Portugal slides ahead

Points tie for Percy and Simpson at the head of the Star's Bacardi Cup results after blustery final day

Speed, Black Flags, High Winds and Protests add up to Excitement during the final day of the Star class' Bacardi Cup.

No sooner had 30-year veteran French coach, Daniel Dahon, finished saying that he had never seen such a commanding lead in a Star race as Robert Scheidt’s and Bruno Prada’s (BRA) performance in the first race of the final day of the 81st Annual Bacardi Cup than he sounded an “Incroyable”. The 2007 World Champions finished the heavy air race over two minutes ahead of the second place boat. Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau (FRA) had pulled from fifth place at the first weather mark to second down the final run of the triangle, windward, leeward course in which the breeze peaked at about 20 knots from the SSE. Rohart/Rambeau did not cross the finish line, but rather, went to the left hand side of the line by mistake. By the time they recovered, Hans Spitzhauer and Christian Nehammer (AUT), Afonso Domingos and Bernardo Santos (POR), Mark Reynolds and Jamie Gael (USA), John Dane and Austin Sperry (USA) and Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) had screeched across the finish line.

The fleet set out for a 10:00 am start in a brisk sea breeze. Even before they went into the starting sequence, a rig was toppled; many more came down throughout the day. Determined to run two races, the committee hoisted the black flag for the first start of both races. Scheidt/Prada were just inside Italy’s leading Olympic candidates, Francesco Bruni and Gilberto Nobili at the weather mark with Spitzhauer/Nehammer trailing by a couple of boat lengths, but Bruni/Nobili’s cover disappeared as they sailed off the course because they were black flagged. Scheidt/ Prada extended their lead on every leg while their followers tried to pass one another. Scheidt/Prada’s straight line speed upwind, boat handling, including their gybes, were masterful.

After a rain cloud went by and the boats that had been lapped by the leaders finished, the fifth and final race was started. Competitors could throw out some deep scores once the fifth race was sailed. The leaderboard looked like many of the past season’s Grade 1 regattas, this time with Percy/Simpson at the top with only 10 points. Scheidt/Prada had pulled into second with their victory in the first race of the day. Domingos/Santos and Spitzhauer/Nehammer had 18 points apiece.

With Percy/Simpson rounding the weather mark just barely in the top ten, it looked as if it was up to them to pass some boats in order to win the regatta. However, it was Scheidt/Prada’s turn to peel away from the fleet before they got to the offset mark, because they black flagged the final race of the series. Robert Stanjek and Markus Koy claimed the lead and extended it to over 20 seconds by the time that the gun sounded for them. Former world champion, Alan Adler and Ronald Seifert (BRA) were second and Afonso Domingos and Bernardo Santos were third with Rohart/Rambeau, Pepper/Williams, Dane/Sperry, Bruni/Nobili, Kusnierewicz/Zycki and Negri/Viale beating out Percy/Simpson.

The boats returned to the dock, the regatta winner remained a mystery pending protests. When the scores were posted, Percy/Simpson found themselves in a tie with Domingos/Santos with 20 points apiece. Domingos/Santos, having beaten the Brits in the final race, won their second Bacardi Cup Regatta. There seems to be an Olympic quadrennium trend with the Portuguese. John Dane III and Austin Sperry, the 2006 Bacardi Cup winners, moved up to third with their stellar 3, 5 performance on the final day. Diego Negri and Luigi Viale (ITA) cemented their bid to represent their country at the Olympics this summer. Peter O’Leary and Stephen Milne (IRL), the youngest team at the regatta placed an impressive ninth, just 10 points out of fourth place for the regatta.

Results:

Pos	Sail no	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Tot
1	POR 8309	Domingos Afonso	Santos Bernardo	12	9	7	2	2	20
2	GBR 8345	Percy Iain	Simpson Andrew	3	14	3	5	9	20
3	USA 8230	DANE John	Sperry Austin	20	39	2	3	5	30
4	POL 8209	Kusznierewicz Mateusz	Zycki Dominik	11	8	45	6	7	32
5	AUT 8226	Spitzauer Hans	Nehammer Christian	5	55	10	4	14	33
6	BRA 8255	SCHEIDT ROBERT	PRADA BRUNO	4	12	21	1	119.0 [BFD]	38
7	ITA 8313	Barovier Alberto	Colaninno Nando	23	4	9	18	10	41
8	ITA 8266	Negri Diego	Viale Luigi	16	7	12	14	8	41
9	IRL 8261	O'Leary Peter	Milne Stephen	14	15	1	39	12	42
10	USA 8285	Diaz Augie	Trinter Phil	9	3	29	10	20	42
11	ITA 8281	Modena Luca	Lambertenghi Sergio	18	2	37	11	16	47
12	USA 8320	Reynolds Mark	Gale Jamie	10	16	76	7	15	48
13	USA 8312	Merriman Rick	Sharp Brian	17	47	11	9	11	48
14	BRA 8284	GRAEL LARS	JORDÁO MARCELO	7	1	16	28	26	50
15	FRA 8107	Rohart Xavier	Rambeau Pascal	119.0 [BFD]	26	14	8	3	51
16	NZL 8187	PEPPER Hamish	Peel Ed	19	13	18	16	4	51
17	CRO 8339	Lovrovic Jr Marin	Mikulicic Sinsa	119.0 [BFD]	10	6	24	13	53
18	ITA 8180	Bruni Francesco	NOBILI Gilberto	22	5	24	119.0 [BFD]	6	57
19	SUI 8296	Marazzi Flavio	De Maria Enrico	15	21	5	22	38	63
20	BER 8272	Bromby Peter	White Lee	6	20	34	23	18	67
21	NOR 8234	Melleby Eivind	Pedersen Petter	1	31	26	13	119.0 [DNF]	71
22	USA 8273	Szabo George	Peters Rick	24.0 [24.0, RDG]	49	4	19	25	72
23	AUS 8214	Murray Iain	Palfrey Andrew	13	23	39	17	27	80
24	GER 7971	Stanjek Robert	Koy Markus	119.0 [DSQ]	22	31	30	1	84
25	ESP 7581	Bermudez Roberto	Ferreira Marcelo	34	45	25	15	17	91
26	ITA 8290	Santoni Silvio	Natucci Dodo	38	11	42	20	23	92
27	USA 8176	Lidecis Erik	Marzahl Michael	25	75	15	37	19	96
28	USA 8136	Filter Henry	Wagner Will	21	24	36	119.0 [DNF]	30	111
29	USA 8195	Maccausland John	Murphy Kevin	40	18	38	38	22	116
30	USA 8306	Buckingham Jim	Monroe Eric	29	48	19	36	35	119
31	JPN 8144	SUZUKI Kunio	WadaDaichi	32	34	27	119.0 [BFD]	28	121
32	ARG 7	Rigoni Alejo	Gonzalez Gustavo	35	32	46	26	31	124
33	BAH 8265	Kelly Steven	Bill Holowesko	42	54	13	21	119.0 [DNF]	130
34	USA 8264	McChesney Peter	Zwingelberg Shane	46	51	41	29	24	140
35	RUS 8305	Shevtsov Sergey	Sadchikov Roman	39	27	119.0 [BFD]	35	40	141
36	SUI 7990	Stegmeier Daniel	Stegmeier Beat	50	46	28	25	43	142
37	BRA 8283	Brun Gastao	Kraiczyk Fabio	28	70	48	31	37	144
38	BRA 8337	Adler Alan	SEIFERT RONALD	2	19	8	119.0 [BFD]	119.0 [BFD]	148
39	HUN 8166	Tenke Tibor	Bendicsek Jozsef	36	71	72	12	29	148
40	ARG 8169	Zanetti Alberto	Warburg Gustavo	58	44	43	27	34	148
41	USA 7986	Labandeira Julio	Chernobilsky Nicolas	26	61	44	47	32	149
42	ITA 8332	Chieffi Enrico	Galli Massimo	33	30	68	119.0 [BFD]	21	152
43	CAN 8143	Cramer Brian	Bjorn Tyler	62	37	33	41	42	153
44	UKR 8205	Datsenko Kostyantin	Yevseyenko Oleksandr	65	25	47	46	39	157
45	CHI 8319	Zuazola Rodrigo	Riegel Robert	45	17	75	43	55	160
46	ARG 7907	MacGowan Fabian	ENGELHARD Federico	31	52	17	61	119.0 [DNF]	161
47	CRO 8280	Lovrovic Dan	Lovrovic Sr Marin	55	35	40	32	119.0 [BFD]	162
48	IRL 8254	O'Connell Maurice	Cooke Ben	8	6	35	119.0 [BFD]	119.0 [BFD]	168
49	USA 8269	Kohlhas Jock	Scott Larry	47	42	64	33	46	168
50	SUI 8009	Gautschi Christoph	Gouda Alex	44	84	49	40	52	185
51	GER 8256	Merkelbach Hubert	Bartel Gerrit	119.0 [DNS]	33	85	34	36	188
52	ITA 8341	Boggi Lucio	Laporta Manuel	119.0 [BFD]	50	32	57	57	196
53	GBR 7601	Hicks Michael	Hicks Patrick	48	57	58	44	49	198
54	FIN 8094	MAKILA Jali	Heinonen Erkki	24	29	30	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	202
55	BRA 8282	PASCOLATO ALESSANDRO	Boening Henry	49	63	53	119.0 [BFD]	44	209
56	USA 8303	Macdonald Andy	Fatih Brian	27	43	23	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	212
57	GER 8130	Voigt Henning	Dirk Steve	51	59	57	45	119.0 [DNF]	212
58	SUI 8085	Zimmerman Lorenz	Mutti Michael	53	56	59	52	119.0 [DNF]	220
59	SWE 7978	Krook Ingvar	Hasselgren Henrik	57	106	60	48	62	227
60	USA 8336	Fields Bill	Rogers Chris	79	41	61	58	119.0 [DNF]	239
61	UKR 8096	Avksentien	Kondratyuk	60	64	74	42	119.0 [DNF]	240
62	GER 7865	Lehnert Stefan	Menning Peter	71	60	95	56	54	241
63	ITA 8164	Chinca Valerio	Ciano Massimo	119.0 [DSQ]	58	79	62	45	244
64	GER 8311	Hampe Axel	Conrads Chris	67	96	71	49	59	246
65	ITA 8156	Irrera Renato	Corrado Cristaldini	64	85	89	55	47	251
66	USA 8159	Proctor Ched	Semler Matt	119.0 [DNS]	40	52	119.0 [DNF]	41	252
67	GER 7863	Meyer Klaus	Boguhn Lutz	93	102	50	60	50	253
68	ITA 8344	Tamburini Antonio	Ricci Renzo	56	108	94	51	53	254
69	USA 8317	Vandermolen Jon	Ticknor Steve	59	28	54	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	260
70	CAN 8045	Passmore Mark	Bunner Ivan	119.0 [DNF]	79	77	53	51	260
71	BRA 8300	FICKER PETER	Lopes Arthur	68	76	63	54	119.0 [BFD]	261
72	USA 8036	Rickard Jack	Farrier Tom	75	93	69	59	60	263
73	USA 8215	Allen Bill	Hatfield Bruce	52	38	56	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	265
74	USA 8218	Serinis Aaron	Schofield Bob	41	73	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [BFD]	33	266
75	CAN 7474	Hendershot Will	Vranderick Alain	76	66	62	64	119.0 [DNF]	268
76	GER 8016	Rauch Hubert	Kling Felix	81	91	93	50	48	270
77	USA 8077	Londrigan Tom Jr	Hall Stewart	67.7 [67.7, RDG]	62	22	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	270.7
78	USA 8245	Zambella Joe	Morey Ed	73	74	20	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	286
79	ITA 7562	Bettarini Stefano	Giachetti Alessandro	87	83	65	119.0 [DNF]	56	291
80	USA 8227	Gudat Patrick	Smith Mark	82	89	101	65	58	294
81	USA 8043	Manderson John	GOTSULYAK Roman	43	68	66	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [BFD]	296
82	GER 8213	Wilhelm Peer	Hollweg Nils	37	95	51	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	302
83	USA 8132	De La Villehuchet Thierry	Gesing	86	99	92	63	61	302
84	USA 8083	Chiarella John	Carlson Bob	85	98	100	67	64	314
85	CAN 7784	Li Hongquan	Wang He	63	72	67	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	321
86	USA 7786	Alt Karen	Perkins Rowan	92	104	98	70	63	323
87	GER 7750	Burmester Jens	Mehlen Markus	78	92	88	66	119.0 [DNF]	324
88	NED 8103	Bierman Guus	Skinner Duncan	74	80	55	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	328
89	USA 8253	Brethorst Rick	Anderson Scott	54	78	78	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	329
90	CHI 8181	Rusowsky Fernando	Gimeno Vincente Pablo	95	103	105	68	67	333
91	USA 7970	Hopkins Sam	Kaplan Bart	97	110	97	72	68	334
92	USA 7851	Phinney Mike	Balmert Brad	99	109	102	71	66	338
93	USA 7828	Pro Joseph	Pro Nicolaus	100	107	106	69	65	340
94	USA 8061	Jennings Jack	Rehe Mike	119.0 [DNS]	36	70	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	344
95	USA 7713	Fransen Ben	Coleman Ian	72	90	73	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	354
96	USA 7370	Emmet Rob	Amlong Paul	88	65	83	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNF]	355
97	USA 8279	Bonanni Claude	Burgess Rick	70	82	86	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	357
98	USA 8222	Gardner Ed	Gardner Kip	69	69	104	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	361
99	GER 7866	Thomsen Dierk	Jensen Darin	83	81	87	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	370
100	AUT 8216	Tomasini-Grinover Roberto	Bahr Gunnar	119.0 [DNF]	53	84	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	375
101	ARG 8239	Pendola Martin	Engelhard Juan Pablo	61	77	119.0 [BFD]	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	376
102	SUI 8329	Wyss Daniel	Joss Urs	77	100	81	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	377
103	USA 8063	Collins Bert	Wilson Kris	89	88	82	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	378
104	USA 7934	Von Schwarz Karl	Beigel-vosbury Barbara	96	87	80	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	382
105	UKR 8314	GUREYEV Vasyl	KOROTKOV Volodymyr	30	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	387
106	GER 7816	Girr Fritz	HASCHE Marko	119.0 [DNF]	67	90	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	395
107	CAN 7520	Gagnon Andre	Despres Daniel	84	101	91	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	395
108	USA 7814	Donald Keith	Hardin Chris	80	105	96	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	400
109	USA 8087	McNeil Kevin	Baltins Arnis	66	97	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	401
110	AUT 8021	Wirth Harald	Pickering Jim	94	94	103	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	410
111	USA 7902	Gunther Stephen	Day Tom	98	86	108	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNF]	411
112	USA 8207	Sperry Brooks	Contaras Robert	90	119.0 [DNS]	99	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	427
113	GER 7946	Weiler Hermann	Schmid Thomas	91	111	107	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	428
114	USA 8157	Anosov Arthur	Dolan Mark	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNS]	476
114	ESP 8297	Van Der Ploeg Jose Maria	RiveroFernandez Rodriguez	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	476
114	USA 7602	Londrigan Patrick	Burgandy Ron	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	476
114	NZL 8061	Lord Rohan	Addy Miles	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	476
114	USA 8235	Whipple Larry	Bjorn Kai	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNS]	119.0 [DNF]	119.0 [DNS]	476