Vincenzo Onorato Wins Class At Key West Sailing Competition
KEY WEST (CBS4) -Italian sailor Vincenzo Onorato steered Mascalzone Latino to a RC 44-class victory Friday at the Key West 2011 sailing regatta off the Florida Keys.
Onorato's won in a tiebreaker, by winning the final race of the 10-heat, five day regatta that attracted 136 boats with crews from the U.S. and 15 other countries.
Chicagoan Don Wilson's Team Aqua placed second and reigning America's Cup skipper Russell Coutts in Oracle Racing was third. Coutts, a four-time America's Cup winner and Olympic gold medalist, conceived and co-designed the new boat class that bears his initials.
Mascalzone Latino has been selected as the challenger of record for the 34th America's Cup in 2013. When the boats returned to Key West's Historic Seaport, Coutts was the first to congratulate Onorato.
Things looked dim for the Mascalzone Latino crew after they placed last in race 9 Friday. Tactician Francesco Bruni realized the Italian team had to win race 10 and have Team Aqua finish third or lower.
"We knew it was a difficult situation and it didn't help that we got a bad start (in race 10)," Bruni said. "We had a little luck that enabled us to get back into the race."
Mascalzone Latino was leading on the second upwind beat when it pulled the move that ultimately won the regatta. Oracle was struggling to free itself from a lobster trap buoy and that allowed Aqua to briefly move into second. Bruni wisely dropped back and engaged Team Aqua in a tacking duel, which gave Oracle time to get back to speed and regain second place.
"We decided to slow down and help Oracle," said Bruni. "That is just part of racing tactics."
Boston resident Dan Meyers won the Mini Maxi class in Numbers while William Douglass of Stamford, Conn., steered Goombay Smash to victory in the Melges 32 class.
Boston's Jim Richardson placed first the Farr 30 class.
