Acura Miami Grand Prix - Day 2
by Bill Wagner 7 Mar 2009 06:45 GMT
5-8 March 2009
Nerone, Bliksem and Ran remain on top
Soozal takes over the IRC 2 Lead
Skipper Massimo Mezzaroma and his crew on Nerone consolidated their lead in the Farr 40 class while owner Pieter Taselaar and his team aboard Bliksem did the same in Melges 32 during the second day of racing at the 2009 Acura Miami Grand Prix.
Conditions were once again ideal as an international fleet of 42
boats in four classes completed two races in 12-16 knot easterly winds
off South Beach. Niklas Zennstrom’s TP52 Ran remained atop the IRC 1
class and Daniel Woolery’s King 40 Soozal vaulted from third to first in
IRC 2 on Friday.
“It was classic south Florida conditions in March… a great day to go
sailboat racing,” Deputy Race Officer Dick Neville said. “It was shifty
enough to make it tactical, but for the most part very steady.”
Tactician Vasco Vascotto made all the right calls in Race 5 as Nerone
got the gun, its third victory in five races. Nerone now holds a
seven-point lead over fellow Italian entry Joe Fly (Giovanni Maspero), a
strong start Mezzaroma credits to the changing of the calendar.
“Why are we doing so well? Perhaps because it is 2009. I would say
that 2008 was a very bad year for Nerone. Like fine wine, we get better
with the passing of time,” he said.
Goombay Smash, a relative newcomer to the professional-laden class,
holds third with 23 points. Past world champions Barking Mad (Jim
Richardson) and Mascalzone Latino (Vincenzo Onorato) are lurking within
striking distance with 24 apiece.
“We love Miami. It has always been a lucky place for us,” Mezzaroma
said. “We are very excited about being first after two days. This class
is amazing because there are so many good sailors and the competition
level is so high.”
Nerone did not participate in Acura Key West 2009 and thus is not in
contention for the Acura Grand Prix Championship. That special trophy
goes to the team with the best combined scored between the two winter
regattas run by Premiere Racing. Acura Key West winner Mascalzone Latino
along with second and third place finishers Joe Fly and Barking Mad are
battling for that honor in Farr 40 class.
Taselaar, a native of the Netherlands who now lives in Larchmont,
N.Y., got back into competitive racing following a long layoff and chose
to campaign the exciting, fast Melges 32 sport boat. He took delivery of
Bliksem in November, 2007 and finished second at the Melges 32 National
Championship and second at the San Francisco Big-Boat Series.
Jeremy Wilmot, a member of the intercollegiate dinghy team at St.
Mary’s College of Maryland, is calling tactics on Bliksem. Wilmot, who
served as skipper for the Morning Light campaign/film project, spent
considerable time this winter helping Taselar improve his steering
skills by match racing a Laser SB3.
“We have really focused on developing Peter’s driving and it has
clearly paid off. He has done a terrific job steering the boat so far
this week,” Wilmot said.
Wilmot is pleased to have the services of his brother as main
trimmer in Miami. Nathan Wilmot captured an Olympic gold medal as
skipper for the Australian 470 team in Qingdao, China. This is the
eighth regatta for Bliksem and Taselaar is thrilled with the team’s
performance.
“We have outstanding boat speed and that has gotten us out of some
tight spots. We have an excellent crew and our course management has
been very solid,” he said.
Samba Pa Ti, skippered by John Kilroy of San Francisco, stands six
points behind Bliksem after posting solid results of third and fourth on
Friday. Morgan Reeser is calling tactics for Kilroy, who has placed no
worse than sixth.
New Wave, co-owned by Mike Carroll and Marty Kullman of Clearwater,
Fla., entered this regatta atop the Acura Grand Prix Championship
standings for Melges 32 class. After starting the regatta with a 15th
and a 14th, New Wave rebounded yesterday with a bullet in Race 4
followed by a fifth to vault into eighth overall.
“Yesterday was our practice day,” joked Kullman, who did not arrive
from a business trip to Las Vegas until 2 a.m. on Thursday. “We have two
new crew members that needed to get acclimated so it took some time to
work out the chinks. We sailed much better today and got ourselves back
into the Top 10. Our goal from here on out is to not have any more bad
races.”
Competition is extremely close in IRC 2 class, which consists of
seven diverse designs. Soozal, a Mark Mills-designed King 40 that
captured IRC 2 at Acura Key West 2009, posted a pair of bullets on
Friday to seize the overall lead with nine total points. Ciao, an
Archambault 40 skippered by Philippe Paturel, stands just one point
behind. Gold Digger, a J/44 owned by James Bishop, is only three points
off the lead.
“It has been great racing so far. The Archambault is performing much
better than it did in Key West while the J/44 is just a freight train
going upwind in heavy air,” Woolery said. “We have been getting good
starts and finding clear lanes so far and we need to keep doing that.”
IRC 1 consists entirely of boats built to the TP 52 rating rule and
Ran holds a narrow one-point advantage over Rio, the British entry
skippered by Charles Dunstone that won both races on Friday. Those two
teams finished first and third, respectively at Acura Key West 2009 and
are now battling for the Acura Grand Prix Championship in IRC 1.
Action in the four-day event continues on Friday with organizers
planning to conduct two races. The 10-race series, being held on a
course set just off the north end of Key Biscayne, concludes on Sunday.
Results after Day 2: (provisional top three, 5 races)
Farr 40 (12 entries)
1, Nerone, Massimo Mezzaroma, Punta Ala, Italy, 1-1-2-7-1=12pts
2, Joe Fly, Giovanni Maspero, Como, Italy, 2-5-4-4-4=19pts
3, Goombay Smash, Doug Douglas, Newport, R.I., 5-2-7-3-6=23pts
Melges 32 (19 entries)
1, Bliksem, Pieter Taselaar, St Inigoes, M.D., 1-1-1-2-7=12pts
2, Samba Pa Ti, John Kilroy, San Francisco, C.A., 2-6-3-4-3=18pts
3, Red, Joe Woods, Torbay, UK, 7-8-2-3-2=22pts
IRC 1 (4 entries)
1, RAN, Niklas Zennstrom, Hamble, GBR, 1-1-1-2-3=8pts
2, Rio, Charles Dunstone, Cowes, GBR, 2-2-3-1-1=9pts
3, Synergy, Sergey Pichugin, Moscow, RUS, 3-3-2-3-2=13pts
IRC 2 (7 entries)
1, Soozal, King 40, Daniel Woolery, Pt Richmond, C.A., 2-1-4-1-1=9pts
2, Ciao, AC 40, Philippe Paturel, Halifax, CAN, 1-3-2-2-2=10pts
3, Gold Digger, J/44, James Bishop, Jamestown, R.I., 3-2-1-3-3=12pts
Full results at www.premiere-racing.com