In spite of a scoresheet that features two race wins and four results from six in the top ten, such is the competition at the Star Class Bacardi Cup that sole Irish entry Peter and Robert O'Leary missed the podium and finished sixth overall.

In further top results for visiting Royal Cork crews, the brother's father Anthony sailing with third brother Nicholas O'Leary, who were competing in the Viper 640 class, took third overall sailing with Ben Field (see below). North Sails Ireland's Nigel Young was one place outside the Melges 24 top ten in 11th overall.

Nicholas O'Leary (centre) collecting the Winter Cup in Miami for Antix (IRL 296), the Viper 640 warm-up to the Bacardi Invitational Regatta Photo: Martina Orsini

Tough, rough and exhilarating conditions showed up in Biscayne Bay on the last day at the invitational regatta for the thrill of the 524 sailors gathered in Miami for this world-renowned event. An average 15 knots breeze, with gusts of over 20 knots, tested teams and served up a spectacular final day of racing for sailors and the spectator flotilla following the racing.

The 2020 Bacardi Cup Champions secured their title with a race to spare yesterday, but Mateusz Kusznierewicz (POL) and Bruno Prada (BRA) still delivered an impressive final race. The pair led the fleet for the first half of the race, before they confused the upwind mark of another racecourse with the Stars’ bottom gate, giving the opportunity for Diego Negri (ITA)/Frithjof Kleen (GER) to overhaul them and extend to win the race by 150 metres. With it Negri/Kleen managed to climb to fourth overall.

“We were forcing on them on the last downwind,” commented Diego Negri, who was happy to conclude the Bacardi Cup with a race win. “We both had a bit of a misunderstanding about the marks, we have had a couple of changes of course during the race, but we luckily realised we were going in the wrong direction before they did and managed to gain over them and round the mark in front. They were fast on the last upwind for another very tight finish. I am happy we won the race, it always feels great, but it’s even better at the Bacardi Cup!”

With Negri/Kleen taking out the final race win, the fight for second and third on the podium unfolded between Paul Cayard (USA)/Pedro Trouche (BRA) who tamed the strong wind and the waves and finished race 6 in 3rd, Augie Diaz (USA)/Henry Boening (BRA) in 4th and Eivind Melleby (NOR)/Joshua Revkin (USA) who started the day in second place dropping to third overall after a 9th place finish. Claiming the glory of second place, by tiebreak advantage over Melleby/Revkin, were Diaz/Boening.

The Race Committees had predicted a full programme on the final day, and with the wind increasing as the afternoon progressed they delivered another day of outstanding racing for all eight classes.

Two races for the J70 fleet, where Eat Sleep J Repeat (Paul Ward/Ruairidh Scott/Ben Saxton/Mario Trindade) maintained their leading position with one win and a 7th, Surge (Ryan McKillen/John Wallace/Sam Loughborough/Mark Mendelblatt) ended their regatta in second overall and Midlife Crisis in third (Bruce Golison/Steve Hunt/Jeff Reynolds/Erik Shampain) after delivering the best race performance of the day, back to back 2nd place finishes. The other race win went to the team on Catapult (Joel Ronning/Patrick Wilson/Christopher Stoke/Paul Brotherton) who claimed fourth overall.

“It is great fun for us to come race up here,” commented Paul Ward, helm of Eat Sleep J Repeat who are the reigning J70 World Champions. “And winning is the icing on the cake or it’s the 10 year old Bacardi Rum on top of everything else! The hardest thing for us was to keep the boat going faster upwind with this kind of chop and the big gusts coming from the north. We don’t sail them much back home and we are not good with them. It was also tough to play catch up with our American friends.”

Two races for the Melges 24 and two stunning wins for USA 820 (Bora Gulari/Taylor Canfield/Kyle Navin/Norman Berg/Ian Liberty) to win overall by a 13 point margin. Second to Raza Mixta (Peter Duncan/Victor Diaz de Leon/Mattero Ramian/Carlos Robles/Willem Van Waay) and Shaka (KC Shannon/Jackson Benvenutti/Ben Lynchi/Tom Sawchuk/Elizabeth Whitener) remained in third overall despite being black flagged in the last race.

“It was a glamor day out there today,” said Taylor Canfield helm of the winning crew. “Biscayne Bay is great in this condition and we had two wins to close the event. I am sailing with a great team, they are really sharp and make my work a lot easier. This was a great tune up for the 2020 Worlds that will take place in Charleston in May. We have learned a lot. It’s my first event in the class after some time and I loved it.”

In the Viper 640, no change to first and second overall with the overnight leaders on USA293 (Will Graves/ Ryan Cox/Greg Dair) claiming a 1,4 to win by 11 points over last year’s champions on Evil Hiss (Geoff Ewenson/Mary Ewenson/Tyler Bjorn), while Antix (Anthony O’Leary/Ben Field/Nicholas O’Leary) climbed up the leader board to finish in third overall.

The team on Caterpillar (Peter Ill/Alec Chicoine/Austin Powers) took out the final race of the day to wrap up in 7th overall.

No change in the top three in the VX One, as Sendit (Bill Wiggins/Jeff Eiber/Darby Cappellin) maintained their form, to win by 2 points over Flying Jenny (Sandra Askew/Kyle Kandt/Jason Curvie) and just 1 point behind in third was VX1 (Ched Proctor/David Guggenheim/Monica Morgan). Today’s only race was won by LM Realty (Tim Pitts/Rachel Daye/Ethan Hanley), who lost out on a podium place on tiebreak and had to settle for fourth overall.

In the new Olympic windsurf class, it was a challenging day out on the track as the foilers tackled the gusty wind and chop. Gabriel Browne (BRA) again demonstrated his speed in the Open Windfoil to take out another win, ending his debut here in Miami with 7 race wins and two 2nd places to easily secure victory. Justin Ahearn (USA) finished in second overall and Alexander Temko (USA) in third.

An eight-race series for the Cabrinha AV8, the flying kiteboards, saw Damien LeRoy win both of today’s concluding races and the overall series. It was an all-American podium, with Brendan Healy in second and third to Kent Marcovich.