In the bag for Bambakou

Laurie Fullerton reports on the final day of racing at Acura Miami Race Week

Sparkling south Florida waters and varied conditions over four days proved that tactical, smart sailing made the difference in a suspenseful finish to Acura Miami Race Week today.

Down-to-the-wire racing was among the highlights of a regatta that is a true renaissance event with 142 plus boats and 1200 sailors more than doubling the fleet from last year’s former SORC.

In the Transpac 52 fleet, Bambakou took first place overall after a strong team effort by owner John Coumantaros with tactician and America’s Cup helmsman Ken Read taking the top honours. “This is the first time many of us have sailed on Bambakou and most of our team came over from the Farr 40 fleet to race with this new team and this new boat,” said Read. “We are all pleased with our performance and with the work of our team. And, the conditions today were right out of the travel brochure with a nice breeze and crystal clear skies.”

Three top boats from Europe in the Farr 40 class dominated their event with lead reversals the order of the day with the final win going to Dutchman Peter de Ridder’s Mean Machine who beat the young Greek team Atalanti owned by Stratis Andreadis. The Greeks had a strong debut performance after they had trailed the German team Opus One owned by German Wolfgang Stolz until today.

“Today it came down to the final race,” de Ridder said. “It became a match race between Atalanti and ourselves and it really was a slam-dunk tack during the last upwind leg that did it and we were able to cover them until the finish. The level of competition was very tough and this win was very rewarding today”.

For the young Greek tactician and Olympic Gold medalist Sofia Bekatorou, who remains one of the few female tacticians in the top sailing circuit, it came down to being observant. “As it is in sailing, you always have to be very observant and I think we could have done that a little better today,” she said. “We are young but we sailed a clean regatta with very few mistakes and we feel that we were rewarded for our efforts.”

In the Mumm 30 division the racing came down to the final race with John McDonagh taking the class win and the 2005 Florida Grand Prix for his combined performance at Key West Race Week and Acura Miami Race Week. “It was down to the last race, we were four points down and we had to win it,” said McDonagh. “It was a real battle between us and Cygnet . Sailing on the Mumm 30 in these conditions is always fast, light and takes a great deal of crew work”.

In the PHRF-1 class, Bostonian Dan Meyers led his Numbers to victory with Alinghi's Brad Butterworth calling tactics after very close racing against the Tripp 47 Cabaret owned by Bob Limoggio. “There was a lot of great chemistry on the boat with sailors from all over the world coming here to race,” said Jim Cannon, mast man for Numbers . “The boat performed very well today as it likes the light air and it was a good regatta.”

The Melges 24 has had a number of lead reversals that came down to a three-way tie that was finally broken by Italian Riccardo Simonesch aboard Nautica . The Acura Trophy was awarded to Simonesch and is symbolic of the Boat of the Week that prevailed in a class with the closest, most competitive racing for the series from all three divisions.

In PHRF-3, Gordon Schiff and his team were insurmountable on the Mumm 36 The Wall beating second place Dame Blanche owned by Othmar von Blumencron by eight points and subsequently winning the City of Miami Trophy for the PHRF boat with the closest, most competitive racing for the series. “Consistency wins regattas and this was fantastic and we enjoyed every minute of it,” Schiff said. “It was really good crew work today and that is the key.”

All PHRF fleets were pushing to stretch their leads today including the PHRF-2 fleet with Melges 32 Dawn Raid owned by the UK's Oscar Strugstad battling it out for a one point win over the Farr 36 Grins owned by Rick Orchard.

The J/105 fleet was very deep here in Miami this week but the undisputed winner of both the 2005 Florida Grand Prix trophy and class honors was Masquerade owned by Thomas Coates who had four bullets over three days. “It was a tough sailing week and it was light and shifty,” Coates said. “Our great results may indicate that we led a lot but we fought hard to stay there. The competition here is fabulous and it just happened to be our week.”

In PHRF-5, local sailors prevailed as Coconut Groves’ own David Kurtz who owns the J/27 Goombay beat Miami’s Pat Charles Cacace on his C&C 99 Blackbird by one point.

The J World Racing Team of Annapolis beat local sailor Gordon Ettie of Miami on his Swan 40 Sazerac by five points after tight racing.


Boat of the Day
Thursday’s Industry Partner Day – Boat of the Day: TP52 class Rosebud owned by Roger Sturgeon.
Friday’s City of Miami - Boat of the Day: Etchells class winner Pipe Dream Scott Piper from the Etchells class on Biscayne Bay.
Saturday’s Premiere Racing Day - Boat of the Day: Farr 40 class Atalanti Stratis Andreadis.
Sunday’s Acura Day - Boat of the Day Mumm 30 class/USA 41 Ace Partners

The Acura Trophy - symbolic of Boat of the Week is the class winner from all three divisions who prevailed in the class with the closest, most competitive racing for the series. The award went to the Ricardo Simonsesch and his boat Nautica .

The 2005 Florida Grand Prix Awards were presented to the combined winner of Key West and Acura Miami Race Week using the lowest cumulative points in the following classes:
TP52 Class on a tie breaker- Michael Brennan on Sjambock .
Farr 40: Peter de Ridder of Monaco on Mean Machine .
Mumm 30: Jonathan McDonough of Minneapolis, MN on Champosa .
J/105: Thomas Coates of Newport, R.I. on Masquerade .

Results:

Pos	Boat	Skiper	Home Port	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Tot
	Transpac 52
1	Bambakou	John Coumantaros	Newport, RI	1	2	-3	1	3	1	1	2	1	1	13
2	Rosebud	Roger Sturgeon	San Francisco, CA	2	3	1	2	4	-5	2	1	2	2	19
3	Sjambok	Michael Brennan	Annapolis, MD	3	1	2	3	1	2	4	3	-5	3	22
4	Lightwave	David Ford	Bristol, RI	- 6 dnf	4	4	4	2	3	3	4	4	4	32
5	Trader	Fred Detwiler	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	4	- 5	5	5	5	4	5	5	3	5	41
	Farr 40
1	Mean Machine	Peter de Ridder	Monaco	3	2	2	3	4	1	7	4	1	1	28
2	Atalanti	Stratis Andreadis	Greece	1	3	6	4	2	4	2	1	2	4	29
3	Opus One	Wolfgang Stolz	Koenigstein, Germany	6	4	1	1	1	5	3	2	4	7	34
4	Struntje Light	Wolfgang Schaefer	Kiel, GER	2	1	8	7	3	2	6	3	3	8	43
5	Nitemare	Tom Neill	Chicago, IL	5	8	3	2	5	3	4	5	8	3	46
6	Flash Gordon 4	Helmut Jahn	Chicago, IL	4	5	7	6	6	6	1	6	7	5	53
7	Predator	Peter Davidson	Rochester, NY	7	7	5	8	7	8	5	8	5	2	62
8	Canvasback	Doug Croker	Newport, RI	8	6	4	5	8	7	8	7	6	6	65
	Mumm 30
1	Champosa	Jonathan McDonagh	Minneapolis, MN	1	2	2	5	3	3	2				18
2	Cygnet	Rick Swann	Fairfield, CT	3	1	3	1	1	8	4				21
3	Q	Jim Swartz	Park City	2	3	4	4	9	2	3				27
4	Illusion	John Podmajersky	Chicago, IL	5	6	1	3	4	6	5				30
5	USA 41	ACE Partners	Key West, FL	6	9	7	2	5	4	1				34
6	TeamBOLD	Nelson Stephenson	Southport, CT	8	5	6	7	2	1	7				36
7	Kaizen	M. Solomon/S.Baker	Noank, CT	4	7	5	8	6	5	6				41
8	Esprit de Corps	Byron Marchant	Occuacon, VA	7	4	8	6	8	7	8				48
9	USA 308	USCG Academy	New London, CT	9	8	9	9	10	10	9				64
10	USA 48	USCG Academy	New London, CT	10	10	10	10	7	9	10				66
	J/105
1	Masquerade	Thomas Coates	Newport, RI	1	1	7	1	1	-9					11
2	Zuni Bear	Rich Bergmann	San Diego, CA	5	6	-8	6	2	4					23
3	Eagles Wings	John Gottwald	Chicago, IL	3	4	-14	3	13	1					24
4	Tiburon	Steve Stroub	Tiburon, CA	6	7	3	-15	4	5					25
5	Gumption 3	K & N Graainger	Rye, NY	4	-17	2	5	8	8					27
6	Flame	James Doane Jr.	Naples, FL	2	3	4	-16	5	15					29
7	Eclipse	Damian Emery	Mt. Sinai, NY	-15	10	10	2	7	3					32
8	Addiction	Mark Cloutier	Hamilton, BER	8	8	9	-17	3	7					35
9	Rum at Six	HarrisBaggettBrown	Beaufort, NC	7	12	6	10	-17	2					37
10	Convexity	Donald Wilson	Chicago, IL	-16	2	15	7	6	12					42
11	Hot Water	John McLeod	Toronto, ONT	13	-14	11	4	11	11					50
12	Jato	Andrew Gillis	Newport, RI	10	5	13	-14	9	13					50
13	Bambino	Robert Mondo	Chicago, IL	-18	11	12	8	16	6					53
14	Bold Forbes	Ed Cummins	Newport Beach, CA	12	16	1	11	14	-17					54
15	Achiever V	James Flanagan	Marblehead, MA	11	15	-16	9	10	10					55
16	Planet B	Robert Baker	Toronto, ONT	9	-18	5	13	15	14					56
17	Shock & Awe	Robert Brann	Houston, TX	17	9	-18	18	12	16					72
18	Revelation	John Demere	Savannah, GA	14	13	17	12	18	- 19 dnc					74
	Etchells (top 20)
1	CAN 1298	Hank Lammens	Norwalk, CT	5	-13	2	2	2	3	1	1			16
2	Victory	Buddy Cribb	Miami, FL	2	-16	5	7	6	13	9	2			44
3	Pipe Dream XII	Scott Piper	Miami, FL	13	1	3	1	13	1	14	-16			46
4	Chemical Imbal.	RHitchcock/Ghefler	Marblehead, MA	4	-19	12	18	1	5	4	4			48
5	Swedish Blue		UK	22	7	19	4	3	-25	8	3			66
6	LandedEmmigrant	Hans Fogh	Toronto, ONT	9	-17	13	13	4	15	3	11			68
7	USA 1299	Randall White/Jerr	Oriental, NC	7	9	11	12	18	-24	11	5			73
8	B/Witchcraft	Patricia Stadel	Marblehead, MA	10	20	17	15	-23	6	5	8			81
9	Wizard	Keith Longson	Rye, NY	- 32 ocs	12	7	9	24	10	10	9			81
10	Cruel Jane	Dirk Kneulman	Burlington, ONT	1	22	4	22	14	4	- 26	15			82
11	Mr. Wilson	J Padnos/T Brand	Holland, MI	8	11	10	19	7	12	16	- 20			83
12	No Time IV	David Pyles	Easton, MD	- 32 dnc	14	1	8	22	16	2	22			85
13	Encore	Ralph Hertz	Newport, RI	3	5	15	10	20	14	- 21	18			85
14	Stingwray	Robert Wray	Annapolis, MD	18	- 25	16	3	12	7	12	17			85
15	USA 1185	Robert Allardice	Westbrook, CT	15	10	6	- 30	19	2	15	19			86
16	Ninkasi	Rick Kaiser	Chicago, IL	12	21	20	6	10	- 22	7	14			90
17	John Deere	Dick Hodgson	Slocum, RI	16	23	8	- 28	5	11	6	23			92
18	Etchells 1012	Charles Baker	Riverside, CT	- 24	6	14	21	17	9	22	7			96
19	Pipe Line	Tom Piper	Miami, FL	11	18	- 22	16	11	19	17	10			102
20	USA 1065	Dave Devanney	Miami, FL	17	4	23	11	16	- 27	13	26			110
	Melges 24 (top 20)
1	Nautica	Riccardo Simonesch	Italy	-7	1	4	3	7	4	1	2			22
2	M-Fatic	Neil Sullivan	Annapolis, MD	1	-22	9	5	1	1	3	4			24
3	Star	Jeff Ecklund	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	5	3	3	2	3	-9	4	5			25
4	Xcellent	John Pollard	Torquay, UK	3	5	6	-13	2	2	13	1			32
5	Foo	Marc Hollerbach	Grosse Pt Park, MI	4	12	8	10	-14	3	7	8			52
6	Gazoo	Geoffrey Pierini	Edison, NJ	12	-24	7	4	6	6	10	12			57
7	Flyer 02	Chuck Holzman	Grosse Pt Farms, MI	-13	11	11	6	12	5	6	7			58
8	Silver	Joe Woods	Torquay, UK	-18	8	16	9	9	14	2	3			61
9	Cagey	Karen Gottwald	Chicago, IL	6	-21	14	11	5	8	5	14			63
10	Kleine Rainbow	Bent Dietrich	Hamburg, GER	22	6	- 28 dsq	1	4	15	8	10			66
11	Riot	Marc Ewing	Glencoe, IL	16	16	2	7	8	13	9	- 18			71
12	Pied Piper	Jack Jennings	Lake Geneva, WI	8	2	12	14	13	7	- 16	15			71
13	Team Barbarians	Stuart Simpson	Torquay, UK	2	20	1	17	- 25	10	14	16			80
14	Grinder	Jeff Littfin	San Francisco, CA	11	14	15	- 23	17	11	11	11			90
15	No Tourism	John Raymont	Columbia, SC	- 21	18	13	16	15	12	12	6			92
16	Inside Voice	Eric Nerlinger	Chicago, IL	17	9	19	12	10	16	17	- 21			100
17	Bretwalda	OlazarraPethickWar	Miami, FL	10	17	5	- 25	21	21	18	9			101
18	Team Gill	Simon Strauss	UK	14	15	10	20	11	- 22	19	13			102
19	Moving Target	Duncan Mac Kenzie	Rockledge, FL	9	7	21	15	16	- 23	21	19			108
20	Gone Mad	John Hyatt	Ft. Myers, FL	15	13	18	8	- 20	17	20	17			108
	J/24
1	Lacalaca	Iker Belausteguigo	Mexico	2	1	1	1	2	-3	1	3			11
2	Gotta Go	Peter Benziger	Miami, FL	-3	2	3	2	1	2	2	2			14
3	Pick Up Styx	Jonathan Luscomb	Palm Beach, FL	1	3	2	-7	4	1	4	1			16
4	African Prince	Rick Jarchow	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	4	-5	5	4	5	5	3	5			31
5	Rushing Around	DYakovenko/Vbutko	Coconut Grove, FL	-8	7	7	6	3	4	6	4			37
6	Andale Andale	Isabel Galvan	Miami, FL	5	6	-8	5	8	7	5	6			42
7	Blah Blah Blah	Mark Milnes	Key West, FL	6	4	4	-8	7	8	7	7			43
8	Hot Water	Randy Lenz	Miami, FL	7	8	6	3	6	6	8	- 10 dnf			44
9	Magna Sin	Pablo Cervantes	Mexico	- 10 dnc	10 dnc	10 dnc	10 dnc	10 dnc	10 dnc	10 dnc	10 dnc			70

Pos	Boat Name	Entrant	Home Port	HDCP	Type	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Tot
	PHRF1
1	Numbers	Daniel Meyers	Newport, RI	-81	CM 60	2	1	1	1	3	2	1	-4	1	1	13
2	Cabaret	Bob Limoggio	Newport, RI	6	Tripp 47	4	3	2	2	1	1	-5	1	3	2	19
3	Yellow Jacket	BulmanScholzWinstn	Annapolis, MD	-48	Farr 53	3	2	4	3	-5	5	3	2	2	3	27
4	Goombay Smash	William Douglass	Newport, RI	-12	Swan 45	1	4	3	-5	4	3	2	3	4	4	28
5	Devocean	Stephen DeVoe	Jamestown, RI	-12	Swan 45	-5	5	5	4	2	4	4	5	5	5	39
	PHRF 2
1	Dawn Raid	Oscar Strugstad	Zenda, WI	30	Melges 32	-3	3	3	1	1	2	1	1	2	1	15
2	Grins	Rick Orchard	Flowery Branch, GA	9	Farr 36	-5	2	1	2	2	3	2	2	1	2	17
3	Midsummer	Stig Osterberg	Port Townsend, WA	36	1D35	1	1	4	-5	3	1	3	5	3	3	24
4	Evolution	Lance Smotherman	Detroit, MI	36	1D35	4	4	2	3	4	4	4	4	4	- 7 dnc	33
5	Hell Hound	Brendan Brownyard	Oyster Bay, NY	36	1D35	2	- 5	5	4	5	5	5	3	5	4	38
6	A Lil' Tipsy	Silver/McAllister	Outer Banks, NC	75	JS 9000	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	- 7 dnc	54
	PHRF 3
1	The Wall	Gordon Schiff	Tampa Bay, FL	45	Mumm 36	3	2	3	1	2	-5	1	1	2	1	16
2	Carinthia	Frank Kern	Detroit, MI	48	J/120	4	-6	5	3	1	1	3	4	4	2	27
3	Dame Blanche	OMvonBlumencron	Annapolis, MD	48	Bene 40.7	2	3	4	2	5	2	4	2	-6	4	28
4	Thin Ice	Stuart Hebb	Coral Reef YC, FL	48	Aerodyne 38	5	4	1	4	-6	6	5	3	3	3	34
5	Gold Digger	James Bishop	Jamestown, RI	30	J/44	6	1	2	7	3	3	2	6	-8	7	37
6	Avra	George Petrides	New York, NY	48	J/120	1	5	7	5	4	4	- 8 p20	7	1	8	42
7	Peregrine	Lawrence/Coughlin	Centre Island, NY	48	J/120	7	7	6	-8	7	7	7	5	5	6	57
8	Overlap	Andrew Roberts	Moorestown, NJ	48	Bene 40.7	-8	8	8	6	8	8	8	8	7	5	66
	PHRF 4
1	Pamlico	J World RacingTeam	Annapolis, MD	69	Andrews 38	1	2	1	2	-3	1	1	3	1	3	15
2	Sazerac	Gordon Ettie	Miami, FL	96	Swan 40	2	1	4	1	1	3	4	1	-6	1	18
3	Triptease	J Rubin/R Shellow	Key Biscayne, FL	81	Tripp 33	4	3	3	3	2	4	-5	2	2	4	27
4	Moxie	George Collins	Annapolis, MD	93	J/100	-5	4	2	5	4	2	3	4	3	2	29
5	Bandit	Kenneth Benton	Miami YC, FL	93	Hobie 33	3	-5	5	4	5	5	2	5	5	5	39
6	Jubilee	Cal Huge	Charleston, SC	78	Bene 36.7	7	7	-8	6	6	8	6	7	4	7	58
7	Santarella	James Scalise	Groton, CT	87	Baltic 40	6	6	6	7	7	7	-8	6	8	6	59
8	Cathexis	R. M. Zaninelli	New York, NY	78	X-382	-8	8	7	8	8	6	7	8	7	8	67
9	Quailo	Duncan Ragsdale	Key West, FL	81	Swan 441	- 11 dnc	11 dnc	11 raf	9	11 dnf	9	9	9	9	11 dnc	89
10	Windy Gill	Ken Johnson	Stoughton, WI	90	C&C 110SD	- 11 dnf	11 dnc	11 dnc	11 dnc	11 dnc	11 dnc	11 dnc	11 dnc	11 dnc	11 dnc	99
	PHRF 5
1	Goombay	David Kurtz	Coconut Grove, FL	129	J/27	1	1	-5	2	1	2	5	2			14
2	Blackbird	Pat Charles Cacace	Miami, FL	108	C&C 99	3	2	2	-4	2	1	1	4			15
3	Tiburon	Art Perez	Miami, FL	114	Lindenbrg 28	2	-5	4	1	3	3	2	3			18
4	Mistral	Craig Setzer	Miami, FL	114	Bene 35s5	4	3	3	5	-6	5	3	1			24
5	Hot Air III	David Berg	Miami, FL	135	J/30	-5	4	1	3	5	4	4	5			26
6	Sweet Baby J	Robin Team	Beaufort, NC	120	J/80	6	6	6	6	4	6	- 7 dnc	7 dnc			41

This is the fifth consecutive year that Acura, the luxury division of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. has been the title sponsor for the Miami Beach based regatta. The Miami Beach Marina is the official site of the event, hosting the two ocean courses, while the new Shake-A-Leg sailing facility in Coconut Grove will be the host site for racing on the bay.

The Avalon and South Seas Hotels are the Official Hotels. Supporting sponsor Mount Gay Rum is the Official Rum. 29 Industry Partners also bring critical support to Premiere Racing events. For more information on these important players, please visit the web site.

About Acura
Acura offers a full line of luxury performance vehicles through a nationwide network of more than 260 dealers. The Acura lineup features six distinctive models including the exotic NSX super car, the RL luxury sedan, the TL performance luxury sedan, the TSX sports sedan, the race-bred RSX sports coupe and the award-winning MDX luxury sport utility vehicle. For more information about Acura vehicles, please visit www.acura.com. For media inquiries, please go to www.acuranews.com.