109 for Bacardi Cup

An impressive turn out for the Star class' premier US event

For the first time in its 81-year history, the Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta will have teams from both Russian and Hungary in its fleet. Early registrants for the six-day race series beginning on March 2 include World Champions and Olympic medalists from 26 countries.

Five Bacardi Cup champions are in the early sign-up: defending champion Hamish Pepper of New Zealand, John Dane who will represent the USA in the 2008 Olympic Games, Afonso Domingos of Portugal, seven-time champion and Olympian Mark Reynolds of California, and two-time champion and Olympian Peter Bromby of Bermuda.

“The Bacardi Cup has through the years built its reputation as an Olympic tune-up event attracting the best Star sailors in the world,” said Craig Prandini, event chairman, “and the Florida weather is a huge bonus. We already have 107 boats registered and we are expecting some heavy competition on Biscayne Bay.”

What started out in 1927 as a three-day event with less than 10 boats in Havana, Cuba, now attracts more than 200 sailors each year and remains one of the few sporting events in which weekend enthusiasts have the opportunity to compete head on with Olympian and World Champion athletes.

Already registered are 35 teams from USA, 11 teams from Germany, 10 from Italy, seven from Brazil, six from Switzerland, five from Argentina, three from both Austria and Russia, and two from both Chile and Ukraine. Those countries fielding one team each so far include Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Croatia, Spain, Portugal, Bermuda, Hungary, Netherlands, Finland, Bermuda, Ireland, Bahamas, Great Britain and Canada.

The 2008 Bacardi Cup Regatta will be sailed March 2 through March 7. It is co-hosted by the Coral Reef Yacht Club and the U.S. Sailing Center, both based in Coconut Grove, and sponsored in full by Bacardi USA, Inc.

Participants sail one race per day from Sunday through Friday on an approximately 10.5-mile course in Biscayne Bay. The six daily races of the Cup will each proclaim a winner, with the overall top winning team demonstrating the best performance in five of these six races.

Entries:

1	Pendola, Martin	Engelhard, Jaun Pablo	ARG	Buenos Aires, ARG
2	Labandeira, Julio	Chernobilsky, Nicolas	ARG	Buenos Aires, ARG
3	MacGowan, Fabian	Engelhard, Federico	ARG	Buenos Aires, ARG
4	Rigoni, Alejo	Gonzalez, Gustavo	ARG	ARG
5	Zanetti, Alberto		ARG	Buenos Aires, ARG
6	Murray, Iain	Palfrey, Andrew	AUS	Clareville, AUS
7	Tomasini-Grinover, Roberto	Bahr, Gunnar	AUT	Kaernten, AUT
8	Spitzauer, Hans	Nehammer, Christian	AUT	AUT
9	Wirth, Harald	Mueller, Thomas	AUT	Villach, AUT
10	Kelly, Steven	Bill Holowesko	BAH	Nassau, BAH
11	Bromby, Peter	White, Lee	BER	Sandys, BER
12	Grael, Lars	Jordao, Marcelo	BRA	Brasilia, BRA
13	Pascolato, Alessandro	Boehnig, Henry	BRA	Rio de Janeiro, BRA
14	Scheidt, Robert	Prada, Bruno	BRA	Rio de Janeiro, BRA
15	Brun, Gastao	Kraiczyk, Fabio	BRA	Rio de Janeiro, BRA
16	Adler, Alan	Ermel, Ricardo	BRA	Rio de Janeiro, BRA
17	Ficker, Peter	Lopes, Arthur	BRA	Sao Paulo, BRA
18	Santa Cruz, Mauricio,	Gomes Neto, Cezar	BRA	Rio de Janeiro, BRA
19	Passmore, Mark	Bunner, Ivan	CAN	Ontario, CAN
20	Cramer, Brian	Bjorn, Tyler	CAN	Ontario, CAN
21	Hendershot, Will	Vranderick, Alain	CAN	Quebec, CAN
22	Gagnon, Andre	Despres, Daniel	CAN	Quebec, CAN
23	Zuazola, Rodrigo	Riegel, Robert	CHI	Santiago, CHI
23	Rusowsky, Fernando	Gimeno, Vincente Pablo	CHI	Vina del Mar, CHI
24	Li, Hongquan	Wang, He	CHN	Richmond, BC, CAN
25	Lovrovic, Dan	Lovrovic Sr., Marin	CRO	Rijeka, CRO
26	Lovrovic Jr., Marin	Mikulicic, Sinsa	CRO	Rijeka, CRO
27	van der Ploeg, Jose Maria	Rivero,Fernandez Rodriguez	ESP	Barcelona, ESP
28	Bermudez, Roberto	Ferreira, Marcelo	ESP	Abegondo, ESP
29	Makila, Jali	Heinonen, Erkki	FIN	FIN
30	Percy, Iain	Simpson, Andrew	GBR	Dorset, GBR
31	Hicks, Michael	Hicks, Patrick	GBR	London, GBR
32	Wilhelm, Peer	Hollweg, Nils	GER	Hamburg, GER
33	Merkelbach, Hubert	Bartel, Gerrit	GER	Ueberlingen, GER
34	Girr, Fritz	Hasche, Marko	GER	Hamburg, GER
35	Hampe, Axel	Conrads, Chris	GER	Tutzig, GER
36	Burmester, Jens	Mehlen, Markus	GER	Frankfurt, GER
37	Thomsen, Dierk	Jensen, Darin	GER	Kiel, GER
38	Lehnert, Stefan	Menning, Peter	GER	Bremen, GER
39	Pickel, Marc	Borkowski, Ingo	GER	Kiel, GER
40	Rauch, Hubert	Kling, Felix	GER	Diessen, GER
41	Voigt, Henning	Aachener, Struve	GER	Neumunster, GER
42	Weiler, Hermann	Schmid, Thomas	GER	Herzogenaurach, GER
43	Meyer, Klaus	Boguhn, Lutz	GER	Bremenhammer, GER
44	Tenke, Tibor	Bendicsek, Jozsef	HUN	Budapest, HUN
45	O'Leary, Patrick	Milne, Stephen	IRL	Cork, IRL
46	Chieffi, Enrico	del Col, Giancarlo	ITA	La Spezia
47	Tamburini, Antonio	Ricci, Renzo	ITA	Firenze, ITA
48	Bettarini, Stefano	Giachetti, Alessandro	ITA	Buggiano, ITA
49	Santoni, Silvio	Natucci, Dodo	ITA	Garda, ITA
50	Chinca, Valerio	Ciano, Massimo	ITA	Firenze, ITA
51	Renato, Irrera	Corrado, Cristaldini	ITA	Messina, ITA
52	Barovier, Alberto	Colaninno, Nando	ITA	Venezia, ITA
53	Modena, Luca	Lambertenghi, Sergio	ITA	Verona, ITA
54	Negri, Diego	Viale, Luigi	ITA	Diano Marino, ITA
55	Bruni, Francesco	Nobili, Gilberto	ITA	Palermo, ITA
56	Bierman, Guus	Skinner, Duncan	NED	Breukelen, NED
57	Melleby, Eivind	Pedersen, Petter	NOR	Oslo, NOR
58	Lord, Rohan	Addy, Miles	NZL	Auckland, NZL
59	Pepper, Hamish	Williams, Carl	NZL	NZL
60	Kusznierewicz, Mateusz	Zycki, Dominik	POL	Warzawa, POL
61	Domingos, Afonso	Santos, Bernardo	POR	Cascais, POR
62	Shevtsov, Sergey	Sadchikov, Roman	RUS	Rostov on Don, RUS
63	Vokhmintsev, Dmitry	Pinegin, Yury	RUS	Togliatta, RUS
64	Tara kanov, Vitaliy	Kuleshov, Alexander	RUS	Moscow, RUS
65	Marazzi, Flavio	De Mario, Enrico	SUI	Bern, SUI
66	Wyss, Daniel	Joss, Urs	SUI	Zollikon, SUI
67	Gautschi, Christoph	Gouda, Alex	SUI	St. Margrethen, SUI
68	Stegmeier, Daniel	Stegmeier, Beat	SUI	Zurich, SUI
69	Zimmerman, Lorenz	Mutti, Michael	SUI	Lucerne, SUI
70	Dannesboe, Henrik	Nobles, Bobby	SUI	SUI
71	Krook, Ingvar	Hasselgren, Henrik	SWE	Stockholm, SWE
72	Gureyev, Vasyl	Korotkov, Volodymyr	UKR	Kiev, UKR
73	Kostyantin, Datsenko	Yevseyenko, Oleksandr	UKR	Kiev, UKR
74	Brethorst, Rick	Anderson, Scott	USA	Springfield, ILL.
75	Phinney, Mike	Balmert, Brad	USA	Columbus, OHIO
76	Bonanni, Claude	Burgess, Rick	USA	Tampa, FL.
77	Chiarella, John	Carlson, Bob	USA	Sunapee, NH.
78	Dane, John	Sperry, Austin	USA	Gulfport, MS.
79	Gunther, Stephen	Day, Tom	USA	Erie, CO.
80	Zambella, Joe	Weinstein, Bob	USA	Winthrop, MA
81	Allen, Bill	Hatfield, Bruce	USA	Highwood, IL
82	Londrigan, Tom Jr.	Pederson, Matt	USA	Springfield, IL
83	Merriman, Rick	Sharp, Brian	USA	New York, NY
84	Fransen, Ben	Coleman, Ian	USA	Annapolis, MD.
85	Sperry, Brooks	Contaras, Robert	USA	Lodi, CA.
86	von Schwarz, Karl	Beigel-Vosbury, Barbara	USA	Annapolis, MD.
87	Rickard, Jack	Farrier, Tom	USA	Winnetka, IL.
88	VanderMolen, Jon	Ticknor, Steve	USA	Richland, MI.
89	Lidecis, Erik	Marzahl, Michael	USA	Huntington Beach, CA.
90	Szabo, George	Peters, Rick	USA	San Diego, CA
91	Serinis, Aaron	Schofield, Bob	USA	Annapolis, MD.
92	Reynolds, Mark	TBA	USA	San Diego, CA
93	Proctor, Ched	Semler, Matt	USA	Southport, CT
94	MacCausland, John	Murphy, Kevin	USA	Medford, NJ.
95	Whipple, Larry	Bjorn, Kai	USA	Port Ludlow, WA
96	Macdonald, Andy	Fatih, Brian	USA	Laguna Beach, CA.
97	Emmet, Rob	Amlong, Paul	USA	Stevensville, MD.
98	Pro, Joe	Pro, Nick	USA	Riverton, NJ
99	Anosov, Arthur	Dolan, Mark	USA	Ruskin, FL.
100	Donald, Keith	Hardin, Chris	USA	Bethlehem, PA.
101	Buckingham, Jim	Monroe, Eric	USA	Newport Beach, CA.
102	Filter, Henry	Wagner, Will	USA	Stevensville, MD.
103	Londrigan, Patrick	Burgandy, Ron	USA	Springfield, IL.
104	Manderson, John	Gotsulyak, Roman	USA	Highlands, NJ.
105	Fields, Bill	Rogers, Chris	USA	San Jaun Capistrano, CA
106	Gardner, Ed	Gardner, Kip	USA	Lake Placid, NY
107	Collins, Bert		USA	Annapolis, MD.
108	Gudat, Patrick	Smith, Mark	USA	Morton, Ill.
109	de La Villehuchet, Thierry	Gesing	USA	New Rochelle, NY