Florida sunshine

Lynn Fitzpatrick reports on the Etchells Piana Cup, convincingly won by a Brit team

Etchells sailors woke up to some rattling windows on Saturday morning at Biscayne Bay Yacht Club. A northerly breeze came into town blowing outdoor Christmas decorations off homes and palm fronds off trees. By the time Saturday’s second race got underway over half a dozen boats were back at the dock working on repairing broken booms, jib downhauls, bilge pumps, outhauls, and a few shrimped spinnakers.

Although the wind direction remained fairly steady at 60-70 degrees throughout the day, the breeze piped up to well over 20 knots during the second race leaving the water a sea foam green. The fleet was whittled down to just over 40 boats by the start of the third and final race of the day. The Etchells team of the day was Andy Beadsworth, Oscar Strugstad and Simon Fry in a brand new boat and borrowed sails. Their sails did not make it through customs, so they scrambled to borrow sails. Their finishes for the day – 1, 1, 3. Apparently the new sails arrived at Biscayne Bay Yacht Club at 10:45 am - 15 minutes before the start of the first race. While the tired, borrowed sails fit the bill for the day and the crew was eager to break in their new ones on Sunday.

Sunday’s winds of 12-15 knots seemed like zephyrs compared to Saturday’s blustery breezes. The general comment was that Sunday’s conditions were a lot easier. Lighter breeze and new sails did not make a difference in Team Dawn Raid’s performance. They demonstrated how to sail consistently in every condition that Biscayne Bay could dish out to them. Once again they got the bullet. With hardly a crinkle in their new sails, they returned to the dock and sat the last race out.

Andy Beadworth wanted to make sure that the word is spread throughout the UK and the rest of the world, “You can’t beat the sailing here in Miami. The competition is fierce, the weather is better than you can have at any other sailing venue this time of year and the club and race committee do a great job.” For others in the UK, you can fly in on Thursday and be back at work on Monday…if you really have to leave Paradise!

The Beadsworth, Strugstad, Fry crew won the regatta with 6 points, followed by, and the 2006 World Champion team of Jud Smith, Henry Frazer and Mike Craig with 17 points. Jeffrey Siegal, Jeff Madrigali, Willem van Waay and Lauren Gillolly were third with 18 points. Phil Garland, Moose McClintock, Paul Murphy were fourth with 23 points. Chuck Coyer, Bill Hardesty and Mark Jefferies had a consistent second day with two sevenths and finished the regatta in fifth with 25 points.