Bora Gulari takes an early lead at the Bacardi Invitational Regatta
8 March, 2024 - Miami, FL, US - On Thursday, March 7th, racing got underway for the five one-design fleets competing in the Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta, with two hundred and seven teams and well over six hundred sailors in five classes delivering a stunning spectacle on Biscayne Bay.
Weather conditions continued to demand focus and patience, with the fleets postponed ashore as the clouds and rain hampered the wind. When racing got underway across the three courses, teams contended with squalls, rain and sunshine, and the breeze bouncing from 5-15 knots.
Three races each for the Melges 24, J/70, Snipe, Viper 640 and VX One delivered some impressive results and a preview of form.
The two Bacardi Winter Series lead in events featured super close battles in the Melges 24, with Bora Gulari’s team Kingspoke most recently coming out on top at BWS2 in January. It was more of the same today, with Gulari racing a solid 1, 5, 3 to lead. Only just though, with Richard Reid’s Zingara team and Bruce Ayres’ Monsoon on a 10-point tiebreak behind.
And that's not all the excitement! Norwegian talent and usual contender at the Bacardi events, Team RRH with Herman Horn-Johannessen at the helm, shines as the best Corinthian, clinching victory in the second race and sitting strong in 7th place overall. Meanwhile, Geoff Fargo's team Sentinel secures the third race win and holds steady in 6th place overall.
We had a good start and we got to go straight for a long time and when we get to go straight, we are pretty quick and it worked out in our direction,” explained Gulari about the race 1 win. “The shift was a leftie and we got to go to the left corner, so it all kind of happened. We got to hold onto the victory so that was nice.”
Gulari is targeting a win at BIR to wrap up the three-event series, but acknowledges the stiff competition, saying, “Everyone’s good. It doesn’t matter until the last day, we are just trying to hold serve and have a chance.”
Provisional results after Race 3 (18 Boats)
- Kingspoke, USA820, Bora Gulari / Norman Berge / Nick Ford / RJ Porter / Charlie Smythe - 1 - 5 - 3 ; 9
- Zingara, CAN853, Richard Reid / Madeline Gill / Ian Sloan / Bill Gooderham / Alec Anderson - 2 - 3 - 5 ; 10
- Monsoon, USA851, Bruce Ayres / Thomas Dietrich / Edward Hackney / Pearl Lattanzi / Jeremy Wilmot - 4 - 4 - 2 ; 10
- Nefeli, GER859, Peter-David Karrié / Alessandro Franci / Niccolò Bianchi / Saverio Cigliano / Alessandro Saettone - 10 - 2 - 4 ; 16
- bombarda, ITA830, Andrea Pozzi / Filippo Amonti / Matteo ivaldI / Stefano ciampalini / Carlo zermini - 5 - 6 - 7 ; 18
- Sentinel, USA856, Geoff Fargo / William McBride / Jackson Benvenutti / Grant Janov / Jeff Grange - 11 - 7 - 1 ; 19
- Team RRH, NOR749, Jan Frederik Dyvi / Jan Borø / Herman Horn-Johannessen / Stian Ness Rørvik / Malin Rørvik-Sundelin - 8 - 1 - 12 ; 21
- Flying Jenny, USA869, Sandra Askew / Rob Greenhalgh / Key Becker / Drew Barnes / Alex Goulf - 7 - 9 - 6 ; 22
- Gamecock, USA811, Peter McClennen / Steve Liebel / Mike Marshall / Joaquin Bur / Wilson Stout - 3 - 12 - 13 ; 28
- Takeoff, USA801, Andrew Picel / Dylan Manney / Leland Hubble / Scott Nixon - 6 - 17 - 9 ; 32
- Dark Horse, USA863, Cuyler Morris / Keiran Searle / John Bowden / Charlie Hibben / Mikaela Wulff - 13 - 8 - 11 ; 32
- Surprise, CAN629, Dan Berezin / Alex Kapustin / Misha Mayevsky / Tamara Moskaliuk / Federico Donzino - 19/DNS - 10 - 8 ; 37
- Smile and Wave, USA545, Jaime Torres / Rob Britts / Neil Battrum / Gretchen Ortiz / Meg Hislop - 14 - 13 - 10 ; 37
- The 300, USA839, Steven Boho / Tom Babel / Ted Keller / Andrew Girrell - 9 - 16 - 15 ; 40
- TRIPLE D’s, 735, Dwight LeBlanc / Hugh Holkins / Brian Wynne / Rob Adams / Macin Brian - 12 - 15 - 14 ; 41
- Huzzah, CAN491, Greg Chamberlain / Matt Merrcier / Lisa Merrcier / Matt Lane / Myles Arton-smith - 16 - 11 - 17 ; 44
- Crazy Train, USA155, Patrick Croke / Brigette Croke / Ted Helme / Megan Roach / Nicolas Barta - 17 - 14 - 16 ; 47
- Rebel, USA444, John Spierling / Jason Van Hoorn / Scott Sorbie / Brad Cross / Paige Van Hoorn - 15 - 18 - 18 ; 51