#MELGES24 – There was no change in the top-five positions in the 21-boat Melges 24 class on the final day of racing for Bacardi Miami Sailing Week. Franco Rossini (Switzerland) won the final race of the series to cement his position as fleet leader with 11 points, while increasing his lead from three to seven points over Riccardo Simoneschi (Milan, Italy) who finished 11th in the final race. Conor Clarke (Ireland), with 24 points, Kristen Lane (Tiburon, Calif.), with 33, and Alan Field (Los Angeles, Calif.), with 37, complete the final top-five.
Maurice O'Connell reports: So we did what we had to do today, protected our 3rd overall by starting near Kristin Lane in "Brickhouse" and shepherding her around the race course.
And, as often happens in these situations, we actually led the race after the first run and watched as the fleet behind us split off to the left side of Biscayne Bay. We stayed right because "Brickhouse" had a poor first run and went hard right looking to try to get past us.
We eventually finished 4th in the race and our 1,2,2,4,4,5,6,6 gave us third overall and reflected how we sailed. We sailed some good races and let a few points drift away from us here and there...
Congratulations to "Blu Moon" for a fantastic series. They made some big changes to their boat set up since they had some poor results in 2011 and in Key West 2012 and it looks to have worked. Well done guys and welcome back!
The "Embarr" crew for Bacardi this week was:-
Nathan Wilmot (Australia) - Helm
David Hughes (USA) - Tactician
Prof (Ireland) - Spi trim
Conor Clarke (Ireland) - Pit
Shona Wilmot (Australia) - Bow
"Embarr's" next event will be the US Nationals in June in Seattle followed by the North Americans in San Francisco in September.
Off to the Bacardi party now folks - don't wait up!
