| MIAMI, FL. USA-(10-3-2004) Alfonso Domingos and crew Bernardo Santos of Portugal assured themselves of the 2004 Bacardi Cup championship after the fifth race in the six-race Star Class Regatta on Thursday.
Their first place overall of 17 points is enough to make them the first Europeans to win the coveted Bacardi Cup since the race began in Cuba in 1927.
British world champions Iain Percy and crew Steve Mitchell took first place for the second day in a row and moved into10th overall. They finished today with a long lead on the rest of the 93-boat fleet after passing the Danish team at the third mark in 15-knot winds coming in from the northeast.
“Once we passed the Danes they had no chance of catching up,” said Percy.
Nicklas Holm and crew Claus Olesen of Denmark took second place and the 2003 Star Class world champions Xavier Rohart and crew Pascal Rambeau took third.
“This was the best race of the series so far, but we made one small error that cost us the race,” said the Danish Skipper Holm. “We didn’t catch the right shift in the wind and the British did.”
Six-time Bacardi Cup champion Mark Reynolds moves into fourth place in the overall standings. Howie Shiebler and crew Will Stout of San Francisco are in second place overall and Canadians Ross Macdonald and crew Mike Wolfs are in third.
Sailors were allowed to drop their worst finish after the fifth race today. The final race of the Bacardi Cup will be sailed on Friday.
2004 BACARDI CUP DAY FIVE RESULTS – Top 10
1. Ian Percy/Steve Mitchell (UK)
2. Nicklas Holm/Claus Olesen (Denmark)
3. Xavier Rohart/Pascal Rambeau (France)
4. John Maccausland/Brad Nichol (USA)
5. Vince Brun/Mike Dorgan (USA)
6. Howie Shiebler/Will Stout (USA)
7. Afonso Domingos/Bernardo Santos (Portugal)
8. Flavio Marazzi/Enrico De Maria (Switzerland)
9. Alexander Hagen/Wolfram Jochen (Germany)
10. Mark Reynolds/Steve Erickson (USA)
2004 BACARDI CUP OVERALL DAY FIVE – Top 10
1. Afonso Domingos/Bernardo Santos (Portugal),(7)-7-1-2-7,17
2. Howie Shiebler/Will Stout (USA), (26)-5-4-8-6,23
3. Ross Macdonald/Mike Wolfs (Canada),3-(13)-5-5-11,24
4. Mark Reynolds/Steve Erickson (USA),12-9-(94)-4-10,35
5. Flavio Marazzi/Enrico De Maria (Switzerland),9-4-(24)-22-8,43
6. Marc Pickel/Ingo Borkowski (Germany),2-11-(61)-14-17,44
7. Colin Beashel/David Giles (Australia),15-10-(16)-3-22,44
8. Peter Bromby/Lee White (Bermuda),(18)-1-13-17-16,47
9. Hans Spitzauer/Andreas Hanakamp (Austria),8-(51)-2-20-18,48
10. Iain Percy/Steve Mitchell (UK),(94)-8-44-1-1, 54
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