Star Bacardi Cup at Coral Reef Yacht Club, Miami

Star Bacardi Cup at Coral Reef Yacht Club, Miami - Overall

by Janet Maizner 13 Mar 2009 21:01 GMT 8-13 March 2009

Racing on the final day of the 2009 Bacardi Cup © Alex Gort / Bacardi Cup

Peter Bromby and Magnus Liljedahl win the 2009 Bacardi Cup © Alex Gort / Bacardi Cup

Bermuda’s Peter Bromby and Crew Magnus Liljedahl win 2009 Bacardi Cup

Bermuda’s Peter Bromby and veteran Star Class crew Magnus Liljedahl of Miami won the 2009 Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta Friday on Biscayne Bay in Miami.

Bromby and Liljedahl sailed to victory on the final race in the six race regatta to finish with a commanding six-point lead over Floridian Mark Mendelblatt, the 2005 Bacardi Cup champion, and crew Bruno Prada (BRA) who finished second overall.

Bromby took an early lead on the left side of the fleet following a very strong start and held the lead at each of the first three marks. He rounded the fourth mark in second place behind seven-time Bacardi Cup Champion Mark Reynolds of San Diego, sailing this week with crew Hal Haenel, but regained the lead on the final leg to capture both the Day Six victory and his third Bacardi Cup championship.

“Every time we needed some extra horsepower, we seemed to find it today,” said Bromby. “We were keeping an eye on Mendelblatt. If he would have taken control of us, things would have been very different. Our strategy was to cover him throughout the race.”

Added Liljedahl, “We attacked [Mendelblatt] at the start, tripped him a few more times, and sucker-punched him a couple times at the end. We just needed to stay ahead of him today.”

Rounding out the overall top five were New Yorker Rick Merriman and crew Phil Trinter; Switzerland’s Olympic Star sailor Flavio Marazzi and crew Petter Pedersen (NOR); and veteran Star sailor Paul Cayard, who has finished second in the Bacardi Cup four times, with crew Austin Sperry, the 2008 Olympian representing the United States in the Star Class.

“Our start was a disaster,” said 2003 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Augie Diaz. ¨Half way up the first weather leg, we had an opportunity to come across, but we got greedy. Had we gone toward the fleet, we might have been in the top 20. For us, it was combination of sailing badly and a bad start. Bromby, however, was on fire this week; he is very deserving of this victory.”

“I came in not knowing what to expect,” added Clay Bischoff, a Star Class up-and-comer and winner of the 2009 ISAF Team Racing World Championship with Team USA in Australia. “I came to learn as much as I could, regardless of the scores and standings. Growing up in Miami, seeing this bay, and being around a group of great guys willing to pass down their knowledge created just a perfect atmosphere for me as a young sailor. I can’t wait to come back to the Bacardi Cup.”

More than 60 teams representing 15 countries competed in the 82nd Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta, one of the most competitive Star Class events in the world. The legendary Bacardi Cup, ranked as one of the best international sailing regattas in the world, is sponsored in full by Bacardi U.S.A., Inc. and co-hosted by the Coral Reef Yacht Club and the U.S. Sailing Center in Miami, FL. What started out as a three-day event with less than 10 boats in Havana, Cuba in 1927, remains one of the few sporting events in which weekend enthusiasts have the opportunity to compete head on with Olympians and Star World Champions.

Overall Results:

Pos	Bow / Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	54/ 8272	Bromby, Peter	Liljedahl, Magnus	BER	7.3/RDG	2	2	1	[24]	1	13.3
2	59/ 8267	Mendelblatt, Mark	Prada, Bruno	USA	3	[23]	1	10	3	2	19
3	62/ 8362	Merriman, Rick	Trinter, Phil	USA	6	[44]	7	6	12	8	39
4	64/ 8364	Marazzi, Flavio	Pedersen, Petter	SUI	[65/OCS]	12	13	3	5	7	40
5	60/ 8259	Cayard, Paul	Sperry, Austin	USA	11	10	8	5	11	[24]	45
6	76/ 8376	VanderMolen, Jon	Ewenson, Geoff	USA	2	16	6	2	20	[30]	46
7	32/ 8265	Wright, Peter	Quist, Nathan	USA	13	3	[19]	13	13	10	52
8	50/ 8250	MacDonald, Andy	Fatih, Brian	USA	[65/DNF]	13	3	11	8	18	53
9	46/ 8361	Pickel, Marc	Mitchell, Steve	GER	5	26	[45]	8	2	14	55
10	37/ 8261	O'Leary, Peter	Goodbody, Tim	IRL	4	29	17	4	4	[65/OCS]	58
11	57/ 8157	Anosov, Arthur	Dolan, Mark	USA	17	17	5	21	10	[29]	70
12	95/ 8195	MacCausland, John	Murphy, Kevin	USA	10	28	4	[31]	17	12	71
13	20/ 8320	Reynolds, Mark	Haenel, Hal	USA	12	15	12	30	[34]	3	72
14	25/ 8025	Gimson, John	Greig, Ed	GBR	16	22	[24]	14	14	11	77
15	38/ 8338	Johansson, Mats	Moller, Leif	SWE	8	[53]	14	22	31	4	79
16	77/ 8177	Modena, Luca	Lambertenghi, Sergio	ITA	23.5/RDG	[43]	37	7	7	5	79.5
17	73/ 8273	Szabo, George	Peters, Rick	USA	1	20	25	9	26	[65/OCS]	81
18	90/ 8285	Diaz, Augie	Strube, Mark	USA	15	5	10	26	[27]	26	82
19	52/ 8241	Campbell, Andrew	Nichol, Mike	USA	[65/RAF]	18	28	12	1	27	86
20	92/ 8292	Mathias, Dahlman	Heinonen, Erkki	FIN	7	[36]	20	15	25	20	87
21	68/ 8268	Hagebols, Rodney	Finlay, William	USA	25.3/RDG	7	33	[40]	21	9	95.3
22	40/ 8341	Boggi, Lucio	LaPorta, Manuele	ITA	20	1	9	[65/BFD]	37	31	98
23	67/ 8333	Bischoff, Clay	Bjorn, Tyler	USA	[65/OCS]	4	65/OCS	19	6	6	100
24	66/ 8263	Jorissen, Sander	Veldhuizen, Erik	NED	14	[65/BFD]	11	44	22	13	104
25	29/ 8143	Cramer, Brian	Johnston, Matt	CAN	21	27	21	17	[43]	23	109
26	47/ 8318	Coughlin, Daniel	Balmert, Brad	USA	[34]	6	18	33	23	32	112
27	34/ 8215	Allen, Bill	Hatfield, Bruce	USA	31	21	31	18	[42]	15	116
28	78/ 8077	Jennings, Jack	Rehe, Mike	USA	30	8	23	16	51	[65/OCS]	128
29	53/ 8253	Brethorst, Rick	Anderson, Scott	USA	23	11	[41]	34	41	19	128
30	74/ 8072	Smith, Doug	Moore, Mike	USA	28	[42]	29	23	16	39	135
31	80/ 8247	Gureyev, Vasyl	Korotkov, Volodmyr	UKR	25	31	[36]	32	32	17	137
32	89/ 8024	Fogh, Hans	Cheer, Roger	CAN	35	[65/DNF]	15	38	30	25	143
33	79/ 8279	Bonanni, Claude	Burgess, Rick	USA	33	33	30	27	[35]	21	144
34	70/ 8170	Londrigan, Tom	Hall, Stewart	USA	24	[65/BFD]	34	65/DSQ	15	16	154
35	56/ 8382	Irrera, Renato	Cristaldini, Corrado	ITA	27	9	22	[50]	48	49	155
36	36/ 7601	Hicks, Michael	Hicks, Patrick	GER	22	25	[49]	25	45	47	164
37	26/ 7626	Passmore, Mark	Bunner, Ivan	CAN	[65/OCS]	24	65/OCS	29	18	35	171
38	49/ 7750	Burmester, Jens	Kleine, Friedrich	GER	36	30	16	42	[65/DNF]	50	174
39	22/ 8311	Hampe, Alex	Conrads, Chris	GER	26	38	[58]	41	40	36	181
40	69/ 8369	Tomasini Grinover, Roberto	Bahr, Gunnar	AUT	43	19	27	46	47	[65/DNC]	182
41	65/ 7865	Lehnert, Stefan	Struve, Dirk	GER	44	50	26	[65/DSQ]	33	33	186
42	28/ 45	Valasek, Marek	Galarce, Mauricio	SVK	[56]	37	38	20	44	48	187
43	45/ 8245	Zambella, Joe	Scott, Larry	USA	40/RDG	[55]	39	28	38	42	187
44	23/ 8344	Barovier, Alberto	Nobili, Gilberto	ITA	42/RDG	35	[65/DNF]	49	19	44	189
45	86/ 8286	Dannesboe, Henrick	Morey, Edward	SUI	29	58	47	24	39	[65/DNC]	197
46	96/ 7307	Suter, Larry	Jenkins, John	USA	37	41	51	[59]	46	28	203
47	98/ 8095	Weissenberger, Gunti	Hardin, Chris	USA	38	45	[55]	47	36	37	203
48	48/ 8112	Bainton, John	Rogers, Chris	USA	51	47	48	39	[52]	22	207
49	83/ 8183	Tamburini, Antonio	Ricci, Renzo	ITA	46	39	40	53	29	[65/DNF]	207
50	30/ 7930	Hofkirchner, Terry	Imai, Jeffrey	CAN	48	14	44	54	[62]	53	213
51	43/ 8132	Kolhaus, Jock	Gesing, Witold	USA	42.8/RDG	46	32	[65/BFD]	28	65/OCS	213.8
52	27/ 8329	Wyss, Daniel	Joss, Urs	SUI	41	54	35	45	[65/OCS]	41	216
53	85/ 7986	Biegal-Vosbury, Barbara	Zuschnit, Michael	USA	49	[52]	42	35	49	43	218
54	94/ 8323	Doyle, Erick	Calder, Steve	USA	[65/DNC]	40	65/OCS	43	9	65/OCS	222
55	63/ 8063	Collins, Bert	Avellon, Guy	USA	42	48	46	52	[56]	34	222
56	24/ 7713	Fransen, Ben	Coleman, Ian	USA	[65/OCS]	34	50	51	50	38	223
57	35/ 7501	Karahanas, Amanda	Karahanas, Tony	CAN	54	49	43	37	[55]	40	223
58	93/ 7902	Gunther, Stephen	Armstrong, Lance	USA	52	32	52	48	[60]	52	236
59	44/ 8348	Bierman, Guus	Skinner, Duncan	NED	45	51	[65/OCS]	36	54	65/DNC	251
60	55/ 8217	Phinney, Mike	Poole, Greg	USA	39	[59]	57	58	57	51	262
61	82/ 8083	Chiarella, John	Carlson, Bob	USA	47	57	56	57	[59]	46	263
62	39/ 7970	Hopkins, Sam	Serenis, Aaron	USA	53	56	54	55	[58]	54	272
63	97/ 7497	Wilson, Kris	Quinn, Sean	USA	55	60	53	56	[61]	55	279
64	84/ 8128	Culberson, Bill	Jakuboski, A.J.	USA	[65/DNC]	65/DNC	65/DNC	65/DNC	53	45	293