The J/70, Melges 24, Viper 640 and the Flying Tigers 7.5 classes contested their last two races of their Bacardi Invitational series on Biscayne Bay, Florida.
In the J/70, the winners were the team on Catapult (USA), featuring Joel Ronning, Victor Diaz del Leon, Patrick Wilson and Chris Stoke. They racked up a 16 point advantage over second placed Americans onboard Surge with Mark Mendelblatt calling tactics, and in third was Italy’s Calvi Network with Carlo Alberini driving.
Britain’s Paul Ward, Ruairidh Scott, Mario Triundade and Oliver Wells finished in 13th place. Martin Dent, Mawk Lees, Duncan Yeables and Annabel Vose 15th.
In the Melges 24 it was the Italians on Italian Bombarda who claimed the win. Their super crew was all home-made in Italy:
Andrea Pozzi, Carlo Zermin, Matteo Ivaldi, Nicholas Dal Ferro and Stefano Ciampalini. Full Throttle (USA) with Olympic tactician Jonathan McKee finished in second and Monsoon (USA) in third, with just 1 point between each of the top three teams.
Britain’s Stuart Simpson, Fred Kemp, Martin O’Leary, Rachel Williamson and Bernard Fitzpatrick finished in 19th place.
Evil Hiss stepped up Saturday to win the super competitive Viper 640 class:
Mary and Geoff Ewenson with Star Olympian Tyler Bjorn won the last three races of the series leaving no doubts as to who was the best in the fleet. Great Scott!slang (USA) came in 6 points behind in second place, and first Corinthian team, and Choppy Seas (USA) completed the podium in third.
Ireland’s Anthony O’leary, David Hassett and Niall Rafferty flew the flag for Europe, finishing in seventh place.
The best of the Flying Tigers 7.5 was Neun of Canada with Geoff Becker, Richard Griffin, Sabine Griffin, Joe Mele and Adam Spiegel onboard.
Finishing in style, they won the last race of the series. Just one point behind, Grassy Manatee (CAN) finished in second, with J.A.C.K.ed (USA) is third.
