2007 Acura Miami Grand Prix - Day 1
by Bill Wagner 9 Mar 2007 07:23 GMT
8-11 March 2007
Action packed opening day at 2007 Acura Miami Grand Prix
Competitors treated to three races in strong winds
All the sailors competing in 2007 Acura Miami Grand Prix will sleep well tonight. Principal Race Officer Dave Brennan and his crackerjack committee got in three races on the opening day of the grand prix regatta, leaving sailors with sore muscles and satisfied smiles. Racing was held in a 12-15 knot northeasterly and all the boats were back at the dock at the Miami Beach Marina by 4 p.m.
“It was the ideal day to get in three races. The conditions were fantastic and the race committee did a great job of getting the starts off quickly,” said Simon Williams, skipper of the Melges 32 Fresh Guidance.
Early forecasts called for lighter winds, but a sea breeze came on faster and stronger than predicted, increasing the velocity to double digits just in time for the first race.
“It’s always a pleasant surprise when the wind is better than expected. We all got a good workout today,” said Colm Barrington, skipper of the Ker 50 Magic Glove.
Those two skippers should be happy since they are among the leaders after Day 1. Williams, from Newport, R.I., displayed superb all-around boat speed in steering Fresh Guidance to a strong line of 2-3-1 and a one-point lead in the 16-boat Melges 32 class.
“We were reasonably quick upwind and really fast downwind. We were absolutely flying on the runs and passing boats left and right,” Williams said. “Sometimes, things just click and that certainly was the case today.”
Williams, formerly a Farr 40 owner, made his debut in the Melges 32 class at Acura Key West 2007 and finished a respectable fourth. Claudio Recchi and Let’s Roll won that regatta in convincing fashion and Williams felt the Italians were the team to beat here.
“Let’s Roll is a great boat with a great crew. They are a formidable opponent, but we were faster than them today,” Williams said. “We learned a ton at Key West and that time in the boat has really improved our performance.”
Pending the outcome of a protest, Fresh Guidance holds a one-point lead over Star, skippered by Jeff Ecklund of nearby Ft. Lauderdale. Bill Hardesty, former College Sailor of the Year at the Merchant Marine Academy, is calling tactics for Williams.
Magic Glove captured IRC 2 class at Acura Key West and remains hot in Miami. Barrington, from Dublin, Ireland, posted an impressive line of 1-3-2 on Thursday to take a one-point lead in IRC class.
“We got three reasonably good starts and we gybed real well, but we had a few less than perfect spinnaker launches and drops. Overall, it was a fairly decent day,” Barrington said.
A pair of TP52s are hot on the trail of Magic Glove, which is clinging to a one point lead. Windquest, owned by Doug Devos of Holland, Mich., was first across the line and first on corrected time in Race 3 to win a tiebreaker with Samba Pa Ti (John Kilroy, Los Angeles, Cal).
Frenchman Erik Maris and his crew aboard Twins were all smiles as they stood along the dock drinking beer following a strong performance in the 16-boat Farr 40 class. Tactician Gildas Philippe did a good job calling the shifts aboard Twins, which notched a first and a second in the afternoon races.
“To finish the day on top in this fleet is a great feeling. We got good starts, had good speed and hit most of the shifts,” Maris said.
Maris won the Mumm 30 World Championship off Miami in December and was anxious to return aboard his other boat. He has never won a Farr 40 regatta since joining the class three years ago.
“We love it here in Miami. We get lucky here,” Maris joked. “We’ve had the same core crew together for three years and have been working toward winning a major regatta. We can’t get too excited yet because there is a long way to go.”
Twins will seek to protect a four-point lead over Nerone (Massimo Mezzaroma, Italy) and Norwegian Steam (Eivind Astrup, Norway), which are deadlocked at 13. Nerone wins the tiebreaker by virtue of getting the gun in Race 3.
As expected, the Mumm 30 class has quickly evolved into a two-horse race between Mean Machine and Groovederci. Monaco resident Peter De Ridder got the upper hand on Thursday by steering Mean Machine to a pair of bullets and a runner-up result. Deneen Demourkas (Santa Barbara, Cal.) won the other race and has Groovederci just two points off the pace.
“We are sailing in close proximity with Groovederci all the time. We only beat them by half a boat length in one race,” De Ridder said. “We may have a little bit better boat speed on her upwind.”
Action in the four-day regatta, organized by Premiere Racing, continues on Friday with organizers planning to conduct two races. Thursday’s strong, steady breeze got event director Peter Craig well on the way to his goal of holding a 10-race series.
Provisional Standings after 3 Races:
IRC
1. Magic Glove, Ker 50, Colm Barrington, Dublin, IRL, 1-3-2, 6pts
2. Windquest, TP52, Doug DeVos, Holland, MI, USA, 4-2-1, 7pts
3. Samba Pa Ti, TP52, John Kilroy, San Francisco, CA, USA, 3-1-3, 7pts
Farr 40 (Rolex National Championship)
1. Twins, Erik Maris, Newport, RI, USA, 6-1-2, 9pts
2. Nerone, Massimo Mezzaroma, Rome, Italy, 9-3-1, 13pts
3. Norweigian Steam, Eivind Astrup, Oslo, Norway, 7-2-4, 13pts
Melges 32 – protest pending
1. Fresh Guidance, Simon Williams, Newport, RI, 2-3-1, 6pts
2. Star, Jeff Ecklund, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, 4-1-2, 7pts
3. Let’s Roll, Claudio Recchi, YC Italiano, ITA, 3-2-3, 7pts
Mumm 30
1. Mean Machine, Peter De Ridder, Monaco, 1-2-1, 4pts
2. Groovederci, Deneen Demourkas, Santa Barbara, CA, 3-1-2, 6pts
3. Kaizen, Baker / Solomon, Noank, CT, 2-4-4, 10pts