Saturday, March 7, 2015

BACARDI Miami Sailing Week Preview

J/70s sailing off Florida(Miami, Florida)- Forty-eight J/70 teams are traveling to Coconut Grove to compete in the sixth BACARDI Miami Sailing Week (BMSW) presented by EFG Bank in Miami, Florida.  While there is no venue in the U.S. that is perfect year round, it is hard to beat Miami in March for its warm weather and great sailing conditions.  The fleet may be blessed with classic Biscayne Bay sailing conditions, with winds forecast to be mainly in the east/southeast quadrants all weekend from 8 to 15 kts and sunny!

The event begins on Thursday, March 5 and will continue until Saturday, March 7. On the water, Coral Reef Yacht Club coordinates activities in collaboration with the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club and with the help of the U.S. Sailing Center and Shake-A-Leg Miami.

This year’s record number of forty eight 70s come from seven nations, including Italy, Bermuda, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and Norway.  The fleet continues to pick up steam in this year’s BMSW. The top 3 finishers from last year’s event, Will Welles’ RASCAL (Portsmouth, RI), Brian Keane’s SAVASANA (Weston, MA), and Peter Duncan’s RELATIVE OBSCURITY (Rye, NY), will all be present at this year’s event to fight for the top position. However, they will also have to add to this year’s mix an even deeper and more talented fleet than last year’s edition, including the J/70 World’s runner up, Joel Ronning’s CATAPULT (Minneapolis, MN); Heather Gregg’s MUSE (J/70 World’s Corinthians winner and 5th overall); Mauricio Santa Cruz’s BRUSCHETTA (5x J/24 Worlds winner from Brazil); Carlo Alberini’s CALVI NETWORK (J/70 Midwinters 2015 winner and current J/70 European Champion from Pesaro, Italy); Julian Fernandez Neckelmann’s FLOJITO Y COOPERANDO (2nd J/70 Midwinters 2015 from Valle de Bravo, Mexico City, Mexico); and Jim Cunningham’s LIFTED (J/70 Midwinters Corinthians winner from San Francisco, CA)— just to name a few possible contenders!

Similar to past years, the BACARDI Village hospitality for BACARDI Miami Sailing Week will be set up in Kennedy Park, where sailors will enjoy BACARDI Rum, food and music. A special art exhibit, Sailing Dreams by Vicki DaSilva, will be set up in Coco Walk, Unit 115, and open every day. DaSilva will exhibit 10 light paintings (made by moving a hand-held light source while taking a long exposure photograph) that present to the community how she interprets the beautiful sport of sailing into art.   Sailing photo credits- Tim Wilkes.com.  For more BACARDI Miami Sailing Week information