Day of big shifts

Andy Beadsworth reports from the Bacardi Cup in Miami

The forecast was for the wind to veer to the east over the day. In the event it was northeasterly 5-12 knots and very shifty.

On Sunday we raced in similar conditions and the left was big. It was difficult to put that out of the forefront of your mind.

The start was postponed because a 20 degree left shift skewed the start line too much.

Eventually we got off, we started towards the pin feeling there was more wind left. 20 seconds before the start there was another 20 degree shift left and we couldn't actually make the line. We tacked and dipped through. We could see the starboard end of the line was in a big right and looking good. However they eventually collapsed and tacked underneath. We again had very good speed.

Eventually the middle of the course and middle shifts seemed to be paying and for a while we looked like we might lead at the top mark. It was not to be. We rounded fifth with the group from the left just getting in ahead of us.

Down the run lanes of pressure and shifts played havoc with our nerves, making big gains and losses in a matter of seconds. At the bottom mark we lost a few places but more importantly we lost position and rounded the right hand mark behind three other boats. We had to tack which put us into the traffic with no or little chance of getting back onto starboard to go left.

There were big gains left and we lost touch with the leaders and dropped a couple of places.

At the top mark we were fouled by a boat tacking in at the mark. We protested. He did not take any penalty turns so we ended up in the protest room after racing. Unfortunately for him, as he was disqualified by the jury after a short hearing.

On the final run we did better and rounded the right mark ahead of a pack, letting us make a move to the favoured left side of the track. It was one of those days, the right shift that had been forecast eventually came in, 50 degrees! The boat that rounded just ahead of us lost 25 boats. We recognised the situation a little earlier and limited the damage to eight or nine to finish 16th. Apparently one boat went from the mid 20s to the top 5.

So it was a good result but we can't help feeling a bit disappointed. We were top 5 and finished 16th. An opportunity missed. It could have been worse - Rohart posted a 60th. A bad day indeed.

Overall we have moved into the top 10. We get a discard after tomorrow's race and hopefully will drop 42 points, but there are a couple behind us dropping OCS/BFD that will leap frog us.

It was the mid-week prize giving tonight and we were presented with a Bacardi Plate by Tito Bacardi for winning race 3. We are bringing some hardware home whatever.

Bed now. Long and tiring day!!!!

Andy and Freddie.

Sponsored by
K2 Partnering www.k2partnering.com

Supported by
Peter Harrison
Maximus www.maximus.uk.com
Tactic www.tacktick.com
M&M Timber www.mmtimber.co.uk
Old Bromsgrovians www.bromsgrovian.co.uk

Supplied By
North Sails UK www.northsailsod.co.uk
David Heritage Racing Boats www.davidheritage.co.uk
Marlow Ropes www.marlowropes.com/
Harken UK www.harken.co.uk

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	Sail Number	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot
1	DANE John	Sperry Austin	USA 8230	3	1	17	1	22
2	Domingos Afonso	Santos Bernardo	POR 8145	10	9	10	9	38
3	Kusznierewicz Mateusz	Zycki Dominik	POL 8170	6	25	6	4	41
4	SCHEIDT ROBERT	PRADA BRUNO	BRA 8127	34	4	4	2	44
5	Reynolds Mark	Finnsgard Christian	USA 8239	1	5	12	27	45
6	Mendelblatt Mark	Strube Mark	USA 8157	24	11	8	6	49
7	Murray Iain	Palfrey Andrew	AUS 7836	5	28	9	8	50
8	Merriman Rick	Peters Rick	USA 8222	7	10	15	31	63
9	Vessella Peter	Hiatt Darrell	USA 8059	26	14	14	10	64
10	Beadsworth Andy	Carr David	GBR 8025	43	19	1	16	79
11	Diaz Augie	Hatfield Bruce	USA 8045	13	20	23	24	80
12	VanderMolen Jim	Wolfs Mike	USA 8168	23	23	20	14	80.0001
13	Rohart Xavier	Rambeau Pascal	FRA 8107	17	3	2	59	81
14	Kelly Steven	Holowesko Bill	BAH 8236	32	18	16	17	83
15	LONDRIGAN Joseph	Giles David	USA 8238	48	13	3	22	86
16	Londrigan Tom	CORRIGAN John	USA 8077	14	49	5	35	103
17	MAKILA Jali	Heinonen Erkki	FIN 8094	55	39	11	3	108
18	Serinis Aaron	Schofield Bob	USA 8131	21	6	40	42	109
19	Pickel Marc	BORKOWSKI Ingo	GER 8213	8	2	93.0 [BFD]	7	110
20	Bromby Peter	McNiven Bill	BER 8044	4	7	93.0 [BFD]	12	116
21	Allen Bill	Lichter Brad	USA 8215	59	22	19	18	118
22	Anderson Karl	Liljedahl Magnus	USA 8177	9	16	93.0 [BFD]	5	123
23	Adams Ross	Hall Stewart	USA 7515	41	12	31	50	134
24	McChesney Peter	Amlong Paul	USA 7713	63	8	22	48	141
25	Horton Andy	Nichol Brad	USA 8156	22	93.0 [BFD]	13	13	141
26	Gay Todd	Anderson Scott	USA 8217	45	35	27	34	141
27	Vandermolen Tom	Jackson Dave	USA 8227	39	45	39	19	142
28	Kohlhas Jock	Dolan Mark	USA 8043	20	27	24	73	144
29	CONDE Peter	HUNN Andrew	AUS 8234	11	93.0 [BFD]	7	38	149
30	Stanjek Robert	Kleen Frithjof	GER 7971	18	15	93.0 [BFD]	23	149
31	Lidecis Erik	Marzahl Michael	USA 8176	2	24	35	93.0 [DSQ]	154
32	Hovey Bear	Dayton Lee	USA 7763	33	52	21	49	155
33	MacGowan Fabian	ENGELHARD Federico	ARG 7907	12	26	93.0 [BFD]	26	157
34	Macdonald Andy	Fatih Brian	USA 8162	19	30	18	93.0 [BFD]	160
35	LANDENBERGER Andrew	Eiremann Juergen	GER 7876	16	42	37	71	166
36	Brown Steve	Peck Ralph	USA 8153	62	48	46	11	167
37	Maccausland John	Zwingelberg Shane	USA 8195	29	33	93.0 [BFD]	15	170
38	Bierman Guus	Skinner Duncan	NED 8103	44	46	25	55	170
39	Wyss Daniel	Stegmeier Beat	SUI 7645	25	34	49	68	176
40	Mueller Thomas	Wagner Mario	SUI 8140	35	47	34	60	176
41	Kellerhouse Lee	Henehan Kyle	USA 8023	30	32	42	74	178
42	Rowse Sam	Bowers Rob	USA 8231	46	37	36	65	184
43	Cramer Brian	Bjorn Tyler	CAN 8143	47	21	93.0 [BFD]	25	186
44	Smith Doug	Moore Michael	USA 8072	56	31	26	79	192
45	Weissenberger Gunti	Brown Chris	USA 8095	67	40	30	56	193
46	Bingham Julian	Cruthird Troy	USA 8128	61	64	28	43	196
47	Szabo George	Monroe Eric	USA 7995	27	17	93.0 [DNF]	62	199
48	Vanderhoff John	Buscemi Angelo	USA 8038	51	56	38	54	199
49	Blees Marc	Van Der Heijden	NED 7753	31	43	93.0 [DNF]	33	200
50	Hicks Michael	Hicks Patrick	GBR 7601	69	57	47	32	205
51	Gautschi Christoph	Freuis Kurt	SUI 8009	66	62	50	28	206
52	Vandermolen Jon	Belco Tc	USA 8245	36	36	93.0 [BFD]	41	206
53	Dannesboe Henrik	Kaptourovitch Igor	SUI 8232	40	38	93.0 [BFD]	37	208
54	Meyer Klaus	Struve Dirk	GER 7863	70	44	29	70	213
55	Emmet Rob	Avellon Guy	USA 7370	64	59	51	44	218
56	HORNOS Tomas	HORNOS Luis	USA 7793	54	70	43	52	219
57	Perce Hyde	Nielson Chris	USA 7986	68	29	93.0 [DNF]	30	220
58	Zambella Joe	Beckwith Eric	USA 7228	50	50	45	76	221
59	Londrigan Pat	CORRIGAN John	USA 8015	71	61	61	29	222
60	Brethorst Rick	Gudat Patrick	USA 8111	76	58	32	61	227
61	RIVERO Carlos	LONGARELA Hector	USA 7650	49	71	55	58	233
62	Miller Matthias	Voigt	GER 7991	15	41	93.0 [BFD]	93.0 [DNF]	242
63	Delaney Tim	Monroe Mike	USA 7916	57	51	41	93.0 [DNS]	242
64	Passmore Mark	Scott Larry	CAN 7626	52	93.0 [BFD]	52	45	242
65	Lehnert Stefan	Menning Peter	GER 7450	65	66	48	63	242
66	Buckley Davis	Kubik James	USA 7567	88	69	66	21	244
67	Sperry Brooks	Eid Chris	USA 8065	75	67	53	51	246
68	Fields William	Jensen Darin	USA 8189	58	93.0 [BFD]	33	64	248
69	Chiarella John	Carlson Bob	USA 8083	74	75	63	36	248
70	Bertorotta Francesco	Alessandro Caldarella	ITA 8180	53	63	56	78	250
71	Parks Bill	Anderson Clark	USA 7434	93.0 [DNC]	65	58	39	255
72	Bonanni Claude	Burgess Rick	USA 8122	73	53	60	75	261
73	Anosov Arthur	Caesar David	USA 7640	37	93.0 [DNS]	93.0 [DNS]	40	263
74	Zanetti Alberto	Engelhard Juan Pablo	ARG 8169	60	93.0 [BFD]	93.0 [BFD]	20	266
75	Beek Carroll	Rogers Chris	USA 7715	85	54	57	72	268
76	Tamburini Antonio	Renzo Ricci	ITA 8183	78	55	93.0 [BFD]	47	273
77	Woods Ken	Davis Howard	USA 7629	42	93.0 [BFD]	93.0 [BFD]	53	281
78	Irrera Renato	Marenco Marco	ITA 8081	86	74	44	77	281
79	Wilson Kris	Fransen Benjamin	USA 7497	80	80	67	57	284
80	Pendola Martin	SIMONET ARIEL	ARG 8067	79	79	59	67	284
81	Leigh Murray	Hardin Chris	USA 7454	84	73	62	69	288
82	Preckwinkle George	Pick Mike	USA 8244	82	76	65	66	289
83	Von Schwarz Karl	Vosbury Barbara	USA 7934	72	60	68	93.0 [DNS]	293
84	Tomasini Roberto	Canali Massimo	AUT 8216	81	78	54	81	294
85	O'Connell Maurice	Peel Ed	IRL 8028	28	93.0 [DNS]	93.0 [DNS]	93.0 [DNS]	307
86	Hausen Tiani	Cabral Marcelo	USA 7999	77	93.0 [BFD]	93.0 [BFD]	46	309
87	Rundle Rick	Nobles Bobby	USA 7078	93.0 [DNC]	77	64	82	316
88	Milner Mike	Johnston Matt	CAN 7899	38	93.0 [DNF]	93.0 [DNS]	93.0 [DNS]	317
89	Hopkins Sam	Kaplan Burt	USA 7970	89	81	69	80	319
90	Walker Harry	Weir Alan	USA 8000	87	72	93.0 [DNS]	93.0 [DNS]	345
91	Joyce William	FREEMAN Matthew	USA 7193	93.0 [DNC]	68	93.0 [DNS]	93.0 [DNS]	347
92	Weinstein Robert	Bourke Gerry	USA 8069	83	93.0 [DNS]	93.0 [DNS]	93.0 [DNS]	362