did a great job with the line considering the long line and shifty conditions. Many boats were caught over early, at least 10 from the last I heard.

Unfortunately for us, we were playing the shifts on the left hand side, sailing faster than yesterday, and then disaster struck. Tacking from starboard to port, and onto a 20 degree shift, we heard a big BANG from our rig. Not a good sound. We looked up, and saw that intermediate shrouds swinging in the wind. Not a good sight. Our race was over, so we dropped the sails, and got ready for a tow from a RC support boat.

It wasn’t too long before Craig Prandini came by with a RIB, only to quickly pass us off to a bigger RC crash boat with another of our friends in tow. Strangely, it was a sailor that we were unable to separate ourselves from tack to tack yesterday, and we had made the agreement to give each a bit more space today – so much for that one. As the tow went on, we picked up another friend from Holland who had broken a forestay. We watched the fleet take off on two fantastic looking reaches, and head back for a beat before they went out of sight.

Tough day, but at least we had some friends on the long tow in. Eventually, back on land, the rig was pulled, and the boat put back on the trailer. We spent our extra time in the warm pool waiting for the rest of the fleet to get back in. Eventually, we got back to sorting out a fix for the boat while many of the fleet went out to South Beach for the evening, which we hope will open up the early morning parking spaces again. - George Szabo

Click here for results.

Photos by Alex Gort

Two-time Olympian Andy Beadsworth and crew David Carr of Great Britain charge toward the finish line well ahead of the rest of the fleet on day three of sailing at the 79th Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta.

Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and Seven-time Bacardi Cup Champion Mark Reynolds, sailing with Swedish crew Christian Finnsgard, finished in 12th place on day three of sailing at the 79th Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta. Reynolds, who is currently tied with legendary Star sailor Ding Schoonmaker for most Bacardi Cup victories, vies for his eighth "Trofeo Bacardi" this year. He and Finnsgard climb to first in the overall standings after three of six scheduled races.

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