After the discard came into play in race 5 for the sixty-six boat Star fleet, the top three teams are on a remarkable 13-points apiece tiebreak.
It is going to be a battle of titans between Mateusz Kusznierewicz/Bruno Prada, Eric Doyle/Payson Infelise and Augie Diaz/Henry Boening in Saturday’s concluding Bacardi Cup race.
Race 5 was a win for Sweden’s Tom Lofstedt and Johan Tillander.
For the second time, they kicked off proceedings at the front, but this time managed to maintain their advantage and score a well-deserved win.
But it was behind where the battle for Bacardi Cup supremacy was unfolding. Augie Diaz and Henry Boening took a 2nd place finish and put themselves firmly back in Trophy contention.
While Doyle and Infelise, and Kusznierewicz and Prada engaged in a duel downwind, with Doyle/Felise ahead and Kusznierewicz/Prada chasing.
Heading back upwind, they were entwined in their own battle and dropped back through the fleet as they hunted each other down, to finish 7th and 8th respectively.
It is now simply a case of whoever finishes ahead will have their hands and names on the iconic Bacardi Cup Trophy and Tito Bacardi Cup.
2024 Bacardi Cup – Leaders after Race 5, 1 discard (66 entries)
1st POL Mateusz Kusznierewicz / Bruno Prada – – 2 1 8 2 8 – – 13 pts
2nd USA Eric Doyle / Payson Infelise – – 4 2 1 6 7 – – 13 pts
3rd USA Augie Diaz / Henry Boening – – 1 13 5 5 2 – – 13 pts
4th BRA Lars Grael / Ubiratan Matos – – 3 5 16 7 24 – – 31 pts
5th SUI Piet Eckert / Frederico Melo – – 7 6 25 14 4 – – 31 pts
6th AUT Johann Spitzauer / Christian Nehammer – – 15 4 19 9 5 – – 33 pts
7th DEN Jørgen Schönherr / Markus Koy – – 9 8 10 8 9 – – 34 pts
8th USA Jack Jennings / Pedro Trouche – – 12 16 51 4 3 – – 35 pts
9th SWE Tom Lofstedt / Johan Tillander – – 17 23 4 17 1 – – 39 pts
10th USA John Dane III / Dave Martin – – 23 11 2 10 17 – – 40 pts
