Acura Miami Grand Prix: Four Days of Sun, Fun, and Speed!

Even though all four class winners led from the start, it wasn’t until the fourth and final day of the 2009 Acura Miami Grand Prix that the eventual champions could be crowned.

A fleet of 42 boats from seven countries took to the clear, blue waters off Miami this weekend for the Acura Miami Grand Prix.  The fleet was welcomed with typical sunny south Florida weather of temperatures in the 80s and strong, steady winds.

As usual, the organizers from Premiere Racing put on an excellent event.  This combination ensured that the 2009 Acura Miami Grand Prix one of the finest ever.

“I don’t know if I have ever seen so many happy faces leaving a regatta,” event director Peter Craig said.

“The weather was phenomenal, the race committee work was outstanding and the competition in all four classes was very, very good. All the owners I spoke with are looking forward to coming back.”

The Farr 40 class was the most competitive of the four classes.  Massimo Mezzaroma at the helm of Nerone took an impressive six wins in 10 races, but still needed to battle on the final day to clinch the class victory.  Finishing the Acura Miami Grand Prix with two wins not only secured the win over second place Goombay Smash, but also earned the Italian entry Acura Boat of the Week honors.

Nerone’s tactician Vasco Vascotto was a vital piece to their dominance.

“We love Miami. For some reason, our boat and team performs very well here. We have never had this many firsts in one event…it really is unbelievable,” the America’s Cup veteran said.

“We were very, very fast downwind and I think that was a big key.”

Never placing lower than fourth place for the entire event, including seven wins secured victory in the IRC 1 class for Niklas Zennstrom and his yacht Ran from Great Britain.  This was just more of what has come to be expected from Ran as they took six victories in 10 races at the Acura Key West 2009 earlier this year.  Ran also had a tactician with America’s Cup experience in Thierry Peponnet, who helped edge Rio, also from Great Britain, by just five points.

“We had really fantastic conditions here in Miami this week. It was sunny and windy every day, which made for fun and exciting racing,” Peponnet said.

“We are very happy with the performance of our team. Everyone did their job well and we made very few mistakes. We had very good competition with Rio here and in Key West. It was like match racing. They have a good team and really pushed us hard.”

Owner Dan Woolery and close friend Scott Easom spent a year gearing up to sail Soozal in the two winter regattas organized by Premiere Racing. The King 40, designed by Mark Mills and built by Summit Yachts, has proven a real rocket ship by capturing IRC 2 class at both Acura Key West 2009 and the Acura Miami Grand Prix.
 
“This has been a year-long project to get this boat the way we wanted, and it was all about doing well on this Florida circuit. We feel wonderful right now because we have met all our goals,” Woolery said.

“It’s just a great design by Mark Mills. We had one heck of a boat and terrific crew work, which is a nice combination.”

Veteran professional Robbie Haines called tactics on Soozal and drew high praise from Woolery.

“Robbie was excellent as usual. He is just a wizard at calling the shifts and deserves a lot of credit for our success. It doesn’t do any good to go fast if you’re on the wrong side of the course,” he said.

Speed and excellent tactics were used by Pieter Taselaar and his tactician, Jeremy Wilmot, on Bliksemn to win the Melges 32 class with an eight point margin.

Starting the regatta with three straight victories, they met any potential challenge by the second and third place finishers Samba Pa Ti and Red.

“Once you get the lead there is a lot of pressure to stay ahead. We just had to stay calm and sail our own race,” Taselaar said.

“We had good teamwork, good boat-handling and good tactics.”

“Jeremy was just awesome this week. He is a young guy, but a real natural talent. He sees shifts about a minute before the competition, which was a huge advantage for us.”

It was the first victory for the Dutchman in seven attempts in the Melges 32 Class.

“We are extremely excited. We really focused on this regatta and put in a lot of effort. It is very rewarding to see all that preparation pay off,” Taselaar said.

Acura Miami Grand Prix Results - FINAL after 10 races
  Farr 40 (12 entries)
  1, Nerone, Massimo Mezzaroma, Punta Ala, Italy, 1-1-2-7-1-7-1-4-1-1=26
  2, Goombay Smash, Doug Douglas, Newport, R.I., 5-2-7-3-6-3-3-1-7-2=39
  3, Joe Fly, Giovanni Maspero, Como, Italy, 2-5-4-4-4-4-2-2-9-8=44
 
Melges 32 (19 entries) - with discard
  1, Bliksem, Pieter Taselaar, St Inigoes, M.D., 1-1-1-2-7-5-1-3-(-8)-3=24
  2, Samba Pa Ti, John Kilroy, San Francisco, C.A., 2-6-3-4-3-2-9-1-(-13)-2=32
  3, Red, Joe Woods, Torbay, UK, 7-8-2-3-2-9-4-6-(-11)-7=48
 
IRC 1 (four entries)
  1, RAN, Niklas Zennstrom, Hamble, GBR, 1-1-1-2-3-1-1-1-1-2=14
  2, Rio, Charles Dunstone, Cowes, GBR, 2-2-3-1-1-2-2-3-2-1=19
  3, Synergy, Sergey Pichugin, Moscow, RUS, 3-3-2-3-2-4-3-2-4-3=29
 
IRC 2 (seven entries)
  1, Soozal, King 40, Daniel Woolery, Pt Richmond, C.A., 2-1-4-1-1-1-1-1-1-1=14
  2, Ciao, AC 40, Philippe Paturel, Halifax, CAN, 1-3-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-3=22
  3, Gold Digger, J/44, James Bishop, Jamestown, R.I., 3-2-1-3-3-2-3-5-3-2=27

Photos and quotes courtesy of 2009 Acura Miami Grand Prix and Premier Racing Events.