Star class Bacardi Cup in Miami - Day 5

A great finish for Iain Percy & Steve Mitchell at the Bacardi Cup © Alex Gort

PORTUGUESE LIKELY TO WIN BACARDI CUP

Percy & Mitchell win day five of six race series

Alfonso Domingos and crew Bernardo Santos of Portugal assured themselves of the 2004 Bacardi Cup championship after the fifth race in the six-race Star Class Regatta on Thursday.

Their first place overall of 17 points is enough to make them the first Europeans to win the coveted Bacardi Cup since the race began in Cuba in 1927.

British world champions Iain Percy and crew Steve Mitchell took first place for the second day in a row and moved into 10th overall. They finished today with a long lead on the rest of the 93-boat fleet after passing the Danish team at the third mark in 15-knot winds coming in from the northeast.

“Once we passed the Danes they had no chance of catching up,” said Percy.

Nicklas Holm and crew Claus Olesen of Denmark took second place and the 2003 Star Class world champions Xavier Rohart and crew Pascal Rambeau took third.

“This was the best race of the series so far, but we made one small error that cost us the race,” said the Danish Skipper Holm. “We didn’t catch the right shift in the wind and the British did.”

Six-time Bacardi Cup champion Mark Reynolds moves into fourth place in the overall standings. Howie Shiebler and crew Will Stout of San Francisco are in second place overall and Canadians Ross Macdonald and crew Mike Wolfs are in third.

Sailors were allowed to drop their worst finish after the fifth race today. The final race of the Bacardi Cup will be sailed on Friday.

Second race win for Percy and Mitchell at Bacardi Cup (report from the RYA)

Olympic gold medallist Iain Percy and crew Steve Mitchell continued their race winning form, securing their second race win on the penultimate day of the Bacardi Cup.

In fifteen knots of wind, they established a long lead over Nicklas Holm and Claus Olesen of Denmark to cross the line in first place for the second day running. This result sees them move up into tenth place overall in the 93 boat fleet after being able to discard their disqualification from the first day.

A seventh place finish for Afonso Domingos and Bernado Santos of Portugal ensured that they became the first Europeans to win the Bacardi Cup since it begun in 1927 despite there still being one race to sail.

One more race is scheduled for the event, which concludes tomorrow, Friday 12 March.

Results after Day 5: (5 races, 1 discard)