Austrians claim opener

Star's Bacardi Cup gets underway

Conditions were near perfect as 51 Star crews headed out on Biscayne Bay for the first day of racing in the 85th Bacardi Cup.

Headlining Bacardi Miami Sailing Week presented by EFG Bank, the Stars will race alone until Thursday, after which they will be joined by the Viper 640, Audi Melges 20, Melges 24 and J/80 classes. Racing will conclude for all classes on Saturday.

The Star class has only one race scheduled each day and today’s series opener took place under cloudy skies with a northerly breeze in the mid teens. The Austrian team of five-time Olympian Hans Spitzauer, sailing with Gerd Habermueller, who had raced in Miami during the Rolex Miami OCR in late January, determined that they wanted to be on the right side of the course today. As the scoreboard attests, it proved to be a good move right from the start.

“Excellent day of sailing due to the winds, just perfect for the first day of this Bacardi Cup anniversary event!,” said a very happy Spitzauer after racing today. “We made a really good choice, and extended to take the lead. Today was a really good race for us, we had a great lead, we were pushed by others but today was our day.”

Finishing second were 2011 US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics members Andrew Campbell and Ian Coleman, who finished 14th at the Star World Championship in Perth 2011. Third across the line was the Ukranian team of Arthur Anosov and Vitali Kushnir, followed by 2006 Etchells World Champion and Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Jud Smith who is racing with Brian Fatih. Fatih, a member of the 2012 USSTAG, will represent the U.S.A. at the 2012 Olympic Regatta as crew for Mark Mendelblatt.

Results: