Goslings Miami Sailing Week concludes on a spectacular Biscayne Bay day
by Studio Milano 12 Mar 2018 06:13 PDT
5-11 March 2018
Flying Tiger Class 6 sailing in Miami Sailing Week, day two © Cory Silken / Miami Sailing Week
Biscayne Bay delivered once again and gave us great sailing conditions for all days of the ninth Goslings Miami Sailing Week (MSW) presented by Santa Margherita U.S. that included the Canadian-American Opti Cup.
The Melges 24, the A-Cat, the Flying Tiger, the Opti along with the M32 catamarans took part in this year's event with 115 sailing teams racing on stunning Biscayne Bay.
Miami Sailing Week kicked off with the National One Design Sailing Academy Clinic, which took place on Tuesday, March 6th and Wednesday, March 7th at Coconut Grove Sailing Club. The clinic, run by Bill Gladstone of North U, was a great success with over 25 sailors mastering their racing skills in both classroom and on the water.
On Wednesday March 7th the regatta registration and welcome party took place at Coconut Grove Sailing Club where sailors were greeted with a warm hospitality provided by the Club and by Goslings rum, Santa Margherita wines, Concrete Beach Brewery and Fiuggi waters. Every night throughout the week there was an event at the MSW hospitality with music, food, bar and great sailor stories; one of those was picked-up by the Miami Herald on March 9th.
Racing for the ninth annual MSW was smooth sailing with good breeze and changing wind directions that made racing tactical and very interesting. The Melges 24 completed nine races over the event. Finishing first was Monsoon skippered by Bruce Ayres (Newport Beach, CA) with two bullets, three second places and two top five finishes. Finishing second was Brian Porter skippering Full Throttle (Fontana, WI) with two bullets and seven top 10 finishes, and third we had Mikey with Kevin Welch (Anacortes, WA).
Eight races were completed the one person A-Cat catamaran with 16 teams battling each other. Winning the foiling division was the untouchable Bruce Mahoney (La Porte, TX) with eight wins. Tracy Oliver on Lunatic Fringe followed in second (Virginia Beach, VA), and then Tony Vandenoever on Flying Dutchman, in third (Sarasota, FL). In the classic division Ben Hall (Bokeelia, FL) on La Femme Nikita took first place followed by Andrew Burdett (Budd Lake, NJ) on Kiwi Magic and by Mark Herendeen (Melbourne, FL) on Real Estate Ink Solutions.
In the Flying Tiger fleet Richard Griffin (Miami, FL) on Torqeedo took first place followed by Kenneth Luczynski on Incineroar and by Christopher Tate (Westerly, RI) on Accessibil-it. It was a great experience for all participants both on and off the water. "This has been a fantastic event and we're excited to come back next year with more boats." Said Dave Smith Director of National One Design Sailing Academy.
Making Miami Sailing Week special this year was the addition of the youth component with the Inaugural Canadian-American Opti Cup. 72 Optimist sailors from Coconut Grove Sailing Club, Key Biscayne Yacht Club, Coral reef Yacht Club and the Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron gathered for a day of racing as part of MSW program. The top three sailors were awarded MSW silver plates. "Thank you to all the sailors, coaches and volunteers for making this event possible." said Alberto Olivo Youth Sailing Director. "And to Miami Sailing Week for including us in the event. We are looking forward to an even bigger and better event next spring" concluded Olivo.
Everyone is already looking forward to the 2019 regatta that will take place in Coconut Grove and Biscayne Bay from March 4th to the 10th and we look forward celebrating the 10th edition of Goslings Miami Sailing Week.