Norway’s Melleby and Morland Lead
Bacardi Cup Miami Sailing Week

Posted Tuesday, March 8, 2011

 

Cory Silken

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MIAMI (March 7, 2011) – The Norwegian Star team of Eivind Melleby and Petter Morland Pedersen have won the opening race of the 84th BACARDI Cup, the first event of the 2011 BACARDI Miami Sailing Week presented by EFG Bank. After an hour delay due to light air, the 89-strong Star fleet got down to business as temperatures in the low 70s combined with elite-level competition to make Biscayne Bay the place to be.

Melleby and Pedersen have been here before – they also finished first in the opening race of the BACARDI Cup in 2008. And while today’s result is surely déjà vu, hopefully it is also not a curse – no team winning the opening race
has gone on to claim the title in at least the last 10 years. The duo are making their fourth run at the BACARDI Cup, having achieved, to date, their best finish of seventh overall in 2010.

"We've never won the Bacardi Cup, but hope to this year,” said Melleby. “The day was marked by a very light breeze, so they postponed the race for an hour before they started. It was a long race. The wind shifted quite a
lot to the left, but we were able to get out in front of it, and veer away from the rest of the fleet coming up to the first mark in fourth position. >From there we were able to get away from the pack and managed to get into
first position and stay there for most of the race. We were about 100 meters out in front until the end when Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.) and crew Ian Coleman (Annapolis, Md.) were able to get a lot closer than we
wanted. Campbell closed in less than 50 meters with a breeze from behind. With a light day like this, the boat speed is very similar, so our win was mostly about positioning and strategy."

"There are 20 boats, maybe more, that can win the Bacardi Cup at anytime,” observed Melleby. “We're just trying to stay consistent, and do well in every race this week. Hopefully, we can be at the top of the podium when all
this ends."

Third overall after day one is the French team of Guillaume Florent and Pascal Rambeau, followed by George Szabo with Caleb Paine (both San Diego, Calif.). Mark Reynolds (San Diego, Calif.) and Rick Peters (Venice, Calif.)
round out the top-five.

Racing for the BACARDI Cup resumes Tuesday, March 8, and continues through Saturday, March 12. For photos, results and additional information on the 84th Bacardi Cup and 2nd annual BACARDI Miami Sailing Week presented by EFG Bank, visit www.BACARDICup.com and www.MiamiSailingWeek.com <http://www.miamisailingweek.com/>

About BACARDI Cup: The BACARDI Cup was conceived in 1927 as a three-day event with sailors competing for the Trofeo BACARDI as part of the Cup of Cuba’s Mid-Winter Championship. In 1962 political unrest forced the Bacardi Cup to move from Havana to Coconut Grove, Florida, where it has since been hosted by the Coral Reef Yacht Club, the organizing authority for the BACARDI Cup.

About BACARDI Miami Sailing Week: In its second year, BACARDI Miami Sailing Week presented by EFG Bank is building on the success of last year’s inaugural event, again offering six days of remarkable sailing competition.
The 84th running of the BACARDI Cup for the Star class will be the marquee event of BACARDI Miami Sailing Week, with racing from Monday, March 7 through Saturday, March 12, 2011. Competition for the Melges 20, Melges 24, J/24 and Viper 640 classes takes place Thursday, March 10, through Saturday, March 12, with the Melges 20s also competing for their Winter Series and the Viper 640s also competing for their Pan American Championship. Racing will take place on three courses approximately two miles out on Biscayne Bay.

Co-hosts for BACARDI Miami Sailing Week are Coral Reef Yacht Club, Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, Coconut Grove Sailing Club, the U.S. Sailing Center Miami and Shake-A-Leg.

Nightly social events will feature award presentations, entertainment and art displays including exhibits by, among others, renowned Italian maritime photographer Franco Pace and Miami pop artist Stephen Gamson, designer of
the official event poster. The art exhibits will be located in the North Hall of the Coconut Grove Convention Center, along with “100 years of the Star Boat,” a collection of information, photos and artifacts detailing the
path of the Star boat from the original design in 1911 to the present day.