- Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Bruno Prada controlled the opening day of Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta
A clean start got racing underway at midday for the first race of the 95th Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta in Biscayne Bay, Miami, with the first win in the hands of the defending Bacardi Cup partnership of Mateusz Kusznierewicz (POL), and Bruno Prada (BRA).
The Irish pair, of Peter O’Leary and his brother Robert (IRL 8465) claimed second place with Eric Doyle and Payson Infelise (USA 8423) in third.
Italy’s Diego Negri and Sergio Lambertenghi (ITA 8567) finished fourth, with John MacCausland and Rodrigo Meireles (USA 8448) in fifth place.
Two British crews are competing in Miami . . . Ed Wright and Alberto Ambrosini (GBR 8320) finished in 18th place and Ante Razmilovic and Dave Martin (GBR 8443) in 20th.
It didn’t start that way, as controlling the fleet for the first two legs were the California based partnership of Erik Lidecis and Greg Smith (USA 8459).
Lidecis and Smith stayed in phase to round the windward mark first and hold their advantage to the reaching mark, before all changed.
The easing conditions saw the crews mostly back in the boat for the reaching legs as submarining was inevitable if too far forward, with plenty of action as crews were in and out of the boat to keep on the chine in the lulls and puffs.
Kusznierewicz and Prada rounded in seventh at the first mark, set their pole and made some gains on the first reaching leg.
They had the capacity to capitalize and went low on the next leg to advance underneath the fleet, before going high in the closing metres to the gybe mark, boosting their boat speed to exploit an opening and get around everybody to take the lead into the second upwind.
As the breeze dropped to around 12-13 knots, the Race Committee changed the second lap to a downwind course forma, but for Kusznierewicz and Prada the win was in the bag.
2022 Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta – Leaders after 1 race (58 entries)
1st POL 8548 Mateusz Kusznierewicz / Bruno Prada – – 1 pts
2nd IRL 8465 Peter O’Leary / Robert O’Leary – – 2 pts
3rd USA 8423 Eric Doyle / Payson Infelise – – 3 pts
4th ITA 8567 Diego Negri / Sergio Lambertenghi – – 4 pts
5th USA 8448 John MacCausland / Rodrigo Meireles – – 5 pts
6th NOR 8543 Eivind Melleby / Joshua Revkin – – 6 pts
7th USA 8459 Erik Lidecis / Greg Smith – – 7 pts
8th USA 8573 Peter Vessella / Phil Trinter – – 8 pts
9th CRO 8540 Tonci Stipanovic / Tudor Bilic – – 9 pts
10th USA 1988 Paul Cayard / Frithjof Kleen – – 10 pts
11th CRO 8531 Marin Misura / Tonko Barac – – 11 pts
12th USA 8509 Augie Diaz / Christian Nehammer – – 12 pts
13th USA 8464 Jack Jennings / Pedro Trouche – – 13 pts
14th SUI 8575 Piet Eckert / Frederico Melo – – 14 pts
15th DEN 8532 Jørgen Schönherr / Markus Koy – – 15 pts
16th GER 8446 Hubert Merkelbach / Kilian Weise – – 16 pts
17th USA 8555 John Dane III / Tim Ray – – 17 pts
18th GBR 8320 Ed Wright / Alberto Ambrosini – – 18 pts
19th USA 8570 Doug Smith / Stuart Macintosh – – 19 pts
20th GBR 8443 Ante Razmilovic / Dave Martin – – 20 pts
Full Star results available here . . .
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