(Hamilton, Bermuda)- The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club once again hosted the Bacardi Keelboat Regatta from November 21st to 24th. The J/105 fleet participation is at the invitation from the local J/105 fleet. The J/105s raced with a combined Bermuda and Overseas crew to compete for a Bermuda, Overseas and Overall series. Over the three-day series, up to ten races can be sailed by the tams.
In the end, the fleet of Bermudian and International sailors were rewarded with great sailing conditions, with all ten races being sailed.
While they may have "four-peated" the regatta win, their fourth win did not come easy for the AIRFORCE duo of Peter Bromby and Cheryl Harvey. Starting off red-hot, the AIRFORCE crew had all-podium finishes in the first 7 races. However, a disastrous 8th race saw the team scrambling to avoid even more grievous errors in the subsequent races.
Starting off slow was the James Macdonald & Bill Lackenmacher duo on PASSION. Third after the first day, they climbed back into contention over the next two days to nearly snatch the regatta win. In the end, AIRFORCE finished with 26 pts to take the gold, with the PASSION team closing with 29 pts for the silver. Third was another slow starter, the MORNING GLORY duo of Glen Astwood & Hasso Plattner. Sitting in fifth place after day one, the MORNING GLORY team rose like a "phoenix from the ashes" to close with by far the hottest record of the entire fleet in the last five races- a 3-3-1-2-2 to snatch the bronze medal on the last day of racing!
Rounding out the top five was MAYHEM (Jon Corless & Jason Owen) in fourth place and WINDFIRE (Keith Chiappa & Paul Beaudin) in fifth position.
At the awards ceremony, the International Team Trophy, sponsored by the Bermuda Tourism Authority, went to Team MAYHEM's Jason Owen. The Bermuda Teams Trophy, sponsored by Goslings Rum, went to Team AIRFORCE's Peter Bromby. And, the Bacardi Keelboat Overall Trophy, sponsored by XL, was awarded to the Overall winner, Team AIRFORCE yet again. Follow the J/105 Bermuda fleet on their Facebook page For more J/105 Bacardi Keelboat Regatta sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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