M32 Miami Winter Series Weekend 3
by M32 Series 14 Mar 2017 04:57 GMT
11-12 March 2017
Eight brightly colored M32's raced back and forth in front of the Miami skyline for the Miami Winter Series Event #3 in conjunction with Bacardi Miami Sailing Week. The changing conditions brought several lead changes throughout the event, and it was Team REV skippered by Rick DeVos who jumped from 6th to 1st overall the final day to take the event win!
Ten races were completed throughout the weekend, along with two short Pro Am races Saturday morning. Sixteen guests had the privilege of jumping aboard M32s to experience catamaran racing at its finest and raise money for Shake-a-leg Miami! When official racing began, team XS Energy skippered by Drew Wierda came out fast and led the day after five races with 15 points.
New to the fleet was Jim Prendergast, he commented on the sailing, "This is my first time racing a multihull, after getting dialed in it is extremely exciting. It's almost like you're flying an airplane because you key in on different indicators for example, looking at the sail a lot less and instead focusing on the hull height and feeling the boat."
After an evening at the Bacardi Sailing Week tent party, sailors arrived at Regatta park Sunday morning to dark, stormy skies and a nice 15 knot breeze but by the time races began, the precipitation moved offshore and took the wind with it. PRO Mattias Dahlström and team worked with the shifting breeze to complete five races in what was "crossover upwind gennaker" breeze.
Starting the day off with a race win was Charles Tomeo and his team 102BFAST, showing off their light air boat speed. Overall it was a regatta that tested the crews ability to make quick changes from the constant direction and velocity changes.
Team REV made an incredible leap from sixth overall to event winners. Skipper Rick DeVos commented, "We really focused on improving our starts today, if you have a decent start things get easier from there. We worked on time and distance and picking our spot early and positing ourselves relative to the fleet." Malcolm Gefter also had a spectacular Sunday, team Liftoff moved from a tied sixth place up to third.
The final event of the Miami Winter Series will take place April 7-9 at regatta park, where the overall winter champion is to be determined. Double points will be awarded for the last event with up to ten boats expected on Biscayne Bay!
Visit the M32 North American Facebook page for more event photos and video.