After a big blow in the Bacardi Winter Series Event One in December, light air skills were tested at Event Number Two on January 25-26 in Miami, FL. With 25 teams in the J/70 fleet, six races were completed in very light northerly and northeasterly breezes. Oivind Lorentzen and his team NINE, dominated the J/70s on day one with a second and two bullets. They managed all top ten finishes on day two to win the fleet. Zach Segal was the top Corinthian J/70 team. On day one, after a brief postponement on land, sailors headed out for three races. Teams made use of nice wind for speed testing and tuning prior to the first race, but the wind decreased by the start of race one with the first fleet starting in 6-7 knots. Pressure tended to favor the left side of the course throughout the day, with the wind playing a game of hide and seek during each leg, seemingly disappearing to a point where sailors thought they would be done for the day, only to fill again later in the same leg. Teams that kept their eyes out of the boat and managed to connect the dots found themselves in the front of the fleet. With light and dying wind predicted for day two, the racing started one hour earlier to take advantage of the morning breeze. With only around 4-6 knots of wind for the first race, the course length was shortened to .7 miles. The Race Committee was serious about not wasting time getting races off, and employed the black flag after any general recall. The breeze was slightly more right than day one, but teams still tended to play up the left side of the course. Gains were made the most by playing the shifts. As the breeze died throughout the day, the wind tended to be on the edges. Racers saw as little as two to three knots while racing, but the wind managed to pipe up at just the right time to get races completed.
Final Results – Top Five:
- NINE, Oivind Lorentzen/ Ian Coleman/ David Shreiner/ Lucas Calabrese, 2-1-1-6-[9]-8; 18
- Catapult, Joel Ronning/ Victor Diaz de Leon/ Patrick Wilson/ Chris Storke, 1-5-[13]-12-3-2; 23
- Empeiria, John Heaton/ Will Felder/ Zeke Horowitz/ Zach Mason, [17]-4-11-3-1-6; 25
- Rosebud, Pamela Rose/ Goncalo Ribeiro/ Willem Van Waay/ Bernardo Freitas, 3-8-2-5-[10]-7; 25
- Stampede, Bruno Pasquinelli/ Jonathan McKee/ Charlie McKee/ Orrin Star, [10]-10-5-2-8-3; 28
For complete results, visit https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=9505.