Difficult day one

Acura SORC underway in Miami

Bright sunshine and challenging conditions greeted the top sailors from around the world during the first day of Acura Miami Race Week with talent like Olympic Gold Medallist Sofia Bekatorou of Greece and 2003 America's Cup sailor Brad Butterworth of New Zealand calling tactics between the edge of the Gulf Stream and the shores of Miami Beach in an event where 1,200 sailors and 140 boats are participating.

Fresh conditions, deep swells and a strong northerly breeze that faded to under ten knots made the races both tactical and physical where the deep currents of the Gulf Stream ran fast against a dying northwesterly breeze making the conditions tricky, tough and challenging.

"It was difficult up and down in the dying northwesterly," said Michael Brennan, owner of the Transpac 52 Sjambok and currently locked in a three-way tie for first place after three races.

"But, this is a great venue with the level of competition being the best in the world. Seeing Olympic medallist and America's Cup winners on the same racecourse says to me that this is the only sport in the world where you can sail with the best. I can't play golf against Tiger Woods but with team work and luck and skill we can do well against the best."

The first day of Acura Miami Race Week off Miami Beach has the European teams with a slight edge over American teams where strong performances set the stage for three more days of highly competitive yacht racing featuring the world's top professional sailors from eight countries.

In the international Farr 40 fleet, a talented team from Greece including Olympic Gold Medallist Sofia Bekatorou sailed three strong races but they trail Mean Machine's Peter de Ridder of Holland by three points. The Dutch and Greek boats face rising challenges by Germans Wolfgang Schaefer, owner of Strunje Light and Opus One owned by Wolfgang Stoltz who is tied for third place.

"We have had some great racing today and overall the boat is sailing very well," said Stolz who is sailing with America's Cup helmsman Jesper Banks of Denmark and a multi-lingual team.

In the PHRF 1 fleet, Farr60 Numbers owned by Dan Meyers of Boston, MA leads by four points with Brad Butterworth calling tactics. The Swan 45 Goombay Smash owned by William Douglass of Newport, R.I. had a strong race with New Zealander and America's Cup mainsail trimmer Murray Jones calling tactics.

"Today's racing was difficult because of the dying breeze. The current off the Gulf Stream is less of a factor and it was about finding wind," said Butterworth. "Coming to Miami is great and we feel this regatta has great potential and we are here to support it. We would like to see this race grow and be a great follow-up to Key West."

In PHRF 2, the ID35 boat Midsummer owned by Stig Osterberg of Port Townsend, WA is in first place with a strong finish followed by the ID35 Hell Hound owned by Brendan Brownyard of Oyster Bay, NY.

In the PHRF 3 the Thin Ice team from Coral Reef Yacht Club in Florida aboard the Aerodyne 38 owned by Stuart Hebb are in the lead while PHRF-4 has the J-World Racing Team aboard Pamilico in first-place.