Kusznierewiz/ Prada lead Bacardi Cup

Miami, FL (March 7, 2022) – The 2022 Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta got underway today with Star Class racing for the 95th anniversary of the Bacardi Cup. With one race a day, 55 teams completed the first contest which was won by 2021 and 2020 Bacardi Cup Champions Mateusz Kusznierewiz (POL) and Bruno Prada (BRA).

It was a picture-perfect blue sky dotted with clouds, breeze of around 14-16 knots and choppy seas. The week ahead is looking equally stunning, with a cracking mid-teens breeze forecast through until the end of racing on March 12.

A clean start got racing underway at midday, wrapping up one hour and 45 minutes later with the win in the hands of the defending Bacardi Cup partnership of Kusznierewicz, a 2-time Star Class World Champion (2019, 2008), and four-time Star World Champion (2019, 2012, 2011, 2007) Bruno Prada (BRA).

“I am honored to be here on the 95th anniversary of the Bacardi Cup,” said Kusznierewicz. “We had a plan from the beginning to play upwind on the left side, because of the wind pattern but also the current. We knew that maybe on the beginning it would not look very good for us, but we had to be patient and then coming to the left side it will start to pay off and it did.”

From 7th place at the first mark, the pair accelerated to close the gap, as Kusznierewicz joked, “We pushed a special button in our boat, we got superpowers, especially on the reaches we were performing very well and that gave us the lead.”

It didn’t start that way, as controlling the fleet for the first two legs were the California based partnership of Erik Lidecis/ Greg Smith, with Lidecis saying, “We had a really nice lane and just chugged out to the left for a while, held it as long as we could, got a little leftie, tacked on it and went across the fleet, which was beautiful.”

Lidecis/ Smith stayed in phase to round the windward mark first and hold their advantage to the reaching mark, before all change. The easing conditions saw the crews mostly back in the boat for the reaching legs as submarining was inevitable if too far forward, with plenty of action as crews were in and out of the boat to keep on the chine in the lulls and puffs.

“The wind was super challenging because it was a good wind, a strong wind,” reflected Prada, who is racing his sixteenth Bacardi Cup, “but especially on the downwind reaches it was a little bit less wind, so the crew movement in the boat – forward and backwards, leeward and windward – trying to balance the boat was super challenging, trying to keep the boat with a lot of power, especially releasing the back stays. There were a lot of little details that I think was our success.

“We never think about winning regattas, we think day by day, enjoying day by day and then if in the end if we do a good average, we have a good chance to win.”

Kusznierewicz/ Prada set their pole and made some gains on the first reaching leg. They had the capacity to capitalize and went low on the next leg to advance underneath the fleet, before going high in the closing metres to the gybe mark, boosting their boat speed to exploit an opening and get around everybody to take the lead into the second upwind.

As the breeze dropped to around 12-13 knots, the Race Committee changed the second lap to a downwind course format. Behind the leaders, the fleet consolidated on the next downwind and played the right side of the course more on the third and final upwind.

Whilst Kusznierewicz/ Prada oozed class to extend and take the race win, thrilling tacking duels unfolded for 2nd between Peter O’Leary/ Robert O’Leary and Eric Doyle/ Payson Infelise, with Diego Negri/ Sergio Lambertenghi and John MacCausland/ Rodrigo Meireles battling for 4th and 5th place.

Two-time Star Class Olympian (2008 and 2012) Peter O’Leary, who is racing with his brother Robert, was stoked to come out on top of their duel and claim second. Last time racing at the Bacardi Cup in 2020, the pair finished 6th overall.

“I guess if you didn’t like today, you are never going to like Star sailing!” laughed Peter. “It was good to be back in the boat after two years. We ended up reaching on the first lap and that’s a fun thing to do in the Star.”

Robert chipped in, saying, “We’ve done a good bit of training reaching, but I’ve never actually raced a reaching course, so it was a bit of a shock to the system trying to decide whether jib on pole or not. We did it for the first leg and it definitely paid, and then the second leg we were just trying to defend, keep our lane, keep the air clear going down. We got inside three boats at the gybe mark.”

An impressive passage of play from Paul Cayard/ Fritjof Kleen whose broken outhaul a couple of minutes before the start left them slumped mid-fleet at the first mark, before getting back on pace to finish in 10th.

The Stars race on March 7-12 and will be joined March 10-12 with the J/70, Melges 24, Viper 640, VX One, and 69F classes.

Series information – Race details – Results

Day One Results (Top 10 of 55)
1. Mateusz Kusznierewicz / Bruno Prada , POL – 1 ; 1
2. Peter O’Leary / Robert O’Leary , IRL – 2 ; 2
3. Eric Doyle / Payson Infelise , USA – 3 ; 3
4. Diego Negri / Sergio Lambertenghi , Italia – 4 ; 4
5. John MacCausland / Rodrigo Meireles , USA – 5 ; 5
6. Eivind Melleby / Joshua Revkin , NOR – 6 ; 6
7. Erik Lidecis / Greg Smith , USA – 7 ; 7
8. Peter Vessella / Phil Trinter , USA – 8 ; 8
9. Tonci Stipanovic / Tudor Bilic , CRO – 9 ; 9
10. Paul Cayard / Frithjof Kleen , USA – 10 ; 10

The 2021-22 Bacardi Invitational Winter Series is held for J/70 and the Melges 24 fleets on December 18-19 and January 28-30 (along with Persico 69F) with the finale on March 10-12. Also racing in March are the VX One, Viper 640, and Persico 69F classes. Additionally, the Star Class will headline the historic Bacardi Cup, one of the world’s oldest sailing events, which celebrates its 95th anniversary on March 7-12, 2022. – Details

Source: Bacardi