Brian Porter's Full Throttle in front of the Melges 24 fleet at the Bacardi Cup on Biscayne Bay

10.03.2022

March 10, 2022 - Miami, FL, USA - It was another beautiful sailing day – brilliant breeze, sparkling turquoise waters, and warm weather – as the Star Class was joined on Biscayne Bay by the full line-up of one-design classes at the Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta.

The Star contested the traditional one race, with three races wrapped up for each of the J/70, Melges 24, Viper 640, and VX One. The 69F, which made its event debut, completed six races.

Across the race courses, the breeze tracked from 10-18 knots, with the overcast morning giving way to sunshine. The forecast has so far delivered perfect race conditions and looks set to remain game on for tomorrow.

Melges 24 class

Getting into groove straight away for the 9-race series was 2021 and 2020 Bacardi champion Bora Gulari (USA), following up with a 4th in race 2, but then Gulari and two other boats were over the line for the start of race 3, so will need the discard to kick in after race 6 to get back in the frame.

Back-to-back 2nd places finishes pitches Brian Porter’s ‘Full Throttle’ in front.

“We just came from Wisconsin where it was snowing yesterday, so great to be in the warmer weather,” said RJ Porter, son of Brian. “Competition was very tough out there, so being that consistent was very good for us. We’ve definitely got to take it race by race, get off the starting line that’s the most important thing, and just try not to get ourselves caught up in a corner.”

Drew Freides took the race 2 win, with race 3 in the hands of Travis Weisleder.

Racing with Freides, 1992 Olympic silver medallist Morgan Reeser was brimming after the day, saying, “I am probably the luckiest person in the world today! An amazing day, nice and warm, no foul weather gear needed and the rest of my team is so good.”

Explaining their race strategy, Reeser said, “When it is from the south, there is no land in the way, the shifts aren’t that big, so it is mostly boat speed. So the key is just clear lanes. Early in the day some storm clouds probably made right better than left, then later in the day it turned into a sea breeze and it was left better than right. Just go fast, which was awesome.”

The 'Pacific Yankee' team have plentiful honours and World Championship titles between them, including five Melges 24 Worlds in the hands of Federico Michetti.

Melges 24 - Top 10 (One Design - 26 Boats)
1. Full Throttle, USA849, Brian Porter / RJ Porter / Bri Porter / Matt Woodworth - 2 - 2 - 2 ; 6
2. PACIFIC YANKEE, USA865, Drew Freides / Charlie Smythe / Morgan Reeser / Federico Michetti / Lara Poljsak - 5 - 1 - 6 ; 12
3. Zenda Express, USA866, Harry Melges IV / Finn Rowe / Ripley Shelley / Carlos Robles / Nick Muller - 7 - 3 - 3 ; 13
4. Lucky Dog, USA858, Travis Weisleder / John Bowden / Hayden Goodrick / Mark Mendleblatt - 4 - 13 - 1 ; 18
5. Monsoon, USA851, Bruce Ayres / Kate O’Donnell / Ted Hackney / Thomas Dietrich / Jeremy Wilmot - 6 - 10 - 4 ; 20
6. Rasta Mixta, USA829, Peter Duncan / Matt Pistay / Willem Van Waay / Morgan Trubovich / Victor diaz De Leon - 11 - 7 - 5 ; 23
7. Flying Jenny, USA801, Sandra askew / Nick Ford / Dave Shreiner / Alan Nakamisha / Reed Baldridge - 8 - 8 - 10 ; 26
8. WarCanoe, USA825, Michael Goldfarb / Jonny Goldsberry / Emory Wilson / Martin Henriksen / Matteo Ramian - 14 - 6 - 7 ; 27
9. Team RRH, NOR732, Jan Frederik Dyvi / Jan Borø / Herman Horn-Johannessen / Stian Ness Rørvik / Malin Rørvik-Sundelin - 9 - 12 - 9 ; 30
10. Powered by Moms, USA820, Bora Gulari / Kyle Navin / Norman Berge / Ian Liberty / Michael Menninger - 1 - 4 - 27/UFD ; 32