[singlepic=1895,250,170,,left]Acura Miami Grand Prix – Miami – E’ Iniziata con vento tra i 14 e i 16 nodi di intensità la seconda giornata di regate dell’Acura Miami Grand Prix 2009. Alle 10.30 il vento marca da una direzione di 85°, gli equipaggi sono pronti per un’altra giornata di grande vela nelle splendide acque della Florida.
C’è molta tensione sul campo di regata e già dal Primo start Goombay Mash e Mascalzone Latino vogliono mettersi in mostra per dimostrare le proprie potenzialità. Mentre Vincenzo Onorato va a vincere la manche, anticipando Atalanti e il già citato Goombay Smash, gli altri italiani si accontentano della quarta e della settima posizione, andate rispettivamente a Joe Fly della coppia Maspero-Bruni e al leader della graduatoria provvisoria Nerone di Antonio Sodo Migliori e del tattico Vasco Vascotto.
Scelte tattiche azzeccate e ottima velocità permettono a Nerone di tornare sui livelli di ieri, aggiudicandosi la sconda prova di giornata. Un successo che permette di allungare il passo in classifica generale. Ora, inaftti, Joe Fly, ancora una volta quarto, è a 7 punti dalla vetta mentre a 11 lunghezze ammonta il ritardo accumulato da Goombay Smash, terzo di un niente davanti alla coppia composta da Barking Mad (terzo nella seconda prova) e Mascalzone Latino (quinto di manche).
“Nella prima regata non siamo riusciti a venir fuori bene allo start – sono le parole di Massimo Bortoletto, trimmer/navigatore di Nerone – anche se abbiamo avuto una visione di regata sempre al top, è stato difficile rimontare. Nella seconda prova, è stato un bel testa a testa con Joe Fly nella prima bolina, poi siamo riusciti ad allungare grazie a delle scelte azzeccate di Vascotto e ad un’ottima conduzione di regata di tutto il team”.
“Stiamo navigando bene consapevoli delle nostra potenzialità – ha dichiarato Vasco Vascotto, tattico di Nerone al rientro in banchina – ci siamo presi una piccola pausa nella seconda prova. E’ stata una giornata dove siamo riusciti a mantenere la concentrazione, rimanendo quasi sempre al top delle performance. Sono molto soddisfatto di come il team sta lavorando e di come regatiamo”.
Acura Miami Grand Prix, risultati dopo 5 prove
Farr 40 (12 entries)
1 – Nerone (1-1-2-7-1) 12 pt.
2 – Joe Fly (2-5-4-4-4) 19 pt.
3 – Gommbay Smash (5-2-7-3-6) 23 pt.
Melges 32 (19 entries)
1 – Bliksem (1-1-1-2-7) 12 pt.
2 – Samba Pa Ti (2-6-3-4-3) 18 pt.
3 – Red (7-8-2-3-2) 22 pt.
IRC 1 (4 entries)
1 – Ran (1-1-1-2-3) 8 pt.
2 – Rio (2-2-3-1-1) 9 pt.
3 – Synergy (3-3-2-3-2) 13 pt.
IRC 2 (7 entries)
1 – Soozal (2-1-4-1-1) 9 pt.
2 – Ciao (1-3-2-2-2) 10 pt.
3 – Gold Digger (3-2-1-3-3) 12 pt.
NERONE, BLISKEM AND RAN REMAIN ON TOP AT ACURA MIAMI GRAND PRIX
[Acura Miami Grand Prix Press Release] Skipper Massimo Mezzaroma and his crew on Nerone consolidated their lead in the Farr 40 class while owner Pieter Taselaar and his team aboard Bliksem did the same in Melges 32 during the second day of racing at the 2009 Acura Miami Grand Prix.
Conditions were once again ideal as an international fleet of 42 boats in four classes completed two races in 12-16 knot easterly winds off South Beach. Niklas Zennstrom’s TP52 Ran remained atop the IRC 1 class and Daniel Woolery’s King 40 Soozal vaulted from third to first in IRC 2 on Friday.
“It was classic south Florida conditions in March… a great day to go sailboat racing,” Deputy Race Officer Dick Neville said. “It was shifty enough to make it tactical, but for the most part very steady.”
Tactician Vasco Vascotto made all the right calls in Race 5 as Nerone got the gun, its third victory in five races. Nerone now holds a seven-point lead over fellow Italian entry Joe Fly (Giovanni Maspero), a strong start Mezzaroma credits to the changing of the calendar.
“Why are we doing so well? Perhaps because it is 2009. I would say that 2008 was a very bad year for Nerone. Like fine wine, we get better with the passing of time,” he said.
Goombay Smash, a relative newcomer to the professional-laden class, holds third with 23 points. Past world champions Barking Mad (Jim Richardson) and Mascalzone Latino (Vincenzo Onorato) are lurking within striking distance with 24 apiece.
“We love Miami. It has always been a lucky place for us,” Mezzaroma said. “We are very excited about being first after two days. This class is amazing because there are so many good sailors and the competition level is so high.”
Nerone did not participate in Acura Key West 2009 and thus is not in contention for the Acura Grand Prix Championship. That special trophy goes to the team with the best combined scored between the two winter regattas run by Premiere Racing. Acura Key West winner Mascalzone Latino along with second and third place finishers Joe Fly and Barking Mad are battling for that honor in Farr 40 class.
Taselaar, a native of the Netherlands who now lives in Larchmont, N.Y., got back into competitive racing following a long layoff and chose to campaign the exciting, fast Melges 32 sport boat. He took delivery of Bliksem in November, 2007 and finished second at the Melges 32 National Championship and second at the San Francisco Big-Boat Series.
Jeremy Wilmot, a member of the intercollegiate dinghy team at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, is calling tactics on Bliksem. Wilmot, who served as skipper for the Morning Light campaign/film project, spent considerable time this winter helping Taselar improve his steering skills by match racing a Laser SB3.
“We have really focused on developing Peter’s driving and it has clearly paid off. He has done a terrific job steering the boat so far this week,” Wilmot said.
Wilmot is pleased to have the services of his brother as main trimmer in Miami. Nathan Wilmot captured an Olympic gold medal as skipper for the Australian 470 team in Qingdao, China. This is the eighth regatta for Bliksem and Taselaar is thrilled with the team’s performance.
“We have outstanding boat speed and that has gotten us out of some tight spots. We have an excellent crew and our course management has been very solid,” he said.
Samba Pa Ti, skippered by John Kilroy of San Francisco, stands six points behind Bliksem after posting solid results of third and fourth on Friday. Morgan Reeser is calling tactics for Kilroy, who has placed no worse than sixth.
New Wave, co-owned by Mike Carroll and Marty Kullman of Clearwater, Fla., entered this regatta atop the Acura Grand Prix Championship standings for Melges 32 class. After starting the regatta with a 15th and a 14th, New Wave rebounded yesterday with a bullet in Race 4 followed by a fifth to vault into eighth overall.
“Yesterday was our practice day,” joked Kullman, who did not arrive from a business trip to Las Vegas until 2 a.m. on Thursday. “We have two new crew members that needed to get acclimated so it took some time to work out the chinks. We sailed much better today and got ourselves back into the Top 10. Our goal from here on out is to not have any more bad races.”
Competition is extremely close in IRC 2 class, which consists of seven diverse designs. Soozal, a Mark Mills-designed King 40 that captured IRC 2 at Acura Key West 2009, posted a pair of bullets on Friday to seize the overall lead with nine total points. Ciao, an Archambault 40 skippered by Philippe Paturel, stands just one point behind. Gold Digger, a J/44 owned by James Bishop, is only three points off the lead.
“It has been great racing so far. The Archambault is performing much better than it did in Key West while the J/44 is just a freight train going upwind in heavy air,” Woolery said. “We have been getting good starts and finding clear lanes so far and we need to keep doing that.”
IRC 1 consists entirely of boats built to the TP 52 rating rule and Ran holds a narrow one-point advantage over Rio, the British entry skippered by Charles Dunstone that won both races on Friday. Those two teams finished first and third, respectively at Acura Key West 2009 and are now battling for the Acura Grand Prix Championship in IRC 1.
Action in the four-day event continues on Friday with organizers planning to conduct two races. The 10-race series, being held on a course set just off the north end of Key Biscayne, concludes on Sunday.
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