Heading out to the race track, teams were anticipating two or three races, but it all came down to a one race showdown. Going into the deciding race, there were just 6 points separating the top three boats, so the podium places were open to them all. The battle was being decided with an ever-present attack unfolding between Brian Keane’s Savasana, Bruce Golison’s Midlife Crisis and John Heaton’s Empeiria and by the finish the three teams were overlapped crossing the line. In super close racing, Midlife Crisis finished third, fourth to Savasana and fifth to Empeiria, to give Savasana the regatta win. After a slow opening day, Savasana had switched focus and Keane secured his second win, the first being in 2013. Keane commented, “The Bacardi Cup is always the peak of the winter and great competition. It was a good week actually, a really good week for us. We’re pretty stoked. We didn’t start so great on Thursday, as we had one tough race. Yesterday the team was on top of its game. It was very shifty, and we were able to nail a bunch of the shifts in the velocity.” On the reasons for their success, Keane concluded, “We are talking all the time. There is a lot of interplay and I think the team did a great job. Communication, adjustments and staying calm. “This is one of the best regattas of the year. Bacardi does a really good job; they always do a good job.” Whilst the top three teams did battle, Charlie Thompson’s Brutus III continued their remarkable comeback from two BFD penalties to take the race win and finish their series inside the top ten, in 9th overall.
Results:
- Brian Keane/Connor Harding/Thomas Barrows/Ron Weed (USA) – 19 pts
- Bruce Golison/Morgan Reeser/Chris Stocke/Jeff Reynolds (USA) – 21 pts
- John Heaton/Will Felder/Zeke Horowitz/Zachary Mason (USA) – 22 pts
For complete event details, visit https://bacardiinvitational.com/.