Cork-Belfast duo Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne bounced back from an untypical low opening result in the 97th Bacardi Cup in Miami, Florida on Monday to post a top ten in the 66-boat fleet in the second race on Tuesday.
The sole Irish pair, sailing IRL 8118, 'The Iron Lotus', who finished 39th in the opening race, have moved to 23rd overall with a ninth scored in race two. As regular Afloat readers know, O'Leary and Milne, who are consistently formidable (with a sixth in the 2023 world championships), led the fleet mid-regatta last year, finishing fourth overall.
Defending champions Mateusz Kusznierewicz/Bruno Prada dominated day two with an impressive lead of one and a half minutes. Eric Doyle/Payson Infelise claimed a superb pin end start to finish second and move up to second overall. Boat speed rewarded George Szabo/Guy Avalon to make a remarkable recovery from their 34th place finish yesterday and move up to 16th overall.
Racing continues on Wednesday, March 6, with a midday start.
Provisional Results – Top 10 after Race 2
1. Mateusz Kusznierewicz / Bruno Prada (POL 8559) - 3 pts
2. Eric Doyle / Payson Infelise (USA 8580) - 6 pts
3. Lars Grael / Ubiratan Matos (BRA 8392) - 8 pts
4. Piet Eckert / Frederico Melo (SUI 8575) - 13 pts
5. Augie Diaz / Henry Boening (USA 8509) - 14 pts
6. Jørgen Schönherr / Markus Koy (DEN 8532) - 17 pts
7. Johann Spitzauer / Christian Nehammer (AUT 8529) - 19 pts
8. Josh Powell / Mark Strube (USA 8522) - 20 pts
9. Ante Razmilovic / Brian Hammersley (GBR 8443) - 23 pts
10. Paul Cayard / Frithjof Kleen (USA 8550) - 28 pts
