Three back-to-back races for the forty-nine boat J/70 fleet saw Anthony O'Leary's skippered 'Antix' succumb to a black flag penalty in race four of the Bacardi Cup in Miami, Florida on Friday.
Crewed by Ben Field, Harry Durcan and son Nicholas O'Leary, the foursome is the second Irish boat competing on Biscayne Bay, with another son, Peter O'Leary, sailing with Stephen Milne competing in the Star keelboat class.
The usual shifty breeze was around 8-10 knots with plenty of race track nuances.
The OCS penalty has not helped the overall standings with Royal Cork's Antix lying 32nd overall.
Laura Grondin’s ‘Dark Energy’ team stormed to the top of the leaderboard, from 13th at the start of the day, with scores of 2,1,5.
Brian Keane’s ‘Savasana’ also advance through to second overall, up from 7th, just one point adrift of Grondin. Margaret McKillen’s ‘Magatron’ remains in third overall.
The hot favourites on ‘Brutus III’ have failed to connect the dots in this series, although Charles Thompson’s team managed to win in the final race, giving some salvation to their otherwise challenging scorecard.
Provisional Results – Top 3 after Race 6
1. Laura Grondin / Taylor Canfield / Luke Muller / Malcolm Lamphere (USA 819) - 34 pts
2. Brian Keane / Thomas Barrows / Ron Weed / Conner Harding (USA 49) - 35 pts
3. Margaret McKillen / Orrin Star / Brian Kamilar / Dave Schreiner (USA 1523) – 45 pts