2008 Acura Miami Grand Prix- Race Day 1

The day started with a postponement due to lack of wind. This allowed Howes, Ed Reynolds and I an opportunity to discuss the program and our planning for the Worlds in April. So for and hour and a half we sat a “Big Pink” eating waffles and talking about airplanes.

The committee sent us out at 1030 and we finally got race 1 underway around 1300 after a one hour wait on the water. The wind direction for Race 1 was 170 at 10 knots. We race right off the eastern shore of Key Biscayne. The Gulf Stream current runs north at a couple of knots just 2 miles off shore. So when going to windward in a southerly wind, one would think that going to the right in the shallower water would be good. Well the winner of both races came out of the left, and it was the same boat, current World Champion, Mascalzone Latino from Napoli. Barking Mad which is from the USA sailed well to get two 2nd’s. Nerone, another Italian boat, from Rome, (southern Italian boys can sail!) Got a 7,3 I believe.
Onboard Warpath, we managed a 5, 6 so we are in pretty good shape so far.

The rest of the fleet was more up and down with their results. The competition if very tight. With 30 boats in the Farr 40 fleet, small mistakes on the first windward leg cost a lot.

It was a mild day with the wind maxing out at 12 knots about 1500. It was also pretty stable.

We are happy with our consistency and our new boat.

Tomorrow will be a different day with winds in the teens and low 20’s.

You can see all the results at: premiere-racing.com