Miami Breeze Crowns Duncan and Ratliff in a Light Air Conclusion to Bacardi Winter Series Event No. 2
All change in the weather on the final day at Bacardi Winter Series, January 28-30 2022, with sun and a chilly north north-westerly 7-12 knot breeze.
Teams were out on the race track really early to tune up in what was a stable and more even breeze across the course compared to Saturday. But, the breeze dropped away forcing the Melges 24s to head ashore after just one race, with the series discard intensifying the leader board shuffle for glory.
Race 6 featured a light 8 knot breeze, favouring the left side and with the pressure increasing to the windward mark, but it was those who chose middle left that came out on top.
By the second windward mark Laura Grondin’s control on the race was insurmountable. Her Dark Energy team extended to leave the pack in their shadow, with Peter Duncan’s Rasta Mixta and Sandra Askew’s Flying Jenny toughing it out for 2nd and 3rd. John Bailey’s ‘Talisman’ found a window to slip through and finished in 3rd, 2nd for Duncan and 4th for Askew.
With the discard now in play and counting a top scorecard of all top 4 finishes, Duncan advanced to series leader from 4th going into the day.
A clean start for race 7 and by the second upwind the fleet was significantly spread out across the course, but it all ended with abandonment as the wind dropped to 3 knots. Disappointment for Talisman who at the point of abandonment held a significant lead on the fleet, but satisfaction with placing third overall.
Talisman helm John Bailey (USA) said, “We had an amazing time and it was a fantastic regatta. We saw very light winds, very shifty today and sunshine. The shifty conditions really kept the crew and all the boats on their feet and you had to constantly be playing the shifts or the velocity. The velocity was up and down, the shifts left and right and really rewarded tactically active sailing of the boat. Our crew did fantastic on the sail handling, adjusting, shifting gears. Mike Buckley did an amazing job in terms of tactics, making sure we were in phase and sailing fast and it was a lot of fun. We can’t wait to come back here for the March event.”
Melges 24 – Final Top 5 results after 6 races
1. Peter Duncan / Victor Diaz de Leon / Matt Pistay / Erik Shampain / Morgan Trubovich (USA 829) - 13 pts
2. Michael Goldfarb / Jonny Goldsberry / Morten Henriksen / Matteo Ramian / Emory Williams (USA 825) - 17 pts
3. John Bailey / Mike Buckley / John Bowden / Beth Whitener / Bear (USA 720) - 20 pts
4. Harry Melges IV / Finn Rowe / Ripley Shelley / Jeremy Wilmot / Kate O'Donnell (USA 866) - 27 pts
5. Bora Gulari / Kyle Navin / Norman Berge / Ian Liberty / Dave Hughes (USA 820) - 28 pts
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