MIAMI, FLA. (March 11, 2017) – The breeze build up shortly before 1:00pm today with 7 knots from NNE and the RC got the boats on the starting line with the black flag up. Unfortunately too many boats were over and PRO was forced to call a general recall that caused an automatic abandon as per SI rule 6.1 that stated no racing after13:00.
Mark Mendelblatt / Magnus Liljedahl (USA 8481) won the 90th Bacardi Cup Regatta! The dynamic duo automatically became the winners ahead of Xavier Rohart / Pierre Alexis PONSOT (FRA8237) and of George Szabo / Eduardo Natucci (USA 8320) who were today’s light air favorite. “The breezed filled in nicely and we were all eager to start.” Said Mark Mendelblatt. “We did not have a great start and we were happy for the recall, but soon after we realized that the cutoff time arrived. I did the Bacardi Cup ten times and Miami is my town, I’m extremely happy to have won this prestigious regatta and would like to thank Bacardi, it’s great!” added Mendelblatt. Magnus Liljedahl was also very happy and commented: “Would have been nicer to win it after today’s race, but I’ll take the win… a win is a win! I’m feeling better than earlier this week, Star sailing is a good workout, but most of all I’m happy to go out there and learn every time.” Concluded Liljedahl. Mark Mendelblatt is a previous 2-time winner (2005 and 2013) and Magnus Liljedahl has won it 6 times as crew.
Second place winners Xavier Rohart (FRA) and Pierre Alexis Ponsot (FRA) are now leading the SSL Ranking followed by George Szabo (skipper) and Sergio Lambertenghi (crew) in second and by Diego Negri (skipper) and Bruno Prada (Crew) in third. Details can be found at www.starsailors.com, the SSL Ranking will be updated as usual on Tuesday.
Third place for George Szabo (USA) and Edoardo Natucci (ITA) (USA 8320), they would have had a great chance to bring the Cup home on a light day like today. For everyone there is still the chance to compete and win the Cup in 2018 that is scheduled for March 4th to the 11th, 2018.
Top 5 Overall:
- USA8481 Mark Mendelblatt and Magnus Liljedahl – 13 pts
- FRA 8237 Xavier Rohart and Pierre Alexis Ponsot – 15 pts
- USA 8320 George Szabo and Eduardo Natucci – 18 pts
- BRA 8474 Lars Grael and Samuel Goncalves – 20 pts
- USA 8509 Augie Diaz / Bruno Prada – 23 pts
Full results are available at www.starsailors.com while more information on the BACARDI Miami Sailing Week and the 89th BACARDI Cup is available at www.MiamiSailingWeek.comand www.BacardiCup.com.
SSL Press Officer since 2015