Miami, Fla. - Melges 32 racing at Premiere Racing’s 2010 Miami Grand Prix just doesn't get any better than this. Three additional races were held today under classic Miami conditions placing Jean-Francois Cruette (La Rochelle, France) on Teasing Machine back in command of the fleet. Four points back is Pieter Taselaar (New York, N.Y.) on Bliksem followed by Joe Woods (Torquay, UK) on Red.
Light breezes, sunshine and a slight chop greeted the fleet for race one. Almost instantly Cruette played the right side rounding the weather mark in third behind Carlo Alberini (Pessaro, Italy) onCalvi Network and Taselaar. Cruette extended downwind getting ahead of Alberini in second and Taselaar in third. The majority of the fleet was left for pressure, but Cruette held on for the finish. Taselaar eventually overtook Alberini in the light and shifty breeze for second. Ryan DeVos (Holland, Mich.) on Volpe moved up for a nice third place finish, Alberini settled for fourth. John Porter (Lake Geneva, Wisc.) on Full Throttle was fifth.
The second start of the day resulted in a massive number of OCSs including Porter, Kilroy and Stephen Pugh (San Francisco, Calif.) on Taboo. Cruette, on the other hand had a tremendous race going all out for the win. That's not to say that the victory was an easy one. Don Jesberg (Mill Valley, Calif.) on Viva and Bob Hesse (Elma, N.Y.) on Lake Effect came on strong to take an early leads with Cruette chomping at their heels heels, Alberini trailing. Woods, Taselaar, Alex Jackson (Riverside, Conn.) on Leenabarca, Jeff Ecklund (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) on STAR all took turns trying to edge an advantage, but Cruette had boat speed and apparently all the right things in place to turn a victory. Cruette went on for the win, Jesberg just made second over Hesse in third.
For the final race of the day, more light breeze played a big part in shaking up the results and mark roundings. Lanfranco Cirillo (Italy) on Fantastica shot out front with a great lead and at various moments throughout the race commanded by a minute and a half advantage. The real dogfight was for second. Fleet newcomer Carlo Perrone (Genova, Italy) on Atlantica 19 had a great day peaking the position for the first couple of legs, then overtook by Alberini and Phil Lotz (Newport, R.I.) onArethusa. In the end, Cirillo simply ran away with the win, Alberini secured second place and in third was Lotz.
Sunday is the final day of racing and the regatta is anything but easily won or predicted. Cruette still needs to be on his guard as four points could easily be overcome by the likes of Taselaar, Woods, Ecklund or Porter. Mistakes are costly in this fleet and any slight errors could potentially turn the fleet and results into the unexpected.
Top Ten Results
1.) Teasing Machine, Jean-Francois Cruette; 5-1-1-[10]-9-1-1-10 = 28
2.) Bliksem, Pieter Taselaar; 1-2-[14]-6-2-2-7-12 = 32
3.) Red, Joe Woods; 2-[10]-4-4-10-6-4-9 = 39
4.) STAR, Jeff Ecklund; 4-4-[19]-3-1-17-5-11 = 45
5.) Full Throttle, John Porter; [12]-5-5-1-12-5-12-5 = 45
6.) Calvi Network, Carlo Alberini; 6-8-9-[13]-8-4-8-2 = 45
7.) Fantastica, Lanfranco Cirillo; 10-7-6-14-7-8-[22]-1 = 53
8.) Samba Pa Ti, John Kilroy; 3-6-12-5-5-14-10-[17] = 55
9.) Ninkasi, John Taylor; 7-11-8-7-3-[16]-16-8 = 60
10.) Arethusa, Phil Lotz; 11-13-11-12-13-10-[17]-3 = 73
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